In 1998 The Rock told Vince McMahon he wanted to use the term “SmackDown” in a promo, and after explaining to McMahon, it meant giving someone an ass whooping, he got the go-ahead. One year on, the word had become synonymous with The Rock, and WWE would name their new show after it. Now over two decades later, Fox’s official WWE Twitter account would post the show’s old logo and asked who the first person fans thought of when seeing it.
The Rock would be named countless times, which drew his attention, and he commented that the first name it made him think of was Downtown Bruno, also known as Harvey Wippleman. The reason for this is because it was actually him who created the name. It isn’t clear if he came up with the word or it was his idea to name the show SmackDown, but it’s a fantastic acknowledgment either way.
The Rock and longtime WWE employee Harvey Wippleman were colleagues in the mid-90s and early 2000s. However, they had met many years earlier when The Rock left Hawaii to live with his father, Rocky Johnson, and instead staying with Wippleman in a motel. During this time, Wippleman would buy The Rock his first car for $40 from a drug user, and the Hollywood star didn’t forget it. He would repay his friend by giving him a truck to say thank you last year and shared the video on his Instagram.
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