Reason Revealed For WWE SmackDown Black Outs
There was some editing going on during The Bloodline’s segment on WWE SmackDown.
The first 40 minutes of WWE Smackdown in Glendale was all about The Bloodline as Roman Reigns and The Rock spoke their minds.
During the segment, The Rock said no to Cody Rhodes’ WrestleMania challenge and instead presented a counter offer. The Rock pitched a tag team match for WrestleMania 40 Night 1 for him to team up with the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Reigns against Cody Rhodes and the World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins.
Fans watching that opening promo segment on FOX in the United States may have noticed some sort of editing/glitching going on. It was due to a sign in the crowd.
There was a fan in the crowd that had a sign that said “Die Rocky Die” on it. Longtime fans may remember that it was a popular phrase and sign from The Rock’s rookie year in the company when fans rejected him as a babyface in late 1996/early 1997 before he eventually turned heel.
Since it’s a different era of WWE that is presenting a PG product, it seems as though the censors on Fox didn’t like seeing that sign and felt the need to make the screen go black when they saw the sign on camera.
This is the DIE ROCKY DIE sign that caused FOX to censor parts of the opening segment on #SmackDownpic.twitter.com/rn9sjsxMNI
— Wrestling News (@WrestlingNewsCo) March 2, 2024
Fans who watched in other countries like Canada on Sportsnet 360 didn’t experience the same black out moments during the broadcast.
On WWE’s YouTube channel, the company posted the full video featuring the promos of Roman Reigns and The Rock, which saw Rock acknowledge Reigns as the Tribal Chief.
Cody Rhodes And Seth Rollins Heading To WWE SmackDown
During The Rock’s match challenge to Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, he invited them to SmackDown on March 8th in Dallas, which means that two of Raw’s biggest stars will be on Smackdown next week.
Even though he didn’t appear on camera, Cody Rhodes was also at Smackdown this week because he wrestled after the show was over and cut a cheeky promo about The Rock as well.