Chris Stapleton Gives NFL Fans “Goosebumps,” Snoop Dogg Name-Drops His ‘Monday Night Football’ Partner on ‘The Voice’

A TV program is only as successful as its theme song. Country-rock legend Hank Williams, Jr. became the voice of Monday Night Football in 1989, when ABC debuted his reworked single “All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night.” For more than 20 years, Williams’ gravelly tone was a harbinger of touchdowns and tackles to come. These days, fans are tuning in for the unlikely duo of velvet-voiced country crooner Chris Stapleton and legendary rapper Snoop Dogg with their version of the Phil Collins classic “In The Air Tonight.” On Monday (Oct. 7), the performance got NFL fans fired up to watch the New Orleans Saints take on the Kansas City Chiefs.

“The Chris Stapleton Monday Night Football intro is easily the best thing ESPN has produced in the last decade,” wrote one fan on X. More fans showered the intro with love, saying “Chris Stapleton’s intro for Monday Night Football is electric, gives me chills” and “The opening of Monday Night Football with Chris Stapleton, Sheila E, and Snoop Dogg. The first time I heard it, goosebumps and hair on my arms stood up.”

Social Media Goes Wild For Chris Stapleton, Snoop Dogg Collab

We’re five weeks deep into the NFL season. And New Orleans fans are hoping to see their 2-2 Saints upset the defending Super Bowl champions on their home turf.

Chris Stapleton’s smoky vocals floated through the airwaves, interspersed with footage of the Saints and Chiefs. The country star turns up the heat as the tone switches from dreamy to urgent: I’ve been waiting for this moment / All my life / Oh, Lord.

Then Snoop Dogg makes his appearance, rapping, Relentless / When we come out the gates / Represent this / On the run to be great.

Watch Snoop Dogg Name-Drop His ‘MNF’ Football Partner On ‘The Voice’

Between the Monday Night Football theme song and his coaching debut on The Voice, Snoop Dogg owns Monday night. And it turns out the “Gin and Juice” rapper is not above using his MNF collaborator as leverage in the singing reality competition show.

Artist Tanner Frick scored a four-chair turn with his stunning cover of Morgan Wallen’s “Thought You Should Know.” Reba McEntire, the “Queen of Country,” praised the Mississippi resident’s “Chris Stapleton growl.” Taking that as the compliment it was intended to be, Frick replied, “I love Chris Stapleton.”

Snoop seized his opportunity. “I got Chris’s number, by the way,” said the West Coast rapper, 52. “Me and Chris got the Monday Night Football theme, by the way. So if you pick Snoop Dogg, I’m pretty sure I can walk him in here and get a verse or two.”

While it was a valiant effort, Frick ultimately went Team Reba.