SmackDown News: The Rock on “SmackDown” Origin, Angle Backstage, New Champs, World Cup Participants

The Rock on the Origin of SmackDown

The Rock was not on the show tonight, but WWE showed this tweet, where he explained the “origin” of the term “SmackDown” in WWE’s context.

Huge #SD1000 congrats to my @WWE family!
Fun fact, in 1998, I said to @VinceMcMahon “I’m gonna use the word ‘Smackdown’ tonight in my promo”. He said what’s that mean? I said it means I’m gonna whup some ass. He belly laughed and said say it!
The rest was history! #IfYaSmell 🎤 https://t.co/IVXI0WkkGl

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 16, 2018

The Rock probably took that from Beavis and Butt-head, though, I think. During an episode where they’re watching a Dr. Dre music video, Beavis says he’s going to “put the smack down” on Butt-head. In another episode, Butt-head says that he’s going to shove a remote up Beavis’s ass sideways… “Candy ass” was also used in another episode. So definitely seems like he was a Beavis and Butt-head fan.

Wrestlers Not on the Show

Several wrestlers that were advertised or rumored for the show did not actually appear for whatever reason, including James Ellsworth, Kane, Mark Henry, Michelle McCool and Torrie Wilson.

McCool did a video talking about LayCool that appeared on WWE’s YouTube channel. No word yet on any of the others though.

Kurt Angle Backstage

Kurt Angle was backstage at the show, but didn’t appear on TV.

New Tag Team Champions

The Bar defeated The New Day to become the new SmackDown Tag Team Champions. The Big Show interfered in the match, chokeslamming Kofi Kingston through the announce table and distracting Big E, who was hit with a Brogue Kick by Sheamus, giving The Bar the win.

World Cup Participants

All eight wrestlers in the “World Cup” tournament at Crown Jewel are now known. Tonight on SmackDown, The Miz defeated Rusev, and Rey Mysterio defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to qualify.

– John Cena
– Kurt Angle
– Randy Orton
– Jeff Hardy
– Dolph Ziggler
– Seth Rollins
– The Miz
– Rey Mysterio