The Rock is undoubtedly one of the greatest of all time. The amount of hard work, dedication, passion, love and in his Samoaon culture, the amount of “mana” that he has for the business of professional wrestling is unheard of and it speaks for itself. The most recent WWE run that Rock had was simply amazing. From the storytelling, character developments, the overall attraction, putting more eyes on the product and wrestling at the age of 52, only showed and proved that he still got it. Even as a very successful Hollywood movie star, the fact that Rock took so much time out of his busy schedule to put on a legendary showing (as a bad guy) that he displayed leading up to Wrestlemania 40 only demonstrated that what the fans want will always matter.
Since the beginning of Roman Reigns’ Tribal Chief character, fans have been clamoring for a Rock versus Roman match. It’s a perfect scenario to see who’s for sure the Chief of their Samoan Tribe and island. A wrestling dream match that everyone wants to see. Due to Rock’s schedule, the match hasn’t been able to happen. Wrestlemania 39 was the closest the match was to ever go down but yet again, Rock’s movies intervened. However, that did not stop Chief Content Officer of the WWE Triple H from attempting one more time at the following Wrestlemania in Philadelphia. There was only one problem in the way for the company and his name is Cody Rhodes. Rhodes returned to the company at Wrestlemania 38 in Dallas, Texas destined to be the new face for WWE. Even when Reigns was at the mountain top as champion, it seemed as though Rhodes was being groomed to be the one that dethrones Roman. Due to those implications of Rock’s schedule, Rhodes versus Reigns were plan B for the main event of Wrestlemania 39 in Los Angeles and the match did not disappoint. Reigns would then defeat Rhodes with an outpour of boos from the WWE audience with the hope of Rhodes would doing the unthinkable.
Fast forward to the Royal Rumble event, where 30 WWE superstars battle it out to see who gets a shot at a world title match at Wrestlemania 40. Cody Rhodes would win this match to guarantee himself another shot at Reigns in hopes of winning the championship a second go around but things didn’t quite go the way fans thought it would. Before the Royal Rumble event began, Triple H pulled Rhodes to the side and advised him that the plan for Roman Reigns versus The Rock will in fact be the main event for Wrestlemania. Although heartbroken and disappointed, Rhodes was professional, kept a straight face for the audience and continued with the show. February 2, 2024 on an episode of Smackdown, the fans finally found out the true intentions for Wrestlemania. As Rhodes was addressing Roman, he mentioned that he indeed wants a shot at Reigns for the title but it won’t be at the show of shows. That’s when The Rock returned, came into the ring, embraced Rhodes (as a passing of the Wrestlemania main event baton) and stared down Reigns while Rhodes left, hinting to the fans that this was the plan going forward for Mania.
As the company pushed for the Roman versus Rock match and finally made it semi-official, fans from all around the world voiced their displeasure with the idea on social media. Though it’s been the goal, the fact that Rhodes, who is a full time wrestler, was shoved to the sideline to allow a part-timer the spot in the main event that was presumably for Rhodes didn’t sit well with the audience. This made the company and Rock himself to think about reconstructing the plan (as he’s one of the Board of Directors in TKO) and grant Rhodes his spot back. In the process, Rock knew he couldn’t continue his good guy persona, which led to some of his best work in his entire career as he transformed into “The Final Boss.”
A loud mouth heel that had swagger, style, charisma, aura and justifiably can be called a boss due to his position with the company that used his power as leverage against Rhodes. With a larger than life persona as is, mixed with an edger, crud and dangerous side of him out now with the moniker “The Final Boss,” when Rock was on it was must see television. Whether he was cutting promos trash talking on Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes or even the crowd in whatever city he was in, it was a prime example of what pure sports entertainment is. As a box office actor, Dwayne Johnson does not have to do any of this. Not only showing up constantly on Friday Night Smackdown, Monday Night Raw episodes leading to the biggest show of the year in Wrestlemania, Johnson put in the time and effort to put forth today’s generation of WWE superstars. While teaming with his real life family member, Roman Reigns, Rock and Reigns went up against Rhodes and Rollins on the first night of Wrestlemania 40 with high implications towards the second night of Rhodes versus Reigns big championship match.
The Rock laid the smackdown on Rhodes and Rollins as he and Roman won their big tag team match, which led to a “Bloodline Rules” match. No disqualifications and anything goes. Therefore, the odds were in Reigns’ favor to win. Not only was this an amazing match through and through, it was a spectacular moment for wrestling fans to witness. Cody Rhodes finally reached the mountain top and claimed the WWE championship from Roman Reigns with the assistance of John Cena, Seth Rollins and The Undertaker. This moment at Wrestlemania 40 would’ve never without the professionalism of Rhodes, the fans’ push back on Rock/Roman, Triple H listening to the audience and of course, Rock being honest enough, holding off that eventual match between the Samoans and seeing the bigger picture of putting Rhodes over in the best way possible to officially label him as champ. The Final Boss came and went but as promised, Rock will return for Rhodes, whether he is still champion or not.
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