During the opening 30 minutes ofWWEdebutingMonday Night Rawon Netflix, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson arrived to a thunderous welcome. The People’s Champion is one of professional wrestling’s most iconic and instantly recognizable characters, andin 2024, The Rock had a banner year as one of WWE’s most dastardly heels. His villainous antics as “The Final Boss” came in the aftermath of WWE fans being upset at plans for him to take the spot at WrestleMania that Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes had earned.
During his appearance on one of the biggest shows in WWE history,The Rock dropped all semblance of The Final Boss character onMonday Night Rawin favor of a more charismatic and emotional promo about the importance of the occasion (even if he did threaten to “go Squid Games” on Netflix execs if there were streaming issues). It was a surprising and controversial move that has seen The Rock’s WWE future become one of wrestling’s hottest talking points.
Why WWE Sacrificed The Final Boss Character
As Monday Night Raw opened withone of WWE’s best-ever montagesand a rousing speech from Paul Levesque, The Rock’s music hit and The Great One entered the arena. His current theme song is to fitthe menacing heel character he played in WWE throughout 2024, The Final Boss. He cut legendary expletive-laden social media promos, beat Cody Rhodes with a weight belt in the rain, and joined The Bloodline, at the time WWE’s most villainous stable.
However, it’s important to remember that, on Netflix,WWE welcomed a lot of new viewers who had no idea that any of that had occurred. Their Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is the guy who just starred in Moana 2 and is the trail-blazing, eyebrow-raising People’s Champ.
To borrow a Triple H term, sending The Rock out to tell the audience that he’s there to “smack the herpes off their lips” or to insult Cody Rhodes’s dog as he did last year is not what’s best for business.
WWE’s Full-Time Audiences Are Left Confused by This Appearance
It is easy to understand why WWE decided to go that route for The Rock, but as he and Cody Rhodes shared laughs about Cody’s mother (like promising to show her her son’s blood in front of the world atWrestleMania last yeardidn’t even happen),something potentially tragic happened to The Rock in this segment. With his electrifying new entrance, wardrobe, and sweary/shouty attitude, The Final Boss represented an evolution for The Rock that was dangerous, edgy, and most impressive of all, it was cool. His appearance on Raw was anything but.
It’s important to point out here that this writer loves Dwayne so much that he would lay his coat on a puddle so the man wouldn’t get his shoes wet in the rain. The Rock is a member of the board of WWE’s parent company TKO, andthis felt like Dwayne Johnson speaking, and not The Rock. Considering that the last time we saw him as The Rock was when he arrived at the end of Bad Blood to threaten Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns (bumping CM Punk and Drew McIntyre from the Main Event in the process),it all feels like a bit of a mess to WWE’s full-time audience.
The Future of The Rock’s Character Is Uncertain
Plenty of Mixed Messages Leave The Rock in a Weird Place
As The Rock left Los Angeles state-of-the-art Intuit Dome in his pick-up truck, driving away after drinking a red cup of tequila with the man he threatened on the Raw after last year’s WrestleMania,there is a lot of confusion about how the wrestling-watching community is supposed to feel about The Rocktoday. An entire year’s worth of his storylines are now null and void. This wasn’t an explicit face turn as wrestling fans are used to. It felt like something akin to the Mark Calloway that we now see talking on a podcast arriving on Raw, acting like he hadn’t been a Deadman for years, and turning up like The American Badass.
There is not really a need for too much concern here.The Rock has the ability to adapt and shine in any pro wrestling environmentthat puts him in the conversation for wrestling’s Mount Rushmore. The day after he arrived on SmackDown to challenge Roman Reigns to the Main Event of WrestleMania, Rocky was Public enemy number one. He responded with one of the best runs of his career. But in the present moment, it’s hard to know how to feel about The Rock when Dwayne Johnson is on camera playing an alternative, corporate, and drastically less likable version of his best character.
WWE Raw
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WWE Raw is a live weekly television program that began airing in 1993, showcasing a rotating cast of WWE Superstars. Known for its dramatic storylines and athletic matches, it has become a cornerstone of professional wrestling entertainment on Monday nights.
