Is Dwayne Johnson still the people’s champion?
In the few days since Wrestlemania Sunday went off the air, a conclusion that saw John Cena make history, winning his seventeenth championship to surpass Ric Flair’s recognized record, the Cody Rhodes/Cena bout has been the subject of much discussion, particularly the lack of an appearance by The Rock after the final boss was the catalyst for Cena’s shocking heel turn at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in February. In typical pro wrestling fashion, the potential reasons that may or may not exist behind that decision sparked even more debate, specifically if an old rivalry from more than a quarter century ago had a ripple effect on the business decisions made today.
When Vince McMahon was rightfully exiled in disgrace from the WWE a few years ago, the TKO corporation quickly used The Rock as a new member of the WWE board to put a positive spin on the narrative around the company, specifically as a way to attempt to sweep the controversy around McMahon and the lawsuit filed against him that garnered main stream headlines, under the rug.
At the time, it was thought to be a win-win situation, as it gave the WWE more access to one of the biggest stars in its history since The Rock quite literally has a vested interest in the success of the brand. It got him in a tag match, his first actual match in more than a decade, at Wrestlemania last year. At the same time, it provided an avenue for Dwayne Johnson, who had yielded mixed success with some of his more recent films, to be perceived as a mega star, boosting his public profile.
On a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez addressed the speculation that perhaps tension between WWE head of creative, Triple H and The Rock had something to do with Johnson’s decision not to appear on the event last weekend. This was after it was reported in the time since the Cena heel turn that The Rock originally pitched that Cody turn heel and join him, which Rhodes declined. As a side note, I just can’t think of any logically good reason for Cody to turn heel less than a year into his reign as champion, considering that the office finally had a baby face that could take the torch from Cena as the representative of the company. Cody understands the responsibility of the position and he checks all the boxes as a main event star so it was probably a wise decision to turn down the pitched storyline.
Meltzer noted that there could still be some old wounds between the two veteran wrestlers, as it’s well-known that Shanw Michaels, who was in a much different place in his life at the time, and Triple H weren’t keen on The Rock moving up the card when he ascended in popularity. Given the track record of the Kliq, which is somehow celebrated today through the WWE’s efforts to re-write history, it’s easy to see how it’s at least possible that the DX duo wanted to snuff out The Rock’s rise in 1998.
Still, could something from more than 25 years ago really be held as that much of a grudge to affect the business decisions of a publicly-traded global corporation today?
Listen, holding a grudge is one of the few things I’m good at and one of my many character flaws, but I just can’t see something from more two decades ago dictating decisions now. Granted, anything is possible, but the previously mentioned vested interest that The Rock has in the success of the WWE brand appears to be a reason for him to want to see the best decisions made for the company.
However, and this could be a much bigger issue than an old grudge, this could simply be a power struggle of sorts for The Rock to want to use the WWE platform to promote himself as much as possible. It’s not quite as provocative as 25 years of animosity between two former pro wrestlers that was never resolved, but I wouldn’t necessarily be shocked if Dwayne Johnson wants to make it clear to WWE brass that he gets to do what he wants for his character or he’d rather stay home. Maybe he saw how popular Cody was as the top guy and wanted the cache of being the reason that Rhodes turned heel? In some respects, Cena had enough of a reason to become a villain without The Rock’s involvement based on the years of hostile crowd reaction that he endured, whereas Cody’s justification would’ve been solely about The Rock’s star power.
The major problem that I could see this creating, which could indirectly start a power struggle within the dynamics of the WWE, is that Dwayne Johnson seems to have an overestimation of his own character. The reason I say this is that at the post-show press conference of The Elimination Chamber, he broke character to talk about the storyline as if he just took part in Casablanca or some legendary art piece. This is pro wrestling, not Shakespeare. His perspective that sounds as if he thinks that his involvement is some type of fine art is pompous and superficial. This isn’t meant as a knock, as there are naturally peaks and valleys in any long-term career, but his films haven’t exactly done well at the box office recently, outside of Moana 2 last year.
It should go without saying that not everything that The Rock does is automatically good television just because he decides to show up. In fact, outside of the heel turn at Elimination Chamber, the vast majority of his promos prior to that were completely subpar. He either had no point like when he randomly showed up at the end of the Bad Blood pay-per-view in October, or he relied on excessive profanity as a substitute for compelling content on both Raw and Smackdown.
His appearance on the Pat McAfee show earlier this week didn’t do the situation any favors, as he claimed that he wasn’t needed, which is flimsy and mostly sounded like he just didn’t care to show up. As I wrote in a review about Wrestlemania Sunday, the entire point of the Cena heel turn was based on his alliance with The Rock because Cody rejected Johnson’s offer. Therefore, the final boss would have a reason to want to ensure that Cody lost the title. Instead, he sent Travis Scott, who isn’t a suitable replacement for one of the biggest stars in the history of the industry.
One thing is for sure, the talent, even The Rock, shouldn’t be given complete control over everything that their character does, there are too many examples of it going off the rails for there not to be some type of guardrails in place against it. I’m not sure what type of guardrail could really be put in place for The Rock isn’t he’s a member of the WWE board, but the bottom line is that his refusal to show up at Wrestlemania last weekend undoubtedly had a negative impact on the logic of the storyline and the quality of the main event.
This isn’t meant to sound sinister because it’s not as though The Rock’s involvement one way or the other is going to tank the momentum of the entire company, but you have to take into account if Dwayne’s Johnson’s priorities are what’s best for the company that he’s a board member of, or his own career? Don’t forget, The Rock made a random and pointless appearance on an episode of NXT in January, but didn’t think it was important enough to show up for the main event of the biggest show of the year.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
