7. The Phrase Smackdown Became A TV Show And A Common Word
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfgbrRSf40Y When a company names a television show because of a word that one of their performers uses, you know that the guy saying that word is a special talent. The Rock had a catchphrase that he used all the time where he would say he was going to "lay the smackdown on all their candy asses" and the crowd would chant it along with him. That's where it came from. That's what happened when WWE got the green light to produce Smackdown 15 years ago. They needed a name for a show that would be memorable. If you look at the names of some of their other shows they weren't that creative: Raw, Heat, Jakked, Metal, Excess. They are basically common words. They don't mean anything. With Smackdown, they picked a word that The Rock made famous. Maybe it's a word that he came up with or it could have been another writer. It doesn't matter who came up with it! See, I just did some Rock schtick there. The point is, they took a Rock word and it became a pop culture phenomenon because people use it all the time. It even made it into the dictionary, so that's something to be proud of.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.