When WrestleMania wrapped up without an appearance from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the actor quickly appeared on The Pat McAfee Show to defend his absence and share countless excuses for letting down the fans who'd hoped to see him at the Show of Shows.
While the Final Boss was never advertised, the stage had been set for him to show up when he inserted himself into the opening stages of Cody Rhodes' feud with John Cena and the latter's shocking heel turn.
The Rock's return made all the sense in the world, though he maintains that stepping away from the storyline to leave the spotlight on Cena was the right thing to do. Either way, the prevailing opinion among fans is that The Rock only shows up when he wants to promote himself, even if it's a detriment to the stories being told.
According to Fightful Select, many WWE Superstars were surprised that Johnson didn't bother helping to promote WrestleMania in any way leading up to the PLE. There's also some unhappiness that he only discussed it after the fact and in a way that appeared to criticise the decisions made.
"A longtime talent said that the roster always loves seeing the Rock at shows, but noted that the 'card is at the mercy of Dwayne' comment from a top talent last year was something that they believe pulls the Rock in both ways."
"One person there we spoke to claimed the Rock didn’t want to be seen as interfering with WrestleMania plans like last year, but possibly didn’t understand how integral he would be to the story," the report explained.
It's unclear whether theories that there are issues between The Rock and Triple H are correct, but his recent remarks are said to have caused confusion among those backstage.
The report added, "One talent speculated it was an 'overcorrection,' and cited last year’s reaction to Rock being inserted, but said that it was a wildly different situation. A lot of talent were discussing backstage about Rock’s absence from WrestleMania, him not mentioning it, his lack of promotion for the show, and him barely being referenced on the show."
With his Hollywood career on the downturn, it seems The Rock figured that a WWE return could help overhaul his image. Instead, wrestling fans have largely met his actions with a mixture of disappointment or disdain.
The crowds certainly respond warmly to him, but thus far, he's attempted to hijack the WrestleMania main event and thrown himself into the biggest heel turn in WWE history for no discernable reason other than wanting to be remembered for being part of it (his claim about being asked to do it to help Elimination Chamber ticket sales has been widely disputed).
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