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This is a column I never, ever thought I would write. I have been a huge Dwayne Johnson fan for almost three decades now. Back in the days where there were only a few wrestling newsletters/websites, I was the only one that I remember who saw the potential there. When the other pundits were burying him, I was saying give the kid a chance, he has something that goes beyond doing moves in the ring.
My patience in fairly waiting for Dwayne Johnson to become The Rock paid off for the fan in me when he became one of the all-time greats. He was so good as a character that his matches were often an afterthought. The thrill in being a fan of his was the experience that you got when the microphone was in his hand. That made all of the moves that he did matter so much more than they would if any other performer had done them. They mattered because HE did them.
Here was a guy who overcame Flex Kavana and Rocky Maivia to become one of the biggest stars in the world, in any genre. I was happy to see him accomplish all that he did because of all that he went through to get to the top of the mountain. He didn’t take any shortcuts. He put in the work, persevered and climbed the ladder on merit. He had earned what I thought was a lifetime of goodwill from me.
That is what makes what happened in the last segment on Friday so awful. A guy who had paid his dues to eventually get to the top came in from the outside and cut the legs out from Cody Rhodes when he made him look like an idiot. Cody has talked about finishing the story for well over a year now. He won the Rumble and now could do just that…..try to finish the story.....and he doesn’t pick Roman Reigns right then and there? He doesn’t do the one thing that he needs to do to have any chance to finish the story?
No, instead he took the advice of The Rock, who now seems like the wrestling version of NBA coach Doc Rivers. For those unfamiliar, Rivers served as a mentor to now former Milwaukee Bucks coach Adrian Griffin, only to take his job when Griffin got fired last month. Rock’s advice to Cody? Move the f’n goalposts? And Cody’s character did it? Maybe we should start calling Johnson Rock Rivers.
For those of you who are asking, “Why would Triple H book this scenario?” The answer is simple, he didn’t. This is a Dwayne Johnson led move. It’s pretty clear to me that Johnson convinced the people with all the power at TKO how he was needed in the main event of WrestleMania, similar to how he tried to convince DC comics to put him in charge of that franchise. The difference here is that someone at TKO, probably due to not truly understanding how the business that they just purchased works, agreed to what Rock sold them.
And, I believe that it was a very recent sale.
If Johnson had given HHH some lead time, I am sure that a different end of The Royal Rumble would have been booked. There is no world where HHH books Cody to finish the story for well over a year and win his chance to do so, only to have him look like an idiot and “move the goalposts” less than a week later. There is no way HHH books his two main male Title bouts to be a face Cody, who will now look as dopey as Sting was booked back in the day in WCW, vs. a face Seth Rollins, who has lost three times to his opponent. He would have had someone else win the Rumble, like maybe Drew McIntyre, and had a natural match for Seth at Mania. Then, if Rock used his clout to get his match with Roman and Mania, Cody would have been protected and this whole thing wouldn't feel like a betrayal to the fans.
Instead, Rock destroyed him and made him look like an idiot to the people who love and support him. The reasons that Johnson could have needed to step in and do this are downright comical to me.
*CM Punk is hurt and Brock Lesnar can’t be brought in due to the Vince McMahon situation, we need star power for Mania. Uh Rock, Punk just signed a few months ago. He was a gift to WWE. He wasn’t in the Mania plans until very recently. While I know most of us would love to see Punk at Mania, he didn’t have a clear program that needed you to step in to fix. As for Brock, we haven’t seen him since SummerSlam (when ironically he did exactly the opposite of what you just did and put over Cody in a big way and helped Rhodes write another chapter of the story). Lesnar wasn’t on the radar and honestly, due to the great booking by HHH and his team, wasn’t needed this year. Would it have been great to have him? Sure. But if not, there are so many other strong talents that Mania will be fine without him. You didn’t need to ride in and save the day in either of these scenarios.
*Johnson will bring the product more attention and help make WrestleMania a bigger event. Uh Rock, look at the recent numbers. TV Ratings? Up. Rights fees deals? Up. Ticket sales? Up. PLEs in foreign markets? Up. Hell, WrestleMania is almost sold out for two nights already and we don’t even know a match yet (and the ticket prices are HIGH). Sorry Dwayne, WWE does not need you to come in and drive business up. You seem to need to attach yourself to an already hot product to get a rub from it, not vice versa. As I have said a few times now, this feels just like when Hulk Hogan attached himself to The Outsiders in WCW, and that is not a good look.
*He can bring back fans from the outside to WWE as well as mainstream coverage. Think about this one for a second. Smackdown and Raw and both way up in the demo (due to strong booking and again ironically people like Cody Rhodes, who the fans love). Fans have come back already. Those who haven’t? Why prioritize them over the fans that are already here, and also the fans who have already come back without you? What sense does it make to anyone to bring in, say, 10 percent more people while ticking off the vast majority of the fans that they already have, including some that they have recently won back? It makes no sense to anyone at all, except you and your ego. As for mainstream coverage, WWE gets plenty of that for Mania every year. And now, they have Pat McAftee back on the payroll so they have a big connection at ESPN. They don't need you to wrestle to get any more coverage. You are one of the smartest guys in any room that you are in. There’s no way that you don’t already know everything that I just said.
Since you are so smart, you have to realize now how badly this is. You don’t take to Instagram talking about “tough skin” and “long game” if you aren't hearing the reaction to the vast majority of people about you taking on Roman.
You don’t take to X at 1:16 AM and try to sell people how great your story is. Yes, in the moment it was a fantastic experience. No doubt. But in that moment the fans in Alabama got a surprise appearance from The Rock. They had no idea that you were about to perform The Birmingham Screwjob on Cody Rhodes.
The early indication came in when people were voting thumbs down on the segment on YouTube by about a 4 to 1 ratio. Then, it got much worse for you last night as the responses to your tweet are overwhelmingly telling you to give Cody back what he deserves. It’s clear to me that you are destroying your reputation with a significant part of your fan base due to your desire to be in the main event of one more WrestleMania. I know that causing fans to revolt against you wasn’t your intention, but it has become your reality. When you lose long time proponents, like me, you are losing most of the room.
Luckily, if Johnson can be honest with himself and see the damage that he has caused with his appearance on Friday night, there is an easy way to get out of it if he really wants to do what’s right for the people, and to be frank, himself. There’s an easy way for him to not be booed for the next two months, for WWE to not have to put up with long and loud “WE WANT CODY” chants disrupting Raw and Smackdown until April.
How can WWE get out of it? Consider:
*Cody said he was moving the goalposts and is coming for everything that Roman has. He never said that he was picking Seth Rollins.
*Cody said he had consulted with counsel, and one of those people was The Rock.
*Cody left and Rock faced off with Roman. No match was made at that point. You could make the case that Rock was there as an ally.
Maybe that was done by design. Maybe HHH said, “Guys, I know you think that this is a slam dunk and all but we have to allow for the possibility that this will not go over well. The Rock is such a huge asset we can’t allow the fans to turn on him and destroy his value to TKO. We need to leave ourselves some wiggle room”.
If that is the case, it’s time to use the wiggle room that you have created. There is a really easy fix here.
On Thursday in Las Vegas, Rock faces off with Roman. Rock tells him that you have seen how Roman has held on to the Title. He saw Solo Sikoa blatantly interfere in the match at The Rumble and nothing was done. He tells him that will not happen again. He tells him that as a member of the TKO Board, he has some juice at this company and as such, he will be the guest referee in the main event at WrestleMania. Then Cody comes in and says, “That match will be against me, goalposts moved”. Problem solved.
But it gets better for you from there Rock. After you call Mania down the middle and Cody wins, Roman comes at you and it sets up your Head Of The Table match. You can do it in a stadium at SummerSlam where you will truly be the draw. Hell, with everything else going on positively in WWE, it could be the first time that company ever runs a two night SummerSlam event. If all of that comes to pass, you can take the credit and you will actually deserve some of it. The fans will continue to love you instead of a significant portion loathing you, which will happen if you go through with the Mania match.
You are a smart guy. It’s an easy decision to make now that you have all of the feedback and data.
Some people have referred to me as the conscience of pro wrestling writers. I don’t know if I agree with that but if any bit of it is true I felt the need to speak out before a colossal mistake is made by you and WWE.
I hope that what my conscience just shared with yours will get you to do the right thing here. If you don’t, I don’t think you will like the smell of what the fans will be cooking going forward.
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