10 Times WWE Had A BLACKOUT
5. Mr McMahon Cancels Triple H's Celebrations (SmackDown, April 24th 2020)
Marking 25 years since Triple H first Pedigreed his way into a smaller-audience-than-he-thinks' hearts in 1995, the April 24th 2020 edition of SmackDown was supposed to be a 25th Anniversary celebration of 'The Game'.
"Joking aside" would usually follow some snark like that, with a few words on the stuff that was objectively awesome or a subjective success during such a lengthy career. Unfortunately for the self-proclaimed 'King Of Kings', jokes were all anybody had.
The celebration took place just weeks into WWE's Performance Centre era as the world found itself mostly trapped indoors by the pandemic. With no crowd to toast him and virtually no roster of regulars or legends available to share in his moment, it fell to Shawn Michaels to ever-so-slightly roast him before a marble-mouthed Vince McMahon arrived to pile on the grief.
The abysmal finale to another rancid SmackDown, McMahon's tangent-laden speech unceremoniously brought the "party" to a halt. He turned the lights out on DX's little shindig, simultaneously ending Triple H's celebration and this episode of SmackDown.