The fallout from WrestleMania continues this week, and it only shows signs of worsening. The Rock took to the Pat McAfee Show to explain why he no-showed WrestleMania, even after telling a fan “don’t believe any of that bullshit” on X/Twitter when asked if he would “really not be working” WrestleMania 41. Additionally, there are literal printed shirts with the Rock’s famous slogan, “Finally, the Rock has come back to” and Las Vegas printed, clearly showing the plan was for him to show up the entire time. So, you can imagine fans were eagerly tuned in to hear this explanation, and instead, fans got more lies from Johnson and more PR from the Rock. How did we get here?
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has always made no small secret of his ambitions in life. The cutesy crap originally began when some polls show that Americans wanted the Rock to run for President. Naturally, the Rock played coy about the entire thing, largely implying that he wasn’t actively pursuing it, but “he will always do what ‘the fans’” want him to do. We should have known then that “the fans” was really “the Rock’s ego.” After the President thing, he did a series of matches with John Cena, and then he went back to Hollywood with renewed vigor and determination. Here’s where it began to fall apart.
After realizing he couldn’t wrest control of the Fast and Furious franchise from Vin Diesel, The Rock decided he wanted to share the magnitude of himself with other people in Hollywood, mostly the struggling Detective Comics Extended Universe. Johnson saw a wounded animal and pounced. After it was announced that DC was doing a Shazam movie with Zachary Levi, and they wanted The Rock to play Black Adam. That wasn’t good enough for Johnson, he convinced them Black Adam needed a solo film. After getting exactly what he wanted, Johnson took to social media to proclaim that the “hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is about to change.” His movie completely bombed and officially brought about the end of the DCEU.
Not only was Black Adam rejected by critics for being the most generic version of a story they’d seen a thousand times by now, but Johnson’s trying to PR himself around that blew up in his face. After Variety posted a story about how Black Adam was set to be a financial bath for Warner Bros. Discovery, Deadline mysteriously ran an oddly specific story about how the movie would make the studio money, complete with a worksheet. That mystery was solved once stories emerged about how the Rock himself had planted that Deadline article. Then stories emerged about how Johnson was awful to people and how he tried to control the DC Universe, often going behind the backs of other stars like Levi. It was even reported that he pissed in water bottles on set instead of using a bathroom, something he learned to do comfortably as a wrestler who had to drive from location to location.
Then fans began to notice how the Rock lied about even the littlest stuff that never matters, and how there’s always a camera around when he does charity, and how he always manages to draw attention to the fact that he’s doing charity instead of just doing it. Some people even noticed that he was doing both at the same time! Then there was the Maui fire incident, where Johnson and Oprah, one billionaire and one almost billionaire, put out a video during a massive recession and financial crunch, asking other people to donate money to a fundraiser they started. He couldn’t even apologize for that correctly.
Then came Moist Critical. When Charlie comes for your head, he doesn’t miss. Even when Charlie is joking around and posting light-hearted videos, talking trash, he seems to have an almost lethal effect on the targeted individual’s career. Charlie posted a semi-funny, semi-serious video about how sad the Rock’s life must be, given the fact that he’s a walking PR machine, and a prolific, almost Hulk Hogan-like ability to lie about even the dumbest stuff. In this case, the Rock has lied about going to In-N-Out for the first time, twice, and he’s been there three times, every time for the first time. The saddest part of all of it is that people roasted him for “forgetting” that he went to In-N-Out once before when he went there for the second time. There’s no way he could have forgotten about it, everyone was making fun of him. Yet he did it a third time.
It seemed like a guy who only knows how to speak in PR and who seemingly lies about the dumbest stuff was losing almost all the goodwill he had built up over the years and people were kinda getting sick of his bullshit, for lack of any other term. There’s simply no other way to put it. The Rock would do and say some of the dumbest stuff all in the name of public relations, and fans began wondering if this guy has had a genuine thought once in his life. He genuinely wasn’t liked, and people wanted him to go away, so he did. Instead of changing while he was away, he’s instead decided to double down.
The Rock immediately came into the WWE and inserted himself into the entire picture, which, okay. That’s fine. He’s earned the right to be the focus of attention in a few storylines and should get to wrestle some of the bigger names, but then Johnson decided that wasn’t good enough. Cody Rhodes had won the Royal Rumble, and fans were clamoring to see him “finish the story” and dethrone Roman Reigns as the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of WWE. Here’s Rhodes, just weeks away from his main event at WrestleMania, and the Rock comes down to the ring and whispers into Cody’s ear. All of a sudden, Cody “gives up” his spot to the Rock in WrestleMania, and now it’s Johnson vs. Reigns for… reasons.
The WWE Universe absolutely lost their minds, and not in the way you want to hear someone say that. They loathed this decision and booed so much at every event going forward, demanding Rhodes be put back into the main event, WWE had no choice but to pull Johnson from the match and go back to the original plan of Rhodes vs. Reigns to finish the story. Fans got their way, but it wasn’t too long ago when the WWE would have ignored the fans and doubled down with the Rock and Reigns. Then comes John Cena and his retirement tour.
Cena states he is desperate to win a 17th title, and he would like to win it. He enters his name into the Royal Rumble, and he comes so very close to winning it. With both Jey Uso and John Cena having gone over the ropes, fighting desperately on the ring apron to stay on the apron instead of falling to the ground, where they would be eliminated from the Rumble. After several back-and-forth moments of drama, Uso knocks Cena to the ground and wins the Royal Rumble.
The press conference following the match saw Cena forcefully announce that he would be in the Elimination Chamber event, and the WWE was going to do it because they know it’s “best for business” if he wins a 17th world championship. It was his first hint at a heel turn.
Then came the Elimination Chamber main event, which Cena won. Cena has his world championship match. He’s got everything he wanted. Meanwhile, Johnson demands that Cody Rhodes give him his soul, and he’ll make all of Cody’s dreams come true. What those dreams are is never explained, but Rhodes must now come down to the ring to accept or reject the Rock’s offer. Right now, Rhodes is champion, Cena has his title match with whomever he wants, the Rock wants Cody’s soul for… reasons.
Cody comes down to the ring to look the Rock in the eye, Cena’s there, clapping and cheering for Rhodes. Travis Scott is dancing around with sage or weed or something. Storyline-wise, there is no reason for anyone other than Johnson to be upset if Rhodes refuses his offer. The WWE, in an attempt to give older fans something they’ve long wanted, hearkens back to the Attitude Era and Ruthless Aggression era when Rhodes tells the Rock “go fuck yourself” without any censorship applied. Cena hugs Rhodes, and then beats the hell out of him after the Rock gives him a signal.
Fans have long assumed this soul story was going to have some huge payoff. That the Rock would be at WrestleMania 41 to see this story to its conclusion. Surely the Rock was going to make sure that Rhodes paid for turning him down by costing him the world championship title, right? Nope. The imagined magical moment came during the Cena vs. Rhodes match, when the music hit, and fans erupted with cheers, thinking that Johnson would be coming down to interfere in this match. They were left with Travis Scott instead, you know, for… reasons.
This brings us full circle to the Rock explaining his absence by saying that the “soul” angle was never intended to be paid off, his “work was done,” and that it was a work when he told that fan not to believe the BS that he “wouldn’t” be at WrestleMania 41. Apparently, everything is work, and we should all just relax and enjoy it. If Dave LaGreca didn’t want to relax, his other option was to come sit in on a meeting with him, the Board, and WWE. Funnily, Johnson mentioned everyone except Triple H. That’s because he and Johnson do not get along, and it would appear that fact is only being amplified by the Rock’s latest behavior, lies, and PR disasters.
Johnson’s statement to LaGreca was filled with his usual pompous tone, a backhanded compliment, an allusion to something they’ve discussed in the past to cover up for his insult, and a promise of bringing him free alcohol. This is something Johnson gives away all the time, and he also has a habit of trying to buy people off after insulting them or trying to screw them over in some way. The backhanded compliments are a Johnson special, too. He loves to remind people where he is in life compared to them. Remember, this is a guy who can’t even do charity without a camera around, and has numerous promises of charity that have gone unmet.
At some point, the Rock will burn almost every bridge he’s been able to build. His constant lying, lame PR speak, and insistence upon putting himself over at the expense of others any chance he gets just isn’t appealing. Hollywood is done giving him the benefit of the doubt because his movies don’t sell when they aren’t a part of some machine, and even then, they don’t always sell. Black Adam is how we even got here in the first place. Fans were already getting sick of him after the DC stuff, which is why he fled back to the safety of WWE fans. They’re getting sick of him now, and the newest lies aren’t helping.
If everything is a work, then nothing is real. The Rock can’t insist that all his interviews have the potential to be filled with “worked” lies, but how will that work with the WWE trying to engage more with the sports side of things, and the press conferences? If journalists think there is a strong chance they’re being lied to daily as they try to cover their beat, media outlets will eventually stop sending reporters. Everyone else seems to be living in reality, it’s the Rock whose entire life is a work, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down.
