I think it's due to costing and stuff as they travel all over the world meaning they would have to put in that extra effort just to bring in certain sets then again nowadays the screens all feel like there's more on stage as is when things felt unique and simple Raw 1997 - 2008 and Smackdown 1999 - 2008, Also AEW has since 2023 maintained a screen only presence and it sucks and doesn't make them stand out at all.
The fist being the best design isnt a hot-take by any means but it has to do with 2008 making every set literally the same that really puts me off and since then Smackdown has just never felt different enough
I grew up when I was a kid with the "oval" stage design (WWE was on TV for the first time in my country, Chile, from 1999 to 2002), being to me one of the icons of the beloved Attitude era. As a pre-teen, I grew up with the "fist" design, and I love it to this day (to me, the best design in terms of identity). When they switched to the HD stages, it felt so lifeless to me; until the 2019 redesign, which I liked so much when I watched live the premiere episode on Fox.
The oval tron was awesome. Had an industrial and 90's sci fi aesthetic. Sets matter, they are part of the show and create the visual battlefield so to speak.
@@DarrylKeithFord2ndChannel JBL's WWE Championship reign, Kurt Angle playing a pervert to Sharmell, Dominik storyline, Undertaker being mistreated, Dawn Marie having a affair with Charlie Haas etc.
The OG, Fist, and 2019 FOX arenas are all top tier for me. Hopefully they bring that 2019 set back when things go back to normal, I love how futuristic it looks, while also paying tribute to the OG with the arches center stage.
Man 20 years time flies I truly love the OG set but man when the fist came WOW just AMAZING. I know you did a video game comparison of WCW video games Arena maybe a WWE one one day Awesome content as always from one creator to another keep up the great work my friend
Love the video man!!! Ilways enjoy your content, Also my favorite has to be the fist stage !!!! I remember seeing it live when I went to a smackdown recording as a kid and was amazed how big and kool it looked, and the pyro was amazing, thanks for this blast from the past man!!! take care and merry christmas
My favorite WWF/E Smackdown arena is the first one that was used when it became a weekly TV series from 1999 to 2001 after the pilot episode with the same set as RAW IS WAR. The one with the oval shaped titantron on the left or sometimes right side of the stage. I also liked the Smackdown stage with the broken glass that WWE used from 2001 to 2008. When they changed everything to HD, the sets became generic and not fun to look at anymore and now it's even worse with all of those ridiculous LED lights all over the place, it's not just Smackdown, RAW was affected by this crap too.
The old Smackdown fist set is legendary but I always liked the original oval set from 1999. I started watching WWE back in 1996 up until 2008 so I saw all the set design changes as they happened. To be honest I always preferred the dark gritty industrial metal look that Raw and Nitro had back in the '90s as far as set designs go. I'm not a fan of all the multiple LED screens and over the top lighting effects and graphics for a weekly wrestling show but maybe just for a big event like WrestleMania or something.
Great video! I remember randomly between 2004 to 2007 the Raw set design would be used for Smackdown from time to time it was really random. Always found it pretty weird seeing smackdown branding on a raw stage design!
WWF Attitude Era Smackdown & Raw Draft in 2000 Raw 1.Stone Cold Steve Austin 2.Triple H 3.Chris Jericho 4.Kane 5.Dean Malenko 6.Dudley Boyz 7.New Age Outlaws 8.X-PAC 9.Val Venis 10.Chyna Smackdown 1.The Rock 2.Undertaker 3.Kurt Angle 4.Chris Benoit 5.Hardy Boyz 6.Edge & Christian 7.Eddie Guerrero 8.William Regals 9.Perry Saturn 10.Lita
My favorite Smackdown set is the set from august 2001- May 2003. This is the Smackdown Fist with the ramp set. During late 2002 to early 2003 there would sometimes be shows where Smackdown had no ramp, but they got rid of the ramp officially in May of 2003.
4:12 when i was looking at the Smackdown stage in 2002, I noticed a few changes. it got black ropes in March The WWE name change in May (not to mention the fact that the WWF logo was missing in the may 9th and may 16th episode and it would appear as the WWE logo in may 23rd) The silver apron and post would debut in August 29th not to mention the return of the blue ropes and finally the side tron in september 5th
@@NikateeN Thanks for the pin yes you did mentioned the side tron brought in 2002 & used till 2007. In the summer of 2006 there was another square shaped side tron used near to the right tita tron. It was a blink & a miss as it was used for just few weaks. You will find that in June & July 2006 episodes of smackdown. Also English is not my first language so apologies if I am hard to understand.
The 2003-2008 smackdown had the best arena but should of had the turnbuckles silver color too. The refree’s shirts should of been blue & silver instead of blue & black.
Man I hated when the ropes were turned white, I was still upset by that point that the Raw ring ropes were turned white a few years before, but Smackdown ring ropes being white as well didn't help. I always thought they threw both shows off in terms of appearance, so glad the red ring ropes for Raw and blue ring ropes for Smackdown came back in 2016. Ironically I didn't have a problem with the black ring ropes from 2002, in fact I was upset they stopped using them for Smackdown, lol.
YESSSSSS! I've been waiting for this one since forever! Well worth the wait. Love your use of the BGM from the games. I never noticed they ditched the side vertical tron in 2007, nor the blue stripe on the aprons being added during this time. The oval tron and fist will always be my favorite Smackdown stage sets; I never liked the generic HD sets that were shared with all the arenas from 2008, but I liked Smackdown Live's set. I also liked the one that came after before the pandemic hit: it kind of reminds me of a modernized version of the first stage set with that structure at 13:02. I will say though that I really like the current logo they have for Smackdown, it's like they put the first logo from 1999 and the Ruthless Agression logo from 2002-2003 in a blender lol.
The Fist design was best. Partly biased because I watched WWE in that era, but it was so distinctive and better than the RAW arena (with the parallelogram titantron etc at the time). I also think it had a gritty feel, in a good way. Btw, I know it's in the pics, but one of the things you forgot to mention is that the Fist arena used to have a ramp in 2002. By 2003 (I believe) that was gone and they had a flat entrance.
Yes I’ve been waiting a long time for this hey are u ever going to do any more cheap game reviews by any chance as well as any more spotlight video game reviews for 2021 and another Q&A for 2021 by any chance because u know the new year is coming up and I wanted to hear if there are any video plans for 2021 do u have any ideas by any chance
I have a very large collection of cheap/budget titles, it’s always been a fascination of mine so it’s quite possible to see more vids. There are plenty of Spotlight reviews in the works as well.
I just realised in the early aprons of the HD Era like ECW, there are some space left over black from the left and right sides of each apron, then later they made the design fill the entire apron
7:45 One thing I always liked about the 2010-2015 graphics package for SmackDown was that the name badges kept the same look but were personalized to match the aesthetics for certain wrestlers (i.e. Kane's nameplate had a red/orange hue and was on fire, and all the Divas got a pink version).
I never really cared for the HD era stage. Also didn't care for the lighting of the arena.I remember growing up in the early 2000s noticing how much darker the arena looked on SmackDown than RAW and I thought it gave SmackDown some uniqueness.
My favorite is the smackdown fist stage. I have the toy replica of the stage. Another memory of the stage is in the video game Smackdown Shut Your Mouth you can climb up the set and jump off of the giant fist.
I forget how little of Smackdown I actually saw. I was 16 when it debuted, and i stopped wat hing WWE in 2002 or 2003. So I really only remember the first 2 unique designs up to the fist. You forgot Smackdown Xtreme!! Which was the same as the first Smackdown oval set, but the logo had a red X on it
In some episode of Smackdown back in 2005-06, i remember clearly the arena is using RAW arena but more blue color. I remember watching Booker T with Finlay vs Chris Benoit. I've never seen smackdown using this arena before, still searching on google images, but i couldn't find. i'm still hoping i dont wrong...
Keep up the great work. Just subbed. I remember here in the U.K we didn't get Smackdown for a long while, i think it was a nearly year or maybe more. The Fist Stage is my favourite. Weirdly I thought that first set design was around longer. I'm glad they've brought back intros, pyros, stage set pieces as they are what makes Raw, Smackdown & PPVs feel special. Growing up i'd look forward to see what unique PPV set design they've come up with. I'm glad the wine glass arena sets have gone but to me Raws set still needs that wow factor. I know things had to be different/figured out, but when they started at the Performance Centre it felt like it hollowed me out & got filled in with a constant sick & upset feeling I had to stop watching all of WWE until the ThunderDome.
Was never the same after it went HD, stages became more like TV talent show sets. They need to bring proper titantron videos back
idk why just because it went hd everything had to become boring wish smackdown fist stayed longer
I think it's due to costing and stuff as they travel all over the world meaning they would have to put in that extra effort just to bring in certain sets then again nowadays the screens all feel like there's more on stage as is when things felt unique and simple Raw 1997 - 2008 and Smackdown 1999 - 2008, Also AEW has since 2023 maintained a screen only presence and it sucks and doesn't make them stand out at all.
The fist stage will always be the best!!!!
Without a doubt the BEST stage ever! hands down 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
Very ahead of its time
Oval stage was by far the best. The pyro used to open the show for smackdown back then was absolutely amazing
Yes, that pyro was epic!
Also the fist stage
I think it’s nostalgia cuz the ruthless aggression stage is clearly better🤣
Love hearing that hctp music in the Background(:
also Wrestlemania XIX for Gamecube ;)
The fist being the best design isnt a hot-take by any means but it has to do with 2008 making every set literally the same that really puts me off and since then Smackdown has just never felt different enough
The Smackdown! Ovaltron (1999-2001) and the Fist (2001-2008) arena sets are my childhood favorites.
The day the ring aprons went was the day WWE died for me
I grew up when I was a kid with the "oval" stage design (WWE was on TV for the first time in my country, Chile, from 1999 to 2002), being to me one of the icons of the beloved Attitude era. As a pre-teen, I grew up with the "fist" design, and I love it to this day (to me, the best design in terms of identity). When they switched to the HD stages, it felt so lifeless to me; until the 2019 redesign, which I liked so much when I watched live the premiere episode on Fox.
I adore the original Smackdown stage. It was so unique. It gave me a sci-fi vibe.
I miss when each show had a special looking design for that show
Added the 1998 rock theme in the intro. Nice
Fannypack Rock will never get old
I grew up with the 2001-2008 Arena. Didn’t watch the Show before and after the Smack Your TV Fist Set. Memories makes me want to go back there
The oval tron was awesome. Had an industrial and 90's sci fi aesthetic. Sets matter, they are part of the show and create the visual battlefield so to speak.
I remember when I first seen the fist stage and I was like "is this a ppv?" Lmao arena showcase rules
Thanks! I agree, it was definitely on a PPV level.
When WWE went "HD" and "PG" then they didn't became more creative for Each Brand.
The original oval set will always be my favourite personally
The Oval, Fist, and Fox are what personify SMACKDOWN!
The Oval stage will always be my favorite.
I miss the FOX Smackdown stage
I miss the first Smackdown stage.
Once the pandemic is over the Fox stage and the half pipe stage for Raw would return
I miss the world of wrestling pre 2008.
The Ovaltron/original set will always be my favorite. So much nostalgia and such a great era to have been a fan.
Same and Agreed 💯
In order: here are the top designs for Smackdown IMO:
Smackdown Fist (02-07)
Smackdown Oval (99-01)
Smackdown on FOX (19-20)
Smackdown Live (16-19)
Agreed
You forgot the Smackdown HD stage from 2008 through 2012, and the Smackdown HD 2012 through 2015.
@@SSJ491 You mean the 1000 stage
Awesomeness video please do more thanks
1999-2001 was the best smackdown stage
WWF/E SmackDown! '99 - '08 will always be the goat 🔥 🔥 🔥 .
Now...
I can't wait for NXT arena showcase!
Yes, finally I been waiting for the History of Smackdown arenas (1999-2020). Thank you, Nikateen.
That initial SD! Live setup was basically the old TLC PPV setup minus the props.
Fast forward to 2023, and the set is LITERALLY one giant screen... 😂
wonder if we'll get a substantial change once the show goes to USA Network this fall after the FOX era ends.
2003 was my favorite year of smackdown
Mine too
Fun fact! Two 18 wheelers were used for the Smachdown fist 👊 alone! Thing was massive!
Damn! Didn’t know that.
I miss the Rings😭
The graphics from 2004-2006 are IMO the best Smackdown! broadcast graphics.
One of the BEST SmackDown! graphics of all time in WWE history period!
@@DarrylKeithFord2ndChannel Despite Smackdown! sucking 2004 and little bit in 2005, their broadcast graphics and intro was the best part of each show
@@smoothst9303 I know right?
@@DarrylKeithFord2ndChannel JBL's WWE Championship reign, Kurt Angle playing a pervert to Sharmell, Dominik storyline, Undertaker being mistreated, Dawn Marie having a affair with Charlie Haas etc.
My favorite Smackdown design was the giant fist. Very nostalgic.
Vince McMahon slowly became obsessed with leds
Please do these Arena Showcases!
Congratulations, it's really good!
The oval and the fist stage will always be my best smackdown arenas.
I stop watching wwe when the HD and pg stuff came around.
The OG, Fist, and 2019 FOX arenas are all top tier for me. Hopefully they bring that 2019 set back when things go back to normal, I love how futuristic it looks, while also paying tribute to the OG with the arches center stage.
They got to bring back the fist I honestly like the smackdown live logo they should have kept that one but ditch the word live
The ovaltron and fist stage are my favorite designs of all time. I also love the logos, graphics and theme songs used from 1999-2010
Same!
Man 20 years time flies I truly love the OG set but man when the fist came WOW just AMAZING. I know you did a video game comparison of WCW video games Arena maybe a WWE one one day Awesome content as always from one creator to another keep up the great work my friend
Thanks man!
I liked the 1999 and the 2006 Smackdown stages. For the next arena showcase let's do WWF Superstars and WCW Saturday Night
Fun fact they used the tlc stage set for smackdown before summerslam in 2016 and the old summerslam 2009 2010 and 2011 stage for raw
This is the episode I’ve waited forever for :)
We’ve waited a long time for this epic topic Nikateen, Thank you, and the 👊🏻 Stage will always and forever be my Favourite of all time
Thanks!
Please do an Arena ShowCase for Impact Wrestling!!!
Yeah, some of the sets look absolutely frickin' magnificent...🤘🏼💯✔️
Love the video man!!! Ilways enjoy your content, Also my favorite has to be the fist stage !!!! I remember seeing it live when I went to a smackdown recording as a kid and was amazed how big and kool it looked, and the pyro was amazing, thanks for this blast from the past man!!! take care and merry christmas
Thanks man! Really cool experience you had, I was also lucky enough to attend a SmackDown with the fist stage and it was an incredible visual.
I loved the first SmackDown stage and the classic fist stage. I feel really old
My favorite WWF/E Smackdown arena is the first one that was used when it became a weekly TV series from 1999 to 2001 after the pilot episode with the same set as RAW IS WAR. The one with the oval shaped titantron on the left or sometimes right side of the stage. I also liked the Smackdown stage with the broken glass that WWE used from 2001 to 2008. When they changed everything to HD, the sets became generic and not fun to look at anymore and now it's even worse with all of those ridiculous LED lights all over the place, it's not just Smackdown, RAW was affected by this crap too.
The 👊 logo and the old 1999 SD logos was my favorite all time
The original Stage was my fav
The old Smackdown fist set is legendary but I always liked the original oval set from 1999. I started watching WWE back in 1996 up until 2008 so I saw all the set design changes as they happened. To be honest I always preferred the dark gritty industrial metal look that Raw and Nitro had back in the '90s as far as set designs go. I'm not a fan of all the multiple LED screens and over the top lighting effects and graphics for a weekly wrestling show but maybe just for a big event like WrestleMania or something.
The beautiful people still gets me hype!!!
That 2019 one was the best they had since the fist.
I loved old Smack Down the blue showcase arena.
Thats memorable
Hit of nostalgia right here
Awesome vid and dedication, attention to the smack down brand. Definitely deserves more views.
Great video! I remember randomly between 2004 to 2007 the Raw set design would be used for Smackdown from time to time it was really random. Always found it pretty weird seeing smackdown branding on a raw stage design!
WWF Attitude Era Smackdown & Raw Draft in 2000
Raw
1.Stone Cold Steve Austin
2.Triple H
3.Chris Jericho
4.Kane
5.Dean Malenko
6.Dudley Boyz
7.New Age Outlaws
8.X-PAC
9.Val Venis
10.Chyna
Smackdown
1.The Rock
2.Undertaker
3.Kurt Angle
4.Chris Benoit
5.Hardy Boyz
6.Edge & Christian
7.Eddie Guerrero
8.William Regals
9.Perry Saturn
10.Lita
I barely remember Rich Brennan, and I definitely don't remember him being a Smackdown announcer
The Smackdown fist stage will always be the GOAT! So much fun so many memories and was the best one hands down!
The Oval Stage and The Fist are my favorite! The Fist is #1 for me!
My favorite Smackdown set is the set from august 2001- May 2003. This is the Smackdown Fist with the ramp set. During late 2002 to early 2003 there would sometimes be shows where Smackdown had no ramp, but they got rid of the ramp officially in May of 2003.
Idc what anyone says Smackdown 2021 looks beautiful
Damn I musta missed this in my sub box because I had no idea you finally uploaded this.
Well time to sit back and enjoy a long awaited video from ya!
The FOX stage is really underrated and its unfortunate how short it lasted due to Covid
2003 with the “very dangerous looking design” was definitely my favorite
Everybody On The Ground! Was My Favorite Theme Plus The Beautiful People My Second Favorite And Born To Run, Third!
The oval set will always be my favorite not only because of that era of wrestling but also because of the Y2K aesthetic design.
As much as I love the fist design, I would have loved to see the oval set last a few more years. It wasn’t used long enough in my opinion.
@@NikateeN Yeah, I think they could of use it up to 2003 or 04.
4:12 when i was looking at the Smackdown stage in 2002, I noticed a few changes.
it got black ropes in March
The WWE name change in May (not to mention the fact that the WWF logo was missing in the may 9th and may 16th episode and it would appear as the WWE logo in may 23rd)
The silver apron and post would debut in August 29th not to mention the return of the blue ropes
and finally the side tron in september 5th
Nice video but you missed the extra side tron used breifly in 2006.
I mentioned the one on the side, was there an additional one?
@@NikateeN Thanks for the pin yes you did mentioned the side tron brought in 2002 & used till 2007. In the summer of 2006 there was another square shaped side tron used near to the right tita tron. It was a blink & a miss as it was used for just few weaks. You will find that in June & July 2006 episodes of smackdown. Also English is not my first language so apologies if I am hard to understand.
The original ovaltron will always be my favorite
Man, you deserve waaaay more subscribers. Such good shit pal.
Thanks Will!
The first Smackdown stage is the best. The simplicity, the gritty aesthetic of the attitude era will never be matched.
2019 stage is sorely missed, it was the best one we've had in years.
06:32. When smackdown died
The product was still good
I’m lucky enough to have memories of watching smackdown with the fist stage even though I was like 6 when they went hd lol
The background music at 15:27 👌🏽 I remember that track in the games 👏🏼
The Ovaltron is my favorite, the fist stage is close second
The 2003-2008 smackdown had the best arena but should of had the turnbuckles silver color too. The refree’s shirts should of been blue & silver instead of blue & black.
The fist stage is the best stage for a weekly wrestling show of all time.
Man I hated when the ropes were turned white, I was still upset by that point that the Raw ring ropes were turned white a few years before, but Smackdown ring ropes being white as well didn't help. I always thought they threw both shows off in terms of appearance, so glad the red ring ropes for Raw and blue ring ropes for Smackdown came back in 2016. Ironically I didn't have a problem with the black ring ropes from 2002, in fact I was upset they stopped using them for Smackdown, lol.
My favourite graphics were 2004-2006
My favourite years for smackdown are
2003,2005,2006,2008,2009,2010,early 2011,2016,early 2017 and 2018
YESSSSSS! I've been waiting for this one since forever! Well worth the wait. Love your use of the BGM from the games.
I never noticed they ditched the side vertical tron in 2007, nor the blue stripe on the aprons being added during this time.
The oval tron and fist will always be my favorite Smackdown stage sets; I never liked the generic HD sets that were shared with all the arenas from 2008, but I liked Smackdown Live's set. I also liked the one that came after before the pandemic hit: it kind of reminds me of a modernized version of the first stage set with that structure at 13:02. I will say though that I really like the current logo they have for Smackdown, it's like they put the first logo from 1999 and the Ruthless Agression logo from 2002-2003 in a blender lol.
The Fist design was best. Partly biased because I watched WWE in that era, but it was so distinctive and better than the RAW arena (with the parallelogram titantron etc at the time). I also think it had a gritty feel, in a good way.
Btw, I know it's in the pics, but one of the things you forgot to mention is that the Fist arena used to have a ramp in 2002. By 2003 (I believe) that was gone and they had a flat entrance.
Yes I’ve been waiting a long time for this hey are u ever going to do any more cheap game reviews by any chance as well as any more spotlight video game reviews for 2021 and another Q&A for 2021 by any chance because u know the new year is coming up and I wanted to hear if there are any video plans for 2021 do u have any ideas by any chance
I have a very large collection of cheap/budget titles, it’s always been a fascination of mine so it’s quite possible to see more vids. There are plenty of Spotlight reviews in the works as well.
The Smackdown Fist will always be the best.
I just realised in the early aprons of the HD Era like ECW, there are some space left over black from the left and right sides of each apron, then later they made the design fill the entire apron
Sweet video dude. I hadn't noticed all the subtle and sometimes not so subtle changes since the HD sets.
I like old SMACKDOWN 1999-2001 stage
7:45 One thing I always liked about the 2010-2015 graphics package for SmackDown was that the name badges kept the same look but were personalized to match the aesthetics for certain wrestlers (i.e. Kane's nameplate had a red/orange hue and was on fire, and all the Divas got a pink version).
I never really cared for the HD era stage. Also didn't care for the lighting of the arena.I remember growing up in the early 2000s noticing how much darker the arena looked on SmackDown than RAW and I thought it gave SmackDown some uniqueness.
Great video, favourite smackdown stage set up is the old school oval set up
My favorite is the smackdown fist stage. I have the toy replica of the stage. Another memory of the stage is in the video game Smackdown Shut Your Mouth you can climb up the set and jump off of the giant fist.
I forget how little of Smackdown I actually saw. I was 16 when it debuted, and i stopped wat hing WWE in 2002 or 2003. So I really only remember the first 2 unique designs up to the fist.
You forgot Smackdown Xtreme!! Which was the same as the first Smackdown oval set, but the logo had a red X on it
Imagine being one of the many technicians to set up all of the lights and screens for the fans
In some episode of Smackdown back in 2005-06, i remember clearly the arena is using RAW arena but more blue color. I remember watching Booker T with Finlay vs Chris Benoit. I've never seen smackdown using this arena before, still searching on google images, but i couldn't find. i'm still hoping i dont wrong...
I’ll have to look into that!
@@NikateeN nah I found it mate.. ruclips.net/video/XhTe2OXMD4U/видео.html
I love this video. Thank you
Thanks!
Keep up the great work. Just subbed. I remember here in the U.K we didn't get Smackdown for a long while, i think it was a nearly year or maybe more. The Fist Stage is my favourite. Weirdly I thought that first set design was around longer. I'm glad they've brought back intros, pyros, stage set pieces as they are what makes Raw, Smackdown & PPVs feel special. Growing up i'd look forward to see what unique PPV set design they've come up with. I'm glad the wine glass arena sets have gone but to me Raws set still needs that wow factor. I know things had to be different/figured out, but when they started at the Performance Centre it felt like it hollowed me out & got filled in with a constant sick & upset feeling I had to stop watching all of WWE until the ThunderDome.
I agree, It does feel like the oval design was around for longer than 2 years. Thanks for the sub!
The original Circular smackdown is iconic the rest not so much