In mere minutes, The Rock ruined a year’s worth of storylines
The Final Boss was replaced by Corporate Rock–plus a look at the Hulk Hogan debacle and a brilliant promo by John Cena
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The Week in Wrestling is published every week and provides beneath the surface coverage of the business of pro wrestling.
This week’s edition of The Week in Wrestling:
The Rock hurts–not helps–Raw
A look at the past week in wrestling
Was it all about Kenny Omega? Or Gabe Kidd?
Tweet of the Week
Incredibly, The Rock hurt Raw during its Netflix debut
One year ago, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson heard cheers turn to boos.
Reacting swiftly and powerfully, Johnson turned the setback into a positive, creating lasting work with his villainous “Final Boss” character. There was no doubt that Rock’s time on-screen would be temporary, but on the Raw after WrestleMania 40, he teased a future program with Cody Rhodes for the WWE championship.
Fast forward to October. Rhodes teamed with longtime rival Roman Reigns at Bad Blood, coming to Reigns’ aid in a Bloodline battle against Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu. Rhodes and Reigns won the match, and a seminal moment occurred when Reigns handed the world title back to Rhodes. Instead of savoring the moment, it was interrupted by a return from The Rock, who was then off camera until this past Monday’s Raw.1
After a riveting video package and words from Paul “Triple H” Levesque, The Rock came to the ring. Finally, we were going to receive an explanation for his appearance at Bad Blood, as well as likely hear about his plans for WrestleMania.
Hopefully you weren’t holding your breath.
Instead of anything to do with the story (which is entirely what made the opening video so compelling–WWE was built on captivating storylines),2 it was Dwayne Johnson speaking. The “Final Boss” was replaced by Corporate Rock, and not the version introduced years ago by Vince McMahon.
Unlike a year ago, when Rock was cutting outrageously entertaining promos on Rhodes, his time here was spent thanking executives from Netflix (yes, you read that correctly), and we even got to see a suite shot of the Netflix execs celebrating. The millions and millions were not impressed.
Rock took a victory lap to tout how that evening’s Raw had earned the largest arena gate in the history of WWE. These arena gate achievements are roughly the modern equivalent to WWE promoting that 93,000 people filled the Silverdome at WrestleMania III, but regardless, it’s easy to see why the company self-promotes (and perhaps enhances) its success. But why would The Rock mention that in his promo?
Somehow, it only got worse.
Rock acknowledged and complimented Rhodes and Reigns. There was a tongue-in-cheek line about “Mama Rhodes”, but that was quickly dismissed once Rock hugged Rhodes outside the ring. Later in the show, Rock and Rhodes were backstage chit-chatting and sipping on some of The Rock’s tequila.
It was a drastically different scene from this past March, which was the last time Rhodes and Rock met backstage.
It’s understandable that stories change. That is part of the business. But an explanation is required, especially for the sake of Rhodes, who is among those on television every week adding value to WWE programming. You can’t just leave a story of that magnitude open, especially when it is your champion who is prominently involved.
On a similar subject, I’ll always defer to those who are there every week. They make the show. That is why Paul Heyman was the one who needed to present Reigns with the Ulu Fala after he defeated Sikoa. That was even the storyline headed into the match, wonderfully presented last week on SmackDown in a promo between Sikoa and Heyman. Regardless of who had their hand raised, Heyman–who is invaluable to this story–needed to be the one to present the Ula Fala.
But he didn’t. And why not, you ask? The Rock took that spot, and he presented the Ula Fala to Reigns. No mention of that was made last night during Rock’s NXT appearance when he joked with fans for overreacting to his friendly segments with Rhodes.
It wasn’t just The Rock; Raw was largely a tough night for the visiting stars. That was certainly the case for Hulk Hogan.
Don’t bother looking for the segment on WWE’s YouTube page. Hogan came out to cut a promo on his Real American Beer (WWE is now a partner and there was a logo on the ring canvas during Raw), and it was a disaster from the moment Rick Derringer’s “Real American” cut off. Before silence could fill the air, boos overtook the Intuit Dome.
Despite being booed at WWE events before, most notably WrestleMania 37 in Tampa, Hogan was put in a spot where he was alone holding a microphone (while Jimmy Hart waved the American flag in the background), with no other WWE star to play off. It’s hard to imagine a best case here. Hogan, who is only a few months removed from giving a speech at the Republican National Convention (and still dealing with legitimate wounds due to racially insensitive comments in the past), was bound to hear it from the crowd while he championed his beer. So why did it unfold the way it did?
Hogan isn’t beloved by everyone in WWE. Some in the company believe he was put in a position destined to fail. Others were happy with the result. Whether you like Hogan or not, that was a blemish for WWE, putting the most legendary performer in the company’s history in a spot where he couldn’t win.
It stood in stark contrast to what we saw from The Undertaker. He came out on his Harley Davidson, rode around the ring, and gave a celebratory rub by posing with new women’s champ Rhea Ripley.
There was no chance to boo Taker, who is also a proud supporter of the current President-Elect, which was not the case with Hogan. Purposefully or not, Taker was far more protected than Hogan.
There were some genuine highlights from Raw, which I detailed on this week’s podcast (though I do wish that Shawn Michaels, who starred on the original Raw debut in 1993 and could have further promoted tonight’s NXT, made a cameo).
A part of Raw that continued to reverberate well after the show was John Cena’s promo. While it may not be the single best of his career, it certainly belongs on the highlight reel.
Cena walked us through why he’ll never be world champion again, slowly crafting an argument of how he could win the Royal Rumble and go on to win the title at WrestleMania. Step by step, line by line, this was a work of art.
Whether or not it comes to fruition is secondary. The beauty of what Cena did is he made us believe.
So Raw had its share of highlights. I enjoyed the Tribal Combat match. Even if the outcomes were predictable, Ripley defeating Liv Morgan was the only move you could make. Jey Uso needs more singles victories away from The Bloodline, and it was smart for him to defeat Drew McIntyre (especially after that fantastic entrance with Travis Scott).
The loss is good for McIntyre, who can further add to his edge. Somewhat understated because it took place backstage, I enjoyed how Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were the only two not smiling. Adam Pearce announced that he’d have a surprise opponent next week for Chad Gable. Then, in the main event, Rollins and Punk put forth an outstanding match, one that feels like they’ve only just begun their feud.
My issues begin and end with The Rock. One of the biggest stars to ever grace pro wrestling, he did more to hurt Raw than to help it.
He was no better last night at NXT, where he mocked fans for criticizing his performance. Maybe there are plans for a feud with Rhodes, and perhaps Monday’s performance will be forgotten.
Yet the point stands: he discarded a tremendous storyline to get cheered for one night.
This past week…
Roman Reigns defeated Solo Sikoa in a Tribal Combat match on Raw. It followed the WrestleMania 40 main event blueprint of egregious outside interference and its ensuing chaos, as Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Jimmy Uso, Tama Tonga, and Jacob Fatu all got involved.
If you ever had CM Punk headlining the first-ever Raw on Netflix on your Bingo card, then well played.
Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks were the top stars this past week at the Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Dynasty. Now the objective is weaving their storylines back into AEW–when we hear from Omega, hopefully he is talking about regaining the AEW title from Jon Moxley.
Rhea Ripley’s title reign was long overdue, but I’m really excited to see what Liv Morgan does without the belt.
Giulia won the NXT women’s title last night at New Year’s Evil, ending a fantastic run with the belt from Roxanne Perez.
Per the report from the Sports Business Journal, there are no commercials for Raw on Netflix for the international viewers. Unfortunately, that is not the case in America, where we were hit with a flurry of commercials throughout the three-hour show.
The Royal Rumble is headed to Saudi Arabia in 2026. Before rejoining the company, CM Punk gave an unflattering review of WWE’s business dealings in Saudi. We’ll see if he is part of next year’s Rumble.
Kenny Omega–and not Gabe Kidd–was the takeaway from Wrestle Dynasty… but that could change
This past Sunday at Wrestle Dynasty, Kenny Omega returned to the Tokyo Dome and displayed his elite talent in the ring.
Even after missing over a year battling a serious bout with diverticulitis, Omega remains among the very best in the world. The same cannot be said for his opponent–Gabe Kidd.
At least not yet.
It takes two to make magic in pro wrestling, and Kidd absolutely delivered in his role on Sunday. But before we crown him the next star of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, there is a lot of work yet to be accomplished.
People often look back at the WrestleMania 13 between Bret Hart and Steve Austin as the watershed moment of Austin’s career. It is accurate–that match forever changed Austin’s trajectory. But to Austin’s credit, he constantly continued to craft meaningful storylines with new opponents.
There was the title program with Shawn Michaels. Of course, there was the feud with Vince McMahon. Plus his legendary battles with The Rock and The Undertaker–and Kurt Angle and Mick Foley and Triple H.
Austin was elevated by his WrestleMania classic against Hart, but never defined by it. Moving forward, that will be the goal–and challenge–for Kidd.
Next up for Kidd is a program with Yota Tsuji, the reigning IWGP Global Heavyweight champion. Kidd also has the match against Tomohiro Ishii this Saturday at NJPW’s Battle in the Valley in San Jose, and it will be fascinating to watch whether he can seize this momentum and keep generating fanfare.
Kidd has wrestling’s attention. Now we’ll see what he does with it.
Tweet of the Week
Drew McIntyre’s brilliant run on social media continues.
Even more frustrating was that The Rock’s show-ending return forced the Hell in a Cell match pitting Drew McIntyre against CM Punk into the show opener instead of the main event.
Here is the video:
Brit here. Without commercials Raw ran about 2 hours and ten minutes. I feel lucky.