WWE Smackdown moving to Thursdays on SyFy

It what was no surprise, the WWE officially announced that its weekly "Smackdown" television show will be moving to Thursday nights on SyFy at 8pm ET beginning on Jan. 15, 2015.

The move away from Friday nights had been speculated for months. By waiting until next year, the WWE can make the move without going head-to-head against the NFL on Thursday nights this season.

“Quite simply, more young men watch television on Thursday night than on Fridays,” said Michael Engleman, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Digital and Global Brand Strategy, Syfy in a press release. “Among Men 18-49, PUTS are 15 percent higher compared to Fridays, expanding the potential audience for SmackDown. Since the majority of broadcast programming skews female, we’re also using Thursday nights to counter program.”

Added Michelle Wilson, Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer of WWE: “WWE’s sizable and passionate fan base make SmackDown the No. 1 entertainment show on Syfy and the most-watched, regularly-scheduled program among key demographics on the network. We look forward to bringing the WWE audience to Thursday nights on Syfy.”

"Smackdown" originally aired on Thursday nights when it debuted in 1999, where it remained for six years. That changed in 2005 when the show was moved to Fridays at the time on UPN. The program remained on that night despite moves to The CW, MyNetwork TV and SyFy.

The belief was that the WWE had always wanted to get "Smackdown" off of Friday nights which is typically a death slot for television shows and now they are getting their wish.

The question will now be how this may effect the weekly "NXT" show which currently airs on Thursday nights at 9pm ET on the WWE Network. With it airing on the network, the company can easily slide it to another night with Wednesdays being the most likely choice.