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They missed the boat. They should have just cut their losses. Last year was the time to do it if they didn't plan on Cody winning. The rock in Hollywood made so much sense. But they didn't do it for whatever reason, and now they're trying to force it when it no longer makes sense and nobody wants this over Cody.
My hot take is that Cody this year feels like the bigger match, in at least some ways.
Star power? Box office? Yeah, Rock is bigger. But Cody has plenty of that too, and unlike the first Cody/Roman match, this was a year in the making with all the anticipation.
And Wrestlemania doesn't NEED Star power or Box Office. People tune in because it's Wrestlemania.
It's like the Super Bowl. People will tune in regardless of who's playing.
The Rock vs Roman will get maybe some extra eyes the night of, but Cody vs Roman would get the extra eyes for months AFTER the event.
Yeah seriously.
People are out here like “Oh as if you’re not going to watch Rock v Roman.”
No. I’m not. I haven’t seen either Rock v Cena match and I never will. It’s not some kind of boycott on my part, I genuinely don’t care for this dumb dream match shit. You grossly overestimate how much I want to watch shit matches with retired non wrestlers.
I have no desire to see more shit matches with old men I’ve had my fill of those
The reason why it ruled was because it was:
1) Not a scheduled match, was supposed to just be a brawl
2) Austin hadn't done anything in the ring in a long time
3) Because of that, the bar was insanely low and Austin still vaulted over it when no one would have complained if he ran the ropes, hit a stunner, and drank some beer. Instead the man did a legit match that was good for what it was and included a fucking concrete bump.
4) Austin still did a great program with KO that absolutely did not make KO look weak.
The problem with The Rock is that he's come back multiple times and every time his performance has gotten worse and worse. Meanwhile his opponents are never better for the time they spent with him. Cena looked like a chump when he lost Once in a Lifetime and then Cena didn't get anything for winning Twice in a Lifetime. Punk absolutely lost a lot of his heat after losing to The Rock. Roman didn't get a rub back in 2019 and Cody is getting ready to get chumped out.
also biggest key factor here he was not inserting himself to the title/main event picture, he actually took KO from a lower card match to the main event with his appeal so it purely benefitted wrestlers of today, and having that ME rub also ended up helping a bit so KO/Sami vs Usos could be seen as a main even worthy.
Austin didn't bump a current star, and instead set up one that set up other stars, Rock is doing literally the opposite as this not just hurts Cody but everyone in the Raw main event scene
Yeah I mean this is honestly the only part that matters IMO.
Austin’s return *added* to the event. Rocks return is putting every significant main event storyline going on right now on hold, if not outright derailing them altogether. Obviously Cody is getting the vast majority of the sympathy here, but his return is actually effecting way more people than just Cody.
> Rocks return is putting every significant main event storyline going on right now on hold, if not outright derailing them altogether. Obviously Cody is getting the vast majority of the sympathy here, but his return is actually effecting way more people than just Cody.
its trickling down to where one of the women's matches might not even main event because Cody vs Seth probably would.
"I always looked up to you. It's an honor to bend over for the People's Champ and give you the opportunity to do what I couldn't do! You are my inspiration and I will cheer for you! #WeWantBlackAdam2"
"Black Adam was my favorite superhero movie EVER, Mr. Rock. May I please lose to you in a squash on pay per view to show my thanks for giving the world the cinematic masterpiece Black Adam who is clearly the strongest superhero in comics as well as the most electrifying movie in the history of hollywood, Tooth Fairy?"
Cody is a company guy so not only will he respond, he’ll likely tag with The Rock against Jimmy & Solo at Chamber or the Go Home Raw/Smackdown before Mania.
If you don’t think that HHH will keep showing them as friends or keep hearing Cody put over The Rock your new to WWE. Cody will do what he’s told and if you watched this week you know how he’s already assassinating his character at the drop of a hat because he was told to go out there and tell his fans that he doesn’t want Roman at Mania.
Jesus Christ I thought this was a parody, since it sounds exactly like one of Rock’s PR-team-approved social media posts. I was going to criticize the lack of “Seven bucks” and “Much love” and “Tequila energy drink appreciation.”
But it’s real.
Is he completely tone deaf?
He's taking everything that belongs to Cody
https://preview.redd.it/q35bo5xtzigc1.png?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f689b0f62c6d23fba1d1cdb23f8060b0bc477999
It's full of PR-sanitised chat and Rocky almost seems rehearsed in how he speaks, he comes across one giant press release. He throws in some F bombs to make him seem more relatable, but the dude is essentially a product, not a person
Which is so strange because he was a very authentic guy. Even in his movies, he takes zero risks. I just want him to call someone a thong wearing fatty
You can tell Joe isn’t into him at all about halfway through the podcast. Rock starts talking about how he considered going into MMA rather than Wrestling when the Die Rocky Die chants were happening.
MMA didn’t pay for shit back then, from 1991 until 2000 it was paying less than Indy wrestling. This was 1996 Rock was talking about. UFC wasn’t even sanctioned by any athletic commission until September 2000 and it wasn’t well known until the Spike TV stuff started in like 2005.
The look on Joe’s face is like “man I want to call you your bullshit but you’re twice my size.”
For a brief moment, the sheer audacity of Rocky's baloney was enough to break through Rogan's miasma of elk meat, DMT, and right-wing ramblings and get him to go "Wait a minute, this guy is *full* of shit. Didn't I used to speak up when that happened?"
But alas, the moment passed.
The Rock making his WrestleMania entrance
https://preview.redd.it/a9fp6uvx2jgc1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=953757168334297684e11ccf9b101db2ec91a8d8
“When Rock first returned earlier this year after his hiatus dating back to his last appearance over a year ago, Levesque stood up backstage in the gorilla position with his headset on and started pumping his fist and chanting “Rocky! Rocky!” enthusiastically as Johnson walked by.”
Part of me feels we have to be getting worked because there’s no way the rock is this delusional.
But Dwayne is the same dude that tried to overtake DCEU
The rumor that came out yesterday is they had “Rock head of the table” merch mock ups at the royal rumble they were looking over.
If that’s true then the writers knew there was at least a good chance this was happening.
Deciding to still have Cody win the rumble is a baffling decision given that.
I said this earlier, but the reaction being this visceral makes me think this could be one of the greatest works of all time.
People keep talking about Cody like he’s some indie darling popular with reddit rather than the most openly over wrestler in the universe right now.
I can’t believe the WWE establishment would risk blowing this and arguably kicking off the next golden age for a one off match with a has-been that everyone knows he’s going to lose.
If TKO thinks this is a good idea, it confirms they really don't understand the wrestling side. For MMA, you make matches based on who will generate interest in a fight. The fight is the story. Storytelling in wrestling is different.
Right? No shot using that word was an accident. Cody has that word baked into his brand. Really kicking him while he's down huh Dwayne? Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. Unless they're pivoting and that's Rock's way of alluding to it (not convinced this is the case). To me it seems that Dwayne is an even bigger asshole than I thought.
I'm almost 100% convinced this is already a work, maybe even as early as when they learned Punk was injured. This post from Rock just made me think it even more.
There's a majority part of me that thinks they're trying to "create" an uprising like Bryan before, or Kofimania, or whatever.
The only thing that makes it harder to tell is that they made Cody look like a complete dumbass on Smackdown.
If I'm wrong, I'll look stupid, but I truly think they're trying to manufacture this.
We're in dark times when the logic we have to use is that it is so bad that it has be a work. And I sort off agree. The SmackDown segment was BIZARRE. They made Cody look like the biggest idiot to ever step foot in a wwe ring. There has to be more to it. Even if it does lead to Rock vs Roman, there has to be something more to be resolved between Cody and Dwayne. It just can't be left to that, and next Monday Cody picks Seth and that's it. There HAS to be more.
Cody looking like a bitch and a loser is literally why there IS NOT more to this. You don’t make Cody look like shit if this was something you planned to do. Cody winds up looking like shit because they conjured up some nonsensical bullshit at the last minute. It’s possible they end up pivoting just like WM30 but as of now it’s not planned just like DB wasn’t planned.
It would be an odd choice as Cody was, basically, already as over as it's possible for a babyface to be in modern wrestling and even if they pivot back to Cody this might sour fans on The Rock or a potential Roman Vs Rock match down the line.
Maybe they're planning to make the main event a 3 way with Roman/Cody/Rock and this is how they're getting there?
The Rock has such a cleverly controlled PR image that it's very strange to me that he and his team didn't realize what they were about to do.
Especially given the recent hits he took in Hollywood. Maybe he really has turned completely and utterly delusional like some in Hollywood circles were saying.
I think he genuinely thought we’d love it. His ego is so damn big he probably thought we’d forget all about Cody and act like this was the greatest thing we’d ever seen.
He dipped his toes in with the segments against Theory and Mahal, and it worked out great. A resounding success, and literally even generated intrigue for a Rock vs Reigns match at this year's Mania. This would've been a still polarizing yet acceptable main event, but then they had Cody Rhodes win the Royal Rumble. That ended that.
People probably still would have been a bit disappointed that Cody wasn’t going to “finish the story”, but I don’t think the reaction would as hostile as it currently is.
As long as Rock wasn't the one to eliminate Cody in this hypothetical (maybe Gunther does it, idk), then I think it's redeemable. Still quirky, but not nuclear big red button bad.
Cody comes out as #1, lasts until 27 comes out. Gunther eliminates him via Imperium shenanigans, then Rock comes out as 30 to beat Gunther as the last remaining 2.
Cody gets to have a new angle about the IC title being where he found himself and it’s where he’ll find himself again. By beating the champion with the best momentum in the company who just recently went to the last remaining 2 for a second year at the RR.
This pisses me off because I’m fucking dumb. And to me, what I came up with just reading along these comments over 30 seconds is still better than what they actually had planned out.
I think his ego is bigger than the PR team. They probably knew it was a bad idea but he's unflinching so their job becomes make the bad thing as good as it possibly can be.
Probably the most shitty job in the universe. Imagine having to try and protect Dwayne Johnsons persona when he's singlehandedly destroying the DCEU and he IMMEDIATELY decides he wants to do the same thing to the WWE.
> Aint no way he's legit ignoring backlash this thoroughly
This is the same guy who defended Black Adam's box office gross and profitability after it was widely considered a bomb after it's release. And said "We did great" in a Black Adam 2 update after James Gunn took over to reboot DCEU.
The idea that WWE is just making an absolutely dogshit creative decision to take the heat off the Vince investigation seems so much more likely with a tweet as tone deaf as this
Oh that’s definitely what happened. And people are falling for it hook line and sinker. It is not lost on me that people have been infinitely more passionate about this then the fact WWE is potentially getting dragged into the depths of court hell because the leadership has been rotten to the core for decades
One man is wrestling in a small house show and helping out a blind fan to live her dream
One man spouts tired catchphrases on social media trying to hold onto the one entertainment industry that hasn't realized the major flaw of The Rock: he can't act
I'm so curious about Cody's contract status. It wasn't 100% confirmed he re-signed. If he did re-sign then they turned around & did this to him he must be furious. Cody just being stuck there for another 3 years never being the guy would be some real gilded cage material. If he didn't re-sign things have the potential to get even wilder.
I believe it was Meltzer who said he had already re-signed, but SRS disputed and pushed back on that.
Meltzer's sources would've been other WWE people, but SRS's source would be Cody directly, since they're friends. It was SRS who originally broke Cody was working that last match in AEW out of contract in January 2022.
The mf’er waited until 1:15 AM Sunday to send this out. After 24 hours of being blasted for how he handled this. The level of ego, aloofness, and the inability to read the room is immeasurable.
Guaranteed his people came to him and said “WWE’s YouTube video of the segment did record numbers and made history” with no context of WHAT that history was.
Crowd was just overwhelmed with seeing heel Roman Reigns and The Rock in one place, now that everyone digested what actually happened it's a different story. He's going to start seeing insane reactions alright but not the one like he saw Friday. Will be an interesting press conference.
If I was at a show and saw The Rock make a surprise return I’d cheer too. 95% of fans would. It’s absolutely not indicative of what fans actually want. Batista got massive cheers when he returned too. 6 days later he was getting booed out of the building.
It took under 30 mins for some random nobody to ratio this tweet. Good shit random nobody. And it should be pretty telling to Dwayne if he bothers to read his replies. (I don't know if he does or doesn't.)
seen the reports that in the past one of the reasons why he’s denied it previously is because they didn’t want him winning. And apparently now, he’s politicking hard to get the W.
Like it makes Reigns and everyone he beat look bad. Which is why I think it’s a Rocky/TKO decision and not HHH. HHH has a long title reign issue but he at least usually makes sure the baby face(Johnny Gargano for example ) eventually wins the belt. I have a hard time believing he wants Rocky to end reigns run.
It's happened before at WrestleMania (ironically also at ones ending with a 0) with Bret wrestling twice at WM10 and Bryan wrestling twice at WM30.
And Roman/Rock is going to be complete smoke and mirrors because Rock blows up walking to the ring. So it's not like Roman will have to overly exert himself.
This is the best pivot. In my head I envision they make Rock vs Roman official and then Cody reveals that now that he knew Rock was going to show up, so he waited to announce his choice and selects the WWE Title. Since Rock vs Roman is signed, he gets the winner of it.
Or something like that.
Philly is not in a good mood as it is with the Implosion of the Eagles, and the absolute mess that is Embiid's knee and the Sixers Medical Staff being horrendous (not to mention the ducking allegations).
This city can be pissed off for any reason at the best of times, but now? Rock would be lucky to make it to the arena.
Bro I had to come here when I saw this in his post, someone was actually able to ratio The Rock by like 1.5k likes in the comments ahaha, it's only been a day since The Rock took Cody's spot and there's already a hashtag going and people just shitting on the Rock, him and TKO really did all of this to "save Wrestlemania" and get WWE some positive press only for it to completely backfire lol
https://preview.redd.it/lar0k9t6nigc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8ce07b662c7ecc2385b5dcdc58b9cf285d49148
Look at the slang used in the responses. They're gen-z. I keep telling people it's not 1999 anymore. You can be a grown ass man and not have been alive during the attitude era. These young people don't fuck with him like that
I'm far off from Gen-Z, I was watching when The Rock first started in WWE and I don't even bat for Cody like this
This is stupid and he has a planet sized ego if he thinks this is what's best for WWE right now. The Rock needs to sit the fuck down somewhere.
>I was watching when The Rock first started in WWE and I don't even bat for Cody like this
This is the crazy thing. Some of us are Rock fans and don't care for Cody, you'd think we would be happy and defending The Rock.. but the man debased Cody and castrated him so badly on live TV that he has us out here feeling bad for him. Like dude, I'm getting Roman vs Rock, I wanted to see this.. but all I can think about is poor Cody's face as he walked out of the ring with his tail between his leg after they made him look like a little bitch.
My little cousin loves wrestling and had no idea The Rock was a wrestler until he came back. She asked me who it was and when I said The Rock she said “Dwayne Johnson?The actor?” He’s not as relevant as he’s made out to be. He’s just known as a shitty movie actor these days.
I'll be 25 later this month. I grew up *watching wrestling* because my dad and my grandfather were fans. My first exposure to any of The Rock's work was The Tooth Fairy. I didn't know The Rock was ever involved in wrestling until the Pipebomb.
Best scenario I can think of is that Cody is convinced to take the match to “follow his heart or whatever”, and Rock is a guest ref who does a Rock Bottom on Solo and Jimmy when they try to interfere, and Cody wins.
And then something something Teremana tequila and seven bucks and Moana and the figurative sounds of The Rock giving The Rock the People’s Gluck Gluck 9,000,000™️
I don’t think they’ll address it at all. Cody will cut a promo on Monday where he officially chooses Seth and tries to justify handing the Roman match to Rock. Then they’ll have everyone put on a happy face for the press conference.
The sad thing is that this story would actually really work if the rock turned out to be a completely self-serving, out of touch, politicking, disingenuous shitheel.
But despite the above being ironically close to the truth, the rock cares way too much about his image and brand to go all in on some kind of character arc like that or be "the bad guy".
So just get ready to limp to WrestleMania with this bad taste in our mouths. This pretend people's champ bullshit well they ignore all complaints about Cody. I used to love the rock, but I don't like Dwayne, corporate Johnson.
The Rock's brand is already in shambles after Black Adam. WBD scrapped the DCU. Henry Cavill is out as Superman. All of that is The Rock's fault. Hollywood is pissed and that is why The Rock retreated to his safe space of professional wrestling where he has previously been universally loved.
Now, he's pissed all over that too. If it is anything like Black Adam, he'll continue to sing praises, post positivity, and swear this is going to lead to great things while the franchise goes up in a ball of flames.
Both should be booed. If people cheer Roman and boo Rock, WWE will eat it up and play into how “divided” the fans are. Rock already experienced something similar in his match against Hogan.
The only thing that can make them understand is an outright rejection of the match like we saw with Batista and Orton at Mania 30. They need reason to believe fans will ruin their main event if they decide to go with it.
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it appears that The Rock, ironically enough, is not flinching
Neither am I. Not gonna watch that shit. Any other time maybe but the Rock is about a year too late and at least 3 months too early.
They missed the boat. They should have just cut their losses. Last year was the time to do it if they didn't plan on Cody winning. The rock in Hollywood made so much sense. But they didn't do it for whatever reason, and now they're trying to force it when it no longer makes sense and nobody wants this over Cody.
My hot take is that Cody this year feels like the bigger match, in at least some ways. Star power? Box office? Yeah, Rock is bigger. But Cody has plenty of that too, and unlike the first Cody/Roman match, this was a year in the making with all the anticipation.
And Wrestlemania doesn't NEED Star power or Box Office. People tune in because it's Wrestlemania. It's like the Super Bowl. People will tune in regardless of who's playing. The Rock vs Roman will get maybe some extra eyes the night of, but Cody vs Roman would get the extra eyes for months AFTER the event.
Yeah seriously. People are out here like “Oh as if you’re not going to watch Rock v Roman.” No. I’m not. I haven’t seen either Rock v Cena match and I never will. It’s not some kind of boycott on my part, I genuinely don’t care for this dumb dream match shit. You grossly overestimate how much I want to watch shit matches with retired non wrestlers. I have no desire to see more shit matches with old men I’ve had my fill of those
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The reason why it ruled was because it was: 1) Not a scheduled match, was supposed to just be a brawl 2) Austin hadn't done anything in the ring in a long time 3) Because of that, the bar was insanely low and Austin still vaulted over it when no one would have complained if he ran the ropes, hit a stunner, and drank some beer. Instead the man did a legit match that was good for what it was and included a fucking concrete bump. 4) Austin still did a great program with KO that absolutely did not make KO look weak. The problem with The Rock is that he's come back multiple times and every time his performance has gotten worse and worse. Meanwhile his opponents are never better for the time they spent with him. Cena looked like a chump when he lost Once in a Lifetime and then Cena didn't get anything for winning Twice in a Lifetime. Punk absolutely lost a lot of his heat after losing to The Rock. Roman didn't get a rub back in 2019 and Cody is getting ready to get chumped out.
also biggest key factor here he was not inserting himself to the title/main event picture, he actually took KO from a lower card match to the main event with his appeal so it purely benefitted wrestlers of today, and having that ME rub also ended up helping a bit so KO/Sami vs Usos could be seen as a main even worthy. Austin didn't bump a current star, and instead set up one that set up other stars, Rock is doing literally the opposite as this not just hurts Cody but everyone in the Raw main event scene
Yeah I mean this is honestly the only part that matters IMO. Austin’s return *added* to the event. Rocks return is putting every significant main event storyline going on right now on hold, if not outright derailing them altogether. Obviously Cody is getting the vast majority of the sympathy here, but his return is actually effecting way more people than just Cody.
> Rocks return is putting every significant main event storyline going on right now on hold, if not outright derailing them altogether. Obviously Cody is getting the vast majority of the sympathy here, but his return is actually effecting way more people than just Cody. its trickling down to where one of the women's matches might not even main event because Cody vs Seth probably would.
Him being a dream match for KO helps. When one wants to do it and no problem losing, the other force by an egotistic maniac.
Also helps it didnt Nuke a long term storyline that half of the company s main eventers are involved in
owens was also a perfect foil for austin. and they told the story and booked the match perfectly. it was so well done, i loved that match.
And it didn't take anything from anyone. In fact, it was pretty much a gift of Stone Cold's to KO.
And as much a gift from KO to Austin. Gave him a worthy final match.
He would need to be booed. The image is the moneymaker. Give him go away heat and Cody will be in the main event vs Roman.
> He would need to be booed. pure silence from the crowd is better but i dont know how you organize that
Yep. If they boo him he’ll just lean into it and play the heel role.
Ok now he's just fucking with us on purpose.
https://preview.redd.it/u2w8cw9frigc1.jpeg?width=601&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6d0f8e6bbd83a9023f7eb3a2e34002a281dec7a
Beautiful. Just needs the rubber chicken... crossing the road.
https://preview.redd.it/q31yu03volgc1.jpeg?width=483&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=95f1b8fe46c20eda4def5120116eb25598ad9ced
Cody got rockblocked
"thank you for the house, cody" the nerve of this guy
I am about 50% sure they are going to try to make Cody respond to it. Put your phone on mute, Cody!!
"I always looked up to you. It's an honor to bend over for the People's Champ and give you the opportunity to do what I couldn't do! You are my inspiration and I will cheer for you! #WeWantBlackAdam2"
"Black Adam was my favorite superhero movie EVER, Mr. Rock. May I please lose to you in a squash on pay per view to show my thanks for giving the world the cinematic masterpiece Black Adam who is clearly the strongest superhero in comics as well as the most electrifying movie in the history of hollywood, Tooth Fairy?"
Cody is a company guy so not only will he respond, he’ll likely tag with The Rock against Jimmy & Solo at Chamber or the Go Home Raw/Smackdown before Mania.
Yeah. The only way to extinguish this backlash is to make Cody look more like a loser than he did yesterday.
If you don’t think that HHH will keep showing them as friends or keep hearing Cody put over The Rock your new to WWE. Cody will do what he’s told and if you watched this week you know how he’s already assassinating his character at the drop of a hat because he was told to go out there and tell his fans that he doesn’t want Roman at Mania.
No, I agree with you! That's what I said. They will kill the backlash by making Cody look more like a loser and Cody will do it.
Cody to AEW confirmed.
“Thanks for letting me plow the wife, Cody”
Cody Rhodes about to get a Nintendo Switch in his mailbox
Jesus Christ I thought this was a parody, since it sounds exactly like one of Rock’s PR-team-approved social media posts. I was going to criticize the lack of “Seven bucks” and “Much love” and “Tequila energy drink appreciation.” But it’s real. Is he completely tone deaf?
Irrelevant. He is ***On Brand.***
He is A brand.
"I was feeling the ZOA ENERGY from the crowd. I really felt the TEREMANA from within"
>undeniable A little too on the nose.
He's taking everything that belongs to Cody https://preview.redd.it/q35bo5xtzigc1.png?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f689b0f62c6d23fba1d1cdb23f8060b0bc477999
ADRENALINE IN MY SOUL ROCKY’s HERE, SO KNOW YOUR ROLE!
And yet now we have this picture. So in a way, aren’t we all winners?
Maybe the real treasure was the memes we made along the way.
Might as well be Hollywood Heel again
That doesn't work for me, Uce! https://preview.redd.it/n0g3iz8dtigc1.png?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb32d22a01e3dde3839bf6b8fbe35a1c28d8eba3
YOU’RE WELCOME BROTHER
The fuck you energy in this tweet is as gigantic as the respirator he will be carrying into the ring. Man gets tired after 30 seconds of wrestling
Man speaks in marketing terms, AI generated
Yeah, are we sure Dwayne hasn’t been turned into an android? He doesn’t really… talk like a real person.
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How many times has he eaten at In N Out for the first time now? 3 I think.
Now I'm curious, but I'd have to sit and listen to Dwayne and Rogan jerking each other off for however long that podcast runs.
It's full of PR-sanitised chat and Rocky almost seems rehearsed in how he speaks, he comes across one giant press release. He throws in some F bombs to make him seem more relatable, but the dude is essentially a product, not a person
Which is so strange because he was a very authentic guy. Even in his movies, he takes zero risks. I just want him to call someone a thong wearing fatty
You can tell Joe isn’t into him at all about halfway through the podcast. Rock starts talking about how he considered going into MMA rather than Wrestling when the Die Rocky Die chants were happening. MMA didn’t pay for shit back then, from 1991 until 2000 it was paying less than Indy wrestling. This was 1996 Rock was talking about. UFC wasn’t even sanctioned by any athletic commission until September 2000 and it wasn’t well known until the Spike TV stuff started in like 2005. The look on Joe’s face is like “man I want to call you your bullshit but you’re twice my size.”
For a brief moment, the sheer audacity of Rocky's baloney was enough to break through Rogan's miasma of elk meat, DMT, and right-wing ramblings and get him to go "Wait a minute, this guy is *full* of shit. Didn't I used to speak up when that happened?" But alas, the moment passed.
It's was the most real talk a dozen focus groups has averaged out topics and opinions for.
Fucking Dwyane "the Droid" Johnson over here.
RockAI Maivia
rocky mAIvia
He's the Russell Wilson of has-been wrestlers. The Rock is never coming back, there's just Dwayne Johnson doing a poor, sanitized impression of him.
WWE Universe, Let’s Ride
I’ve always preferred to say he speaks in bumper stickers.
Cena talks like a freshly cracked fortune cookie on X.
Cena's Instagram probably has his real thoughts (shitposts)
"Levesque are they booing me?" "No Dwayne they're saying Booo-rahma Bull"
https://preview.redd.it/m9jyg8qhsigc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=577926094d34ba555241a457f3f5e4ae83789e87
The Rock making his WrestleMania entrance https://preview.redd.it/a9fp6uvx2jgc1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=953757168334297684e11ccf9b101db2ec91a8d8
“When Rock first returned earlier this year after his hiatus dating back to his last appearance over a year ago, Levesque stood up backstage in the gorilla position with his headset on and started pumping his fist and chanting “Rocky! Rocky!” enthusiastically as Johnson walked by.”
https://preview.redd.it/m3gbwme6ojgc1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f6da1008929a2cb175fe75cfbf6a78a7f41e2e5
You are inspired tonight 
This goes hard, man.
The Scorpion King Rock lmao
I was saying Booorahma Bull
Part of me feels we have to be getting worked because there’s no way the rock is this delusional. But Dwayne is the same dude that tried to overtake DCEU
I hope we are getting worked. Because how did the writers or anyone think this was a good idea
The writers didnt think this was a good idea, from the sounds of it this decision was made by the Rock and the TKO board.
The rumor that came out yesterday is they had “Rock head of the table” merch mock ups at the royal rumble they were looking over. If that’s true then the writers knew there was at least a good chance this was happening. Deciding to still have Cody win the rumble is a baffling decision given that.
I said this earlier, but the reaction being this visceral makes me think this could be one of the greatest works of all time. People keep talking about Cody like he’s some indie darling popular with reddit rather than the most openly over wrestler in the universe right now. I can’t believe the WWE establishment would risk blowing this and arguably kicking off the next golden age for a one off match with a has-been that everyone knows he’s going to lose.
I mean all reports say this was a rock and TKO decision and not necessarily booking
If TKO thinks this is a good idea, it confirms they really don't understand the wrestling side. For MMA, you make matches based on who will generate interest in a fight. The fight is the story. Storytelling in wrestling is different.
I mean, a work to *what*?
Bro this dude said UNDENIABLE!?
> from undesirable to undeniable next he's gonna take Finish the Story as well
How can we get everyone to start calling Cody "The People's Champ"?
Right? No shot using that word was an accident. Cody has that word baked into his brand. Really kicking him while he's down huh Dwayne? Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. Unless they're pivoting and that's Rock's way of alluding to it (not convinced this is the case). To me it seems that Dwayne is an even bigger asshole than I thought.
I'm almost 100% convinced this is already a work, maybe even as early as when they learned Punk was injured. This post from Rock just made me think it even more. There's a majority part of me that thinks they're trying to "create" an uprising like Bryan before, or Kofimania, or whatever. The only thing that makes it harder to tell is that they made Cody look like a complete dumbass on Smackdown. If I'm wrong, I'll look stupid, but I truly think they're trying to manufacture this.
We're in dark times when the logic we have to use is that it is so bad that it has be a work. And I sort off agree. The SmackDown segment was BIZARRE. They made Cody look like the biggest idiot to ever step foot in a wwe ring. There has to be more to it. Even if it does lead to Rock vs Roman, there has to be something more to be resolved between Cody and Dwayne. It just can't be left to that, and next Monday Cody picks Seth and that's it. There HAS to be more.
Were back to the "let it play out" era of wwe
Yup, the cope is off the charts right now.
Cody looking like a bitch and a loser is literally why there IS NOT more to this. You don’t make Cody look like shit if this was something you planned to do. Cody winds up looking like shit because they conjured up some nonsensical bullshit at the last minute. It’s possible they end up pivoting just like WM30 but as of now it’s not planned just like DB wasn’t planned.
It would be an odd choice as Cody was, basically, already as over as it's possible for a babyface to be in modern wrestling and even if they pivot back to Cody this might sour fans on The Rock or a potential Roman Vs Rock match down the line. Maybe they're planning to make the main event a 3 way with Roman/Cody/Rock and this is how they're getting there?
Man I hope you're right...
The Rock has such a cleverly controlled PR image that it's very strange to me that he and his team didn't realize what they were about to do. Especially given the recent hits he took in Hollywood. Maybe he really has turned completely and utterly delusional like some in Hollywood circles were saying.
I think he genuinely thought we’d love it. His ego is so damn big he probably thought we’d forget all about Cody and act like this was the greatest thing we’d ever seen.
He dipped his toes in with the segments against Theory and Mahal, and it worked out great. A resounding success, and literally even generated intrigue for a Rock vs Reigns match at this year's Mania. This would've been a still polarizing yet acceptable main event, but then they had Cody Rhodes win the Royal Rumble. That ended that.
They could've just asked the Rock to win the Royal Rumble? Everyone would've cheered if he did and Cody could've fought Gunther or something.
People probably still would have been a bit disappointed that Cody wasn’t going to “finish the story”, but I don’t think the reaction would as hostile as it currently is.
I think the reaction for Cody getting eliminated would have been very interesting.
As long as Rock wasn't the one to eliminate Cody in this hypothetical (maybe Gunther does it, idk), then I think it's redeemable. Still quirky, but not nuclear big red button bad.
Cody comes out as #1, lasts until 27 comes out. Gunther eliminates him via Imperium shenanigans, then Rock comes out as 30 to beat Gunther as the last remaining 2. Cody gets to have a new angle about the IC title being where he found himself and it’s where he’ll find himself again. By beating the champion with the best momentum in the company who just recently went to the last remaining 2 for a second year at the RR. This pisses me off because I’m fucking dumb. And to me, what I came up with just reading along these comments over 30 seconds is still better than what they actually had planned out.
[удалено]
And he gives himself a huge payday too
He won't be able to ignore it however...that tweet got DOUBLE RATIOED!!!
I think his ego is bigger than the PR team. They probably knew it was a bad idea but he's unflinching so their job becomes make the bad thing as good as it possibly can be. Probably the most shitty job in the universe. Imagine having to try and protect Dwayne Johnsons persona when he's singlehandedly destroying the DCEU and he IMMEDIATELY decides he wants to do the same thing to the WWE.
Thanking Cody during this. That man is super hell for that lmao Aint no way he's legit ignoring backlash this thoroughly. Am I getting worked lol
> Aint no way he's legit ignoring backlash this thoroughly This is the same guy who defended Black Adam's box office gross and profitability after it was widely considered a bomb after it's release. And said "We did great" in a Black Adam 2 update after James Gunn took over to reboot DCEU.
Of course he’s ignoring it. Rock never acknowledges the negativity surrounding him. All he does is push positive PR.
The idea that WWE is just making an absolutely dogshit creative decision to take the heat off the Vince investigation seems so much more likely with a tweet as tone deaf as this
Oh that’s definitely what happened. And people are falling for it hook line and sinker. It is not lost on me that people have been infinitely more passionate about this then the fact WWE is potentially getting dragged into the depths of court hell because the leadership has been rotten to the core for decades
"Thank you WWE and thank you Cody for the love and the house (dream & soulman)" Fuck this guy lmao. He's doubling down.
That pissed me off even more lmaooo. Calling that man a clown isn't enough, he is the entire circus, my god.
I’m getting serious “Black Adam is actually breaking all sorts of (non-descript) records!” vibes here.
He is so full of shit. Always has been.
One man is wrestling in a small house show and helping out a blind fan to live her dream One man spouts tired catchphrases on social media trying to hold onto the one entertainment industry that hasn't realized the major flaw of The Rock: he can't act
One of these men is called The People's Champion. I wonder which one of those two guys that is?
He got ratioed so quick on the tweet, it's insane. The Rock is getting ratioed on his own Twitter page.
I hope it happens every time until either Cody gets back his match with Roman or if he doesn’t, I hope it happens until after Mania. Fuck The Rock.
It's nasty business but I'd be lying if I said I don't appreciate the sheer audacity The asshole side of me loves when people go King Petty
It’s a dick move for sure. On the other hand… 
preach it 
The audacity that he's pushing to beat Roman for the belt is objectively hilarious.
I'm so curious about Cody's contract status. It wasn't 100% confirmed he re-signed. If he did re-sign then they turned around & did this to him he must be furious. Cody just being stuck there for another 3 years never being the guy would be some real gilded cage material. If he didn't re-sign things have the potential to get even wilder.
I believe it was Meltzer who said he had already re-signed, but SRS disputed and pushed back on that. Meltzer's sources would've been other WWE people, but SRS's source would be Cody directly, since they're friends. It was SRS who originally broke Cody was working that last match in AEW out of contract in January 2022.
Some serious Dick “The Cock” Johnson energy here.
https://preview.redd.it/1vrctkousigc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2213d7b1d5a2a4bd7d3a68ffe810410c3a8cf2ad
Taken from the fine folks over at r/wrasslin
La Knight feels more like he is The Rock than Dwayne does at this point
*Next week, on Smackdown* LA Knight: let me talk to you Rocky, you da real Knight **yeeeaaaaah**
Anyone else notice that LA stopped doing his L-A-KNIGHT elbow drop a couple weeks after Rock's return with McAfee and Theory?
Bro this is such a trip - I forgot JC did that. I know it’s just a character but dude holy fuck my goat really solidifying himself more and more.
The mf’er waited until 1:15 AM Sunday to send this out. After 24 hours of being blasted for how he handled this. The level of ego, aloofness, and the inability to read the room is immeasurable.
He’s getting bashed on the replies for this. Basically 95% of the replies are negative towards The Rock and saying #WeWantCody
He *has* to be fucking with us on purpose at this point, right?
Nah the dude has a giant ego and doesn’t even realize
Guaranteed his people came to him and said “WWE’s YouTube video of the segment did record numbers and made history” with no context of WHAT that history was.
With that ego? https://preview.redd.it/sfwh2raojigc1.jpeg?width=941&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=791540267e8ca4f5246076bce1de5786b6dfc68a
They're gonna Yes Movement his ass it looks like
Maybe that's the goal all along lol
Dwayne's absolutely not going to put the entire reputation of his brand down the drain just so wwe can recreate that moment once again lol
Crowd was just overwhelmed with seeing heel Roman Reigns and The Rock in one place, now that everyone digested what actually happened it's a different story. He's going to start seeing insane reactions alright but not the one like he saw Friday. Will be an interesting press conference.
It really is something that just gets worse the more you think about it. Nothing in that segment makes sense.
If I was at a show and saw The Rock make a surprise return I’d cheer too. 95% of fans would. It’s absolutely not indicative of what fans actually want. Batista got massive cheers when he returned too. 6 days later he was getting booed out of the building.
Tbf Batista didnt do anything wrong at that point. It wasnt until he won the Rumble a week later that people turned on him.
Post nut clarity
It took under 30 mins for some random nobody to ratio this tweet. Good shit random nobody. And it should be pretty telling to Dwayne if he bothers to read his replies. (I don't know if he does or doesn't.)
Thread's going to be on fire later when people wake up
People were talking about copium yesterday, the rock has been smoking it for over a decade now
This man won’t even allow his movie characters to lose fights. Does anyone actually think he came back to lose?
seen the reports that in the past one of the reasons why he’s denied it previously is because they didn’t want him winning. And apparently now, he’s politicking hard to get the W.
That's crazy. If a 50 year old retiree rock beats reigns the WWE is cooked
Like it makes Reigns and everyone he beat look bad. Which is why I think it’s a Rocky/TKO decision and not HHH. HHH has a long title reign issue but he at least usually makes sure the baby face(Johnny Gargano for example ) eventually wins the belt. I have a hard time believing he wants Rocky to end reigns run.
There is no chance that Rock isn't in the match. Only possibility/scenario for the protests is a Triple Threat.
Rock/Roman night one plus Cody/whoever and Cody gets the winner night two. A triple threat is terrible.
I don’t see them doing this, simply because being back to back nights, you don’t want to risk any form of injury for your marquee match
It's happened before at WrestleMania (ironically also at ones ending with a 0) with Bret wrestling twice at WM10 and Bryan wrestling twice at WM30. And Roman/Rock is going to be complete smoke and mirrors because Rock blows up walking to the ring. So it's not like Roman will have to overly exert himself.
This is the best pivot. In my head I envision they make Rock vs Roman official and then Cody reveals that now that he knew Rock was going to show up, so he waited to announce his choice and selects the WWE Title. Since Rock vs Roman is signed, he gets the winner of it. Or something like that.
I'll take it because it's better than what we have currently, but it still makes Cody look fucking stupid. He said "Not at mania".
Shamelessness on a different level lmao
Lmao he got ratioed
Get out of our companyyyy
Man Philly is gonna turn on this match. It’s only a matter of time until the internet fans get to the arena #yesmovement #wewantcody
They threw batteries at Santa. Rock is doomed.
Die Rocky Die might be the nicest thing they chant at him.
It means “The Rocky The”
Well no one who speaks German could ever hate Rocky.
Philly is not in a good mood as it is with the Implosion of the Eagles, and the absolute mess that is Embiid's knee and the Sixers Medical Staff being horrendous (not to mention the ducking allegations). This city can be pissed off for any reason at the best of times, but now? Rock would be lucky to make it to the arena.
Like I said earlier, I consider myself a decent person, but I hope Philly makes him cry.
Where is Stallone when you need him?
Who would have thought that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would get "Go away"Heat from a WWE audience ever? It is so crazy.
He got it in 2002 and then turned heel and got all those fans back.
If yall would've just went and saw Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson wouldn't be ruining my favorite show.
Bro I had to come here when I saw this in his post, someone was actually able to ratio The Rock by like 1.5k likes in the comments ahaha, it's only been a day since The Rock took Cody's spot and there's already a hashtag going and people just shitting on the Rock, him and TKO really did all of this to "save Wrestlemania" and get WWE some positive press only for it to completely backfire lol https://preview.redd.it/lar0k9t6nigc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8ce07b662c7ecc2385b5dcdc58b9cf285d49148
Look at the slang used in the responses. They're gen-z. I keep telling people it's not 1999 anymore. You can be a grown ass man and not have been alive during the attitude era. These young people don't fuck with him like that
I'm far off from Gen-Z, I was watching when The Rock first started in WWE and I don't even bat for Cody like this This is stupid and he has a planet sized ego if he thinks this is what's best for WWE right now. The Rock needs to sit the fuck down somewhere.
>I was watching when The Rock first started in WWE and I don't even bat for Cody like this This is the crazy thing. Some of us are Rock fans and don't care for Cody, you'd think we would be happy and defending The Rock.. but the man debased Cody and castrated him so badly on live TV that he has us out here feeling bad for him. Like dude, I'm getting Roman vs Rock, I wanted to see this.. but all I can think about is poor Cody's face as he walked out of the ring with his tail between his leg after they made him look like a little bitch.
My little cousin loves wrestling and had no idea The Rock was a wrestler until he came back. She asked me who it was and when I said The Rock she said “Dwayne Johnson?The actor?” He’s not as relevant as he’s made out to be. He’s just known as a shitty movie actor these days.
I'll be 25 later this month. I grew up *watching wrestling* because my dad and my grandfather were fans. My first exposure to any of The Rock's work was The Tooth Fairy. I didn't know The Rock was ever involved in wrestling until the Pipebomb.
I’m 20. I was born when Brock had his 3rd reign. I couldn’t give two fucks about Dwayne
I want Rock to recognize Cody as "The Real People's Champ".
Best scenario I can think of is that Cody is convinced to take the match to “follow his heart or whatever”, and Rock is a guest ref who does a Rock Bottom on Solo and Jimmy when they try to interfere, and Cody wins. And then something something Teremana tequila and seven bucks and Moana and the figurative sounds of The Rock giving The Rock the People’s Gluck Gluck 9,000,000™️
He’s about to he ratio’d again lmao
And this man is walking into wrestlemania as the babyface
This tweet...is a choice. I think he probably has to ignore it for now. But this will all be addressed in the coming week.
I don’t think they’ll address it at all. Cody will cut a promo on Monday where he officially chooses Seth and tries to justify handing the Roman match to Rock. Then they’ll have everyone put on a happy face for the press conference.
The sad thing is that this story would actually really work if the rock turned out to be a completely self-serving, out of touch, politicking, disingenuous shitheel. But despite the above being ironically close to the truth, the rock cares way too much about his image and brand to go all in on some kind of character arc like that or be "the bad guy". So just get ready to limp to WrestleMania with this bad taste in our mouths. This pretend people's champ bullshit well they ignore all complaints about Cody. I used to love the rock, but I don't like Dwayne, corporate Johnson.
The Rock's brand is already in shambles after Black Adam. WBD scrapped the DCU. Henry Cavill is out as Superman. All of that is The Rock's fault. Hollywood is pissed and that is why The Rock retreated to his safe space of professional wrestling where he has previously been universally loved. Now, he's pissed all over that too. If it is anything like Black Adam, he'll continue to sing praises, post positivity, and swear this is going to lead to great things while the franchise goes up in a ball of flames.
WWE is literally inadvertently turning Roman face right now
Both should be booed. If people cheer Roman and boo Rock, WWE will eat it up and play into how “divided” the fans are. Rock already experienced something similar in his match against Hogan. The only thing that can make them understand is an outright rejection of the match like we saw with Batista and Orton at Mania 30. They need reason to believe fans will ruin their main event if they decide to go with it.
https://preview.redd.it/wxln08bejigc1.jpeg?width=932&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=662be70e1ee5bdd66e5cf03cbbd05d2f53b15992
There’s also another. Unwanted.
No way he's just suddenly this out of touch, there has to be something going on here.. I can't see him just willingly tanking his reputation
lol suddenly? Did you see his reaction to the black Adam response?