10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE In 1998
1. The Origin Of One Of Wrestling's Most Famous Catchphrases
In a wild trivia note, one of the funniest human beings ever was responsible for the Rock's worst catchphrase, where one of the worst pro wrestlers ever was responsible for one of his best.
Conan O'Brien wrote peak Simpsons classics 'Homer Goes To College' and 'Marge Vs. The Monorail', two of the funniest or most deliriously inventive episodes in the strongest sitcom run of all-time. When one of his writers pitched a bad joke on his late night show, he'd gently mock them by asking them to pour a glass of "shut up juice". One such writer took that line with him to the WWF and fed it to the Rock, who quickly dropped it from his repertoire because it wasn't very good.
What was good was the Rock cutting somebody off with his "It doesn't matter!" line. That one was also copied in schools everywhere. Rock made countless peers look like complete geeks. His timing was immaculate, his straight-faced inquiry worked them every time, and the reactions were priceless.
Incredibly, this was a bit first done by, of all people, the phenomenally useless Tiger Ali Singh. During his usual segment, in which he'd make some plant from the crowd eat something vile to prove they were a disgusting American, he'd first embarrass them by asking their name and cutting them off the rough draft that was "That's irrelevant, and doesn't really matter".