So finally, The Rock has returned to WWE...
Video to watch: The Rock
Despite not working for a professional wrestling organization anymore, I still love the sport and follow it as much as I can.
It really started when I was a little kid and my grandparents used to watch the WWF every Saturday and treat it as if it was a real sport. If anyone even dared to say that the WWF, NWA or WCW was fake, they would get admonished greatly. Even to this day, some family members will never state that wrestling is fake.
You can say its acting, scripted, worked out, but don't call it fake. Those men and women are out there working hard out there and to call their art that is insulting.
I'm starting to sound like this guy...
Anyway, because of the influence of the family, I've taken professional wrestling more seriously than most other people really should. Even when I've gone periods of not watching it consistently, mainly my college years in the early 2000's, I still would find time to watch an episode of Raw, Nitro, Smackdown, ECW, etc.
Working for an actual wrestling organization made me watch the sport even more because it was part of the job to view the competition as well as your own work, but it helped me see the entire scope of the industry. This was good but it also took out some of the fun of being a fan and I looked at it as more of a business.
What does all of this have to do with The Rock's return?
For the first time in a long time, I felt like the fanboy that obsessed with the sport as a teenager.
When the arena lights went down and The Rock's theme music came on, I literally yelled out loud in my house and went off. It was an incredible moment that I didn't see coming.
With the internet age we're in, the difficulty of keeping a secret in wrestling is harder than ever. I'm sure there was a Web site or a few reporters who figured out that the guest host for Wrestlemania was going to be Rocky (one fan in the arena sitting behind the announce table had a sign for The Rock when he came out). However, it was great to finally be surprised for once.
I thought the actual promo was solid. I read a comment online that said The Rock looked rusty but I didn't see it. In fact, for someone who hasn't cut a long promo in that format in years, he did amazing. I thought the comments as Dwayne was a nice touch as well. His interaction with Michael Cole was funny as well, especially when you consider the history that both of those men have together. However, there were two things that I question from The Rock's promo.
1) Why was he so persistent in promising to never leave WWE again? The Rock kept saying that he was returning for good to the WWE but wouldn't say in what capacity. I have to believe that the acting career isn't over. Shoot, he's in the new movie in the Fast and Furious franchise that comes out this summer. The commercial was in the Super Bowl.
I don't think you're going to see The Rock lacing up his boots and trying to get the World Title. Why would The Rock put his body through the strains of being a wrestler when he can do just as well acting?
I think you're going to see The Rock on WWE television heavily for the next month promoting Wrestlemania but after the event, you may see him once every two to three months.
2) Why did he go off on John Cena? I understood him going after The Miz, the current WWE Champion. The Rock is a face, Miz is a heel, that's basic Wrestling 101 right there.
I'm not a fan of John Cena's character. Cena is a loyal to WWE and has been excellent for the company. In fact, Cena has been the biggest money maker for WWE the past seven years since The Rock left.
I was very surprised that WWE, mainly Vince McMahon, allowed The Rock to go after their cash cow like that in a public forum.
An amendment to that is that the Rock said all of his catchphrases during the promo but if you noticed, half of them were beeped out, which would have never happened in the mid to late 1990's or even the early 2000's.
The result of that is you have a generation of fans like myself who are frustrated about the censorship of the product and the representation of that has been Cena. Therefore, you have many fans who dislike Cena and I guess The Rock was trying to express that.
My final thought on this is that we've seen WWE bring back former stars in the past. I remember when Hulk Hogan returned for the first time in a long time years ago. I remember the reunion of the NWO in WWE. Outside of Randy Savage, Bruno Sanmartino and the Ultimate Warrior, we've seen every big name the WWE has ever had in its history, come back for one more run. However, the reality is that each of those returns produced a moment of glory and not much else. How will The Rock be different?
I've already had two friends tell me that they're coming to Wrestlemania in Atlanta just to see The Rock and seen numerous people online saying that they're now interested in the event.
I was going to order Wrestlemania on pay-per-view before The Rock's return but now I regret not having a ticket to go the actual event.
I think The Rock and WWE will be making a lot of money in the next few months.
Those are my thoughts, what are yours?
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