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Posts Tagged ‘The Rock’

As was revealed on RAW, John Cena selected his partner to face off against The Miz and R-Truth at Survivor Series, and his choice was none other than his scheduled WrestleMania opponent, The Rock. Far from taking the sheen off the novelty of Rock’s in-ring return, a pre-WM appearance has been expected for some time, as a build-up to the big showdown next spring.

Those with SD memory cards aplenty may even have, stored away somewhere, episodes of RAW in which Mike Tyson’s guest spot at WrestleMania was similarly promoted. Given that Dwayne Johnson is a WWE product and knows their system, expect more cameos and pre-WM involvement from The Rock in the final months leading up to his big showdown with Cena.

The Rock returns to Monday Night Raw this Monday in what is certain to be an electrifying show. While there’s no word on whether Austin will play a role in WrestleMania, it would make for a solid promo for the return of Austin’s new USA show, WWE Tough Enough.

No word on whether The Rock will appear live the same night as Austin, but I’d give a diamond tennis bracelet to see them both back in a WWE ring again. I was appreciative of their star runs during the WWE Attitude Era, and with WrestleMania approaching, a little nostalgia could go a long way.

Right now, all that’s official is that The Rock will be the guest-host for WrestleMania 27. That’s all well and good, but it’d be some kind of wonderful to see him in the ring again after a seven-year film-making absence, in some capacity.

There are many folks The Rock could face. Some would love to see The Rock return to end Undertaker’s WrestleMania winning streak, but that pair has faced off so often it would not really generate the necessary hype. Some would love to see Chris Jericho return and have The Undisputed Champ face off against The People’s Champ.

But that’s all nostalgia talking, too.

I’d rather see The Rock face someone who has risen to the top since his absence; someone he’s never faced before, which would make their first match together at WrestleMania that much more special.

There are some great candidates. Some wouldn’t even require a cash advance to get them to sign on.

The best option might be to have The Rock face off with WWE Champ The Miz; the former Real Worlder had a hard time gaining respect even as recently as a year ago, but is now serving a respectable run as champ and seems set to travel to WrestleMania with the gold still around his waist. His career trajectory mirrors Johnson’s, who struggled in his early years before recreating himself as The Rock and become the most over performer of the last 20 years, with the possible exception of Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Getting the rub from The Rock would boost The Miz at a time when WWE really needs such next-gen stars as him to really begin to shine and prove themselves capable of carrying the company forward.

Still, it’s unlikely The Rock will be hanging around for a title run, so a match with The Miz may be out of the question.

A personal favorite would be to match The Rock up against CM Punk, another younger talent who could benefit from the rub. Daniel Bryan is probably too unproven for WWE to give him a match against The Rock, but few other in-ring performers could hang with The Rock as well as Bryan.

I don’t believe The Rock has ever faced off with Randy Orton, unless it was very early in Orton’s run as the Legend Killer, but they could have a great match.

Finally, what most people seem to want is a Rock-Cena match. While that would certainly be a highlight match, Cena’s too much of a veteran now to really be considered as someone who needs that sort of career boost. I’d rather see a younger talent given the opp.

As little as a year ago, Dwayne Johnson was sounding off that he’d never return to WWE. This past Monday, The Rock has come back to WWE. While not exactly claiming that his movie career is on hiatus, Rock made it clear in his cameo at the end of Monday Night Raw that he has returned home to WWE and plans to guest-host WrestleMania 27.

Rock pulled out ever gag and catchphrase fans had been waiting for seven years to hear one more time, and the old hits blew the roof off the place. What that says about The Rock, or what it may say about the current WWE talent level, is debatable, but Dwayne did his due diligence to kick off WrestleMania 27 hype in earnest, doing everything but chinning himself on a pull up bar to get the crowd heated up.

Younger WWE talents should be taking notes; The Rock became one of WWE’s most electrifying performers during the Attitude Era for a reason. If they can learn how to play up a crowd and their own games go up a notch, the veteran cameo by Rock will be worth whatever McMahon had to pony up to pull it off.

The Rock is starting to talk more openly about the nature of his role in a possible return to WWE, on a limited basis, in 2010. While Duane Johnson is in the middle of shooting his latest movie, once production wraps, he is in talks with Vince McMahon to come in and do a guest-host job that could evolve into a limited-run storyline.

The Rock seemingly ruled out John Cena as his potential opponent, but did say he’d want to do something special. By special, he outlined these criteria:

1. It would have to benefit everyone, long-term, including WWE, his opponent and Johnson himself.

2. He would want to rip up the family-friendly script of current WWE product and push the edge back to Attitude-era edginess.

3. His return would not last long; either a one-off or a limited run engagement that would include a couple weeks of build-up, and then a PPV capper.

If handled well, such a storyline could help elevate one of WWE’s up-and-comers; the best potential opponents, in my mind, are Ted DiBiase Jr., Cody Rhodes, Sheamus or MVP. If the program is run against Cena or Randy Orton, I doubt that would benefit WWE quite as much for the future. If Rock returns, perhaps he’ll have a run-in with Stephanie McMahon, calling to mind his role as a face in the McMahon-Helmsley Era storylines. I’m sure Rock would have some great mic-time gifts for her.

I nearly knocked my TV set off its TV stand when I saw it after RAW on Monday; when Duane Johnson appeared for the first time without the nickname of “The Rock,” granted to him by the WWE where he got his start, and introduced himself as Duane “Uncle Handsome” Johnson, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or REALLY laugh.

Uncle Handsome? Really, Rock?

If Duane Johnson wants to put his pro wrestling career in his taillights, that’s fine and I wish him well; I’ll even continue to patronize most of his movies – on Netflix if not in the theater. But really, Uncle Handsome? That’s creepier than a creeping creep-steak-eating creep from Creep City. Especially considering how many child-stars Duane’s been in movies with of late.

If you want to be taken seriously now as an actor, Duane, perhaps you’d be better off without a nickname at all. But if you feel compelled to use one, try choosing one that doesn’t bring parish priests to mind, will ya? What you need is a nickname that says, “Funny, but harmless.”

How about this: Duane “Uncle Buck” Johnson.

And that’s the bottom line, because I said so.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson reappeared at the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony, his first appearance on a WWE broadcast in possibly a year, and if early indications are accurate, it may be his last appearance for quite some time.

The Rock, now a big-time movie star, owes his current fame and success largely to the exposure of his early WWE career. However, at the event intended to honor his father and grandfather for the time they spent in WWE, The Rock apparently presented himself, both on-stage and backstage, as above everyone else he used to work with.

His Hall of Fame induction speech ran exceptionally long, and was primarily a comedy routine making fun of and belittling current WWE stars, none of whom he warned ahead of time about the jokes he had planned. His comments on his father and grandfather were, by comparison, brief and lacking in much detail or heart.

The Rock did not attend WrestleMania, showed up just in time for his speech, and left immediately after it was over, blowing off nearly all the WWE personalities with whom he used to be close, including pal Stone Cold Steve Austin.

The Rock’s bad behavior drew much ire from the current roster of WWE personalities, and is a good indicator that the next time the WWE and The Rock cross paths, it may be a couple decades down the line, when it is The Rock himself who is being inducted. Fans offering up everything from their life’s savings to their bathroom faucets in trade for Dwayne Johnson to make a return to the WWE ring may be placing their hopes in an extreme unlikelihood.

WWE Monday Night Raw turned 15 years old this past week, and it doesn’t take Doink the Clown dressed in a pair of golf shoes to point out what a watershed moment that marks. The 15th anniversary show had plenty of guest appearances for nostalgia’s sake, including Marty Jennetty, Mick Foley, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and a 15-man battle royale involving a lot of lesser-name jobbers from the past decade and a half.

Of course, personally, I had a lot of favorite moments that I appreciated. It was fun seeing Chris Jericho confront Eric Bischoff so soon into Jericho’s return after a two year absence; Bischoff, in the storyline, fired Jericho when Y2J left WWE to pursue his music career. Having Jericho come back and get his revenge was a satisfying storyline moment for longtime fans.

I also enjoyed the Evolution reunion, especially the flashback when Evolution betrayed Orton. Back then, Orton was the babyface and Evolution were the heels; now those roles have changed and it was surprising how well the betrayal moments still worked.

The only two notable superstars missing on the night were Bret “the Hitman” Hart and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Too bad.

Well, sounds like you can put a tablecloth over the WWE as we know it. With so many wrestlers falling by the wayside, it’s inevitable that there will be a lot of new talents brought in.

Here’s a decent recipe for better success: stop hiring superhuman-sized body-builders and start focusing on things like talent, personality, charisma, and the ability to entertain in the wring.

Folks like Mick Foley weren’t fan favorites because he was the largest, most cut body builder around; he was was a fan favorite for his humor, his personality, his passion and his talent. The wrestling skills were passable in the ring, but it was his sense of entertainment that made a Mick Foley match a “wow” match.

One of the best moments in Raw history had nothing to do with big biceps and Hogan-style 26-inch pythons. It was Foley interacting with The Rock in the “This is your life” segment.

Or when Chris Jericho debuted on Raw by out-talking The Rock with his mic skills.

Let’s forget about who as the sharpest, most defined abs and get back to putting the entertainment in sports entertainment.

As the final RAW before the WWE’s biggest PPV of the year, WrestleMania 23, last night’s show demonstrated just how ill-conceived the main events have been. Michaels taking out John Cena with his Sweet Chin Music move was about as predictable and anticlimactic as it comes.

Truth be told, Cena vs. Michaels just isn’t that interesting. Both Michaels and Cena are too over as faces and neither is getting any genuine heel heat. And Michaels is about 10 years too late in his career to be main eventing WrestleMania against Cena. Far more intriguing would have been to match up Cena against Edge, Orton or The Great Khali, but apparently Vinnie Mac and company decided to play it safe this year. Too safe. And that makes for an uninteresting WrestleMania.

Despite prodigious amounts of promotion, including bringing in Donald Trump to help lend WM23 some outside-of-wrestling star power, the Billionaire’s Hair Match seems to intrigue Vinnie Mac far more than it does the average RAW viewer, and again suffers from utter predictability: does anyone really believe Lashley will lose and that Trump would agree to be shaved bald? Vinnie Mac is a foregone conclusion as the bald billionaire. Yawn.

I could go on, but the rest of the WM23 undercard is just as boring and predictable. And we all know that, whatever happens, the better undercard matches will simply get a RAW, ECW or SmackDown “rematch” next week, anyway, and that Trump will appear for one more video conferencing cameo to gloat over a bald Vinnie Mac on next week’s RAW. What else is new? Certainly nothing coming up at WM23.

About the only way to save WM23 is to throw the fans a curve ball by encouraging Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to come out of “wrestling retirement” to make a surprise guest appearance and grab the WWE title away from Cena after Cena defeats Michaels, as part of what could be perhaps a six-month return that would climax with The Rock as a heel champ surrendering the title back to Cena at SummerSlam so he can go make movies again.

Of course, the likelihood of that is about equal to a “living and dead” reunion of The Beatles at WM23.