Reason For Blackouts On SmackDown During The Rock Segment Revealed

The Rock and Roman Reigns opened up last night’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown in Glendale, Arizona, addressing the state of WrestleMania 40 and a challenge laid out by Cody Rhodes for a singles match with The Rock. 

During a promo in which The Rock offered his own challenge of a tag team match for WrestleMania Night One between Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, himself, and Roman Reigns, with huge implications for the following night’s main event between Rhodes & Reigns, those watching the show live on FOX experienced some difficulties. Those on the east coast feed experienced several blackouts during the promo, but this wasn’t an accident or issue with the feed itself, according to PWInsider.

Directly in the hard cam was a sign which said “DIE ROCKY DIE”, paying homage to the chant that fans used to throw at The Rock during his earlier days in WWE where he struggled to get the audience on his side. FOX decided that they wanted to censor this particular sign, which led to the feed experiencing several blackouts. It isn’t known whether or not those at FOX were aware of what the sign was referring to.