Well, lucky us, it’s just about time for The Rock to make his yearly return to what he laughingly calls “home”. You see, The Rock knows that the WWE fans made him, so he feels that he owes us just enough to come back for a couple of months every so often, those couple of months usually coinciding with Wrestlemania, the biggest show of the year, and the most publicity, but hey, that must be a coincidence, right? Right?
I mean, surely you don’t think that the man that waltzes off at the drop of a hat to go and film B-movie after B-movie would be cynical enough to just use Wrestlemania to keep his star shining? I mean, didn’t you see that promo he cut last year where he spoke about loyalty? How anyone in the back who didn’t want to be there could just “get the F out” of the WWE? This was, say, about 6 months before he vanished off to Hollywood to shoot a multi-million dollar movie that will grace your local Blockbuster stores before long.
This is a man that cares deeply about the WWE, so deeply that he took time out of his busy schedule of celebrity schmoozing and party going to record a 10 minute video clip for the tenth anniversary of the show that MADE him and his so-called acting career. Even then, they had the gall to try and pass it off as live. How Chris Jericho managed to maintain his dignity as he argued with a recording is quite beyond me, but I digress.
The promo he cut at Raw X was Rock-by-numbers, and offered nothing new... the same thing he’s been doing for a long time, and quite rightly he was booed by those present. The Rock’s character has become stale right under his nose, and he just hasn’t realised it. The fans’ willingness to boo him has been apparent since Wrestlemania and THAT Hogan match-up.
For me, The Rock was more enjoyable when he was a heel - the sadistic edge that is always underlying in the Rock’s mic-work just doesn’t come off when he’s playing the good guy - his exchanges with Foley as part of the Rock n Sock connection always seemed to me to imply that he was the bully that Foley was trying to be popular with, for example.
The problem was he was just too good as a heel, too cool, too sharp to be hated for any length of time... something I don’t think he has to bother with now - he has a great out line any time he needs some heel heat, just mention that now he has Hollywood, he doesn’t need the ‘people’ anymore, and just watch the roof come off the arena.
Hopefully, he’ll have his little 3 month publicity tour and photo opportunity at Wrestlemania, put a few people over, and he’ll be gone again. One thing that cannot be questioned of the Rock is his willingness to put people over - he helped put over Benoit, Rhyno, Mick Foley, and most recently, Brock Lesnar as top line opponents, in particular, the clean loss to Lesnar established him as the real deal, something that was needed, no matter how much Steve Austin would have protested otherwise.
This time, unless it’s to get a cheap heel reaction, there better not be any speeches about loyalty to the WWE... What does it tell someone like Booker, or RVD, or Chris Benoit, or Eddie Guerrero that they slog their guts out week in, week out and don’t get a sniff at a main event, then The Rock returns for his 12 week stint and walks back into a top slot in the biggest card of the year?
Now, I’m not his greatest fan,. but someone like Jeff Hardy who takes insane bumps, and puts his body on the line night after night (well, when he’s not suspended for being late, anyway) has earned that slot on the card more than a jumped up actor that spend three quarters of the year in front of a camera rather than on a mat. And let’s be brutally honest here - The Rock isn’t even that good a wrestler. Stick him in a match with Goldberg, and you’d probably be able to count the moves that aren’t punches on one hand...
It really, really annoys me. I laugh at some of the Rock’s mic work, just like anyone, but do I think he deserves to be top of the bill at Wrestlemania year after year? Hell no! Now, I’m sure Crocky has his little fan club of wannabes out there, and you can all recite the directions to the Smackdown hotel and raise your little eyebrows on demand, and hey, I’m happy for you all. No, really! Just don’t count me in as one of the millions and millions of Rock’s fans... or should that be dozens and dozens now?
Until next time, have fun, go mad.
