Rusty Weiss
WrestleMania 42 rolled into Allegiant Stadium on Saturday night, and for a few moments, the entire WWE Universe decided to treat ESPN‘s loudest mouth like he was the biggest heel in a bad guy battle royale.
Stephen A. Smith, ringside and living his best celebrity life, popped up on the big screen only to get absolutely showered with boos. Not polite golf claps. Not scattered jeers. Full-throated, “you suck” level heat that made the pyrotechnics sound quiet by comparison.
In classic Stephen A. fashion, the man didn’t flinch. Instead, he leaned back, closed his eyes, stretched his arms out, and soaked it in with a big grin. Brother, if that’s not embracing the heel turn, I don’t know what is.
Wild: Stephen A. Smith got insanely booed by WWE fans at WrestleMania.
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 19, 2026
We have never seen anything like this.
💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/k3sjghNbxf
It was just a couple of weeks ago that Smith was claiming a group of perceived enemies was out to get him. Maybe he should have been keeping his eye on one individual in particular.
The real villain origin story started the day before on First Take, when the one and only Danhausen rolled up to curse Stephen A. for… well, being rude and probably existing too loudly on television. Which is Smith’s entire shtick, really.
Danhausen has just cursed Stephen A Smith 😬 pic.twitter.com/eFJgitu5Bh
— Inside The Dome (@inside_the_dome) April 17, 2026
Danhausen’s Curse Comes True: Stephen A. Smith Turns Full Heel at WrestleMania 42
The curse appears to have worked. One day you’re yelling about LeBron on national TV, the next you’re getting roasted by 50,000 wrestling fans who maybe feel like your hot takes hit harder than a steel chair.
Credit to Smith, though—he didn’t hide from the boos. He owned it like a pro, proving that even when the crowd turns on you, the volume of the reaction still counts as a W in the attention game.
Stephen A. is a natural heel. While other celebs got polite golf applause, SAS got the nuclear treatment—and walked away smiling as if he’d just won the Universal Championship.
Danhausen is probably very pleased, cackling in third person: “Danhausen is very nice, very evil.”
Smith recently claimed that the WWE approached him about a role as an on-air personality. But he declined because he’s not as brave as Pat McAfee. He was addressing McAfee’s involvement in the Cody Rhodes/Randy Orton angle.
“I love it. I love it, and I want to applaud Pat McAfee for that, because let me tell you something. They were talking to—I go back to the old days of Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan and people like that,” said Smith. “I actually wanted to do that.”
“Your man Nick Khan talked to me about that. See, the difference is, I’m not as courageous as Pat McAfee. I ain’t trying to get hit by one of them big boys, at all!” he added. “I want no part of it, but I love that stuff because I think the sport needs it.”
The closest SAS has come to getting hit by a big guy was his altercation with LeBron. That probably wouldn’t have ended well for him either, given his documented boxing training.
LeBron just posted this on IG 😂😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/IJUwJFXVsg
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 27, 2025
