The Rock Talks About His WWE Return, a Match with John Cena, WWE Creative & More

[wolfgang187]

The Rock Talks About His WWE Return, a Match with John Cena, WWE Creative & More
By Marc Middleton
Jan 25, 2010 - 4:53:59 PM


- Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson appeared on Live Audio Wrestling this weekend and talked about WWE creative, returning to WWE and more. Here are a few highlights:

Johnson on returning to WWE: "I want to use the platform as a host to literally rip things open. There's so much stuff we can do. We're going to create an incredible show, an incredible Raw. I'm doing another movie, but after that, we're going to create something special, unique, something badass for the fans. Talking to Vince (McMahon), whenever that's going to be, we're going to have a great time."

Johnson on wrestling a match: "I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish in wrestling, so I wouldn't rule out going back. If the match was right and we could create something really unique and cool for the fans and for my opponent and for the company, I would do it in a second."

Johnson on facing John Cena: "I've never been interested in wrestling John Cena. The guys I wrestled in the past - from Goldberg to Hogan to Austin - were guys who I've really wanted to wrestle. If it can be done creatively but not only that, it's very important if I do back is that the writing has to be ripped open and really be pushed. I came from a time in the Attitude era where we trail-blazed a lot and were fearless in the things we said and did."

Johnson on creative: "There are a lot of restrictions now on the product, which by the way, I understand, and I enjoy some of the stuff I see and I know some of the writers and they're challenged every week, but if in fact I do go back, it would be an interesting collision of an Attitude time that I loved and the time now, but I'm sure we can always infuse things to make it work."

[Playboy]

If Rock comes back it will be only as a guest host or for a very short term 3-4 month appearence. Rock has already stated on numerous web sites that he has no interest in wrestling anymore.

[Thin Lizzy]

I'm sure Rock has made a lot of money doing the Hollywood Hustle, but I can't imagine that doing movies like his latest one is too creatively satisfying:

The Tooth Fairy

"A bad deed on the part of a tough minor-league hockey player results in an unusual sentence: He must serve one week as a real-life tooth fairy."

[UPINTHEMGUTS]

If Rock comes back it will be only as a guest host or for a very short term 3-4 month appearence. Rock has already stated on numerous web sites that he has no interest in wrestling anymore.

Why would he? He's a single leading man in hollywood and smashing all kinds of hot pussy. And he's made a shit load more money than Vince could ever pay him in a shorter amount of time.

I'm sure he'd much rather be taking bumps and traveling 250 days out of the year....

[Playboy]

Why would he? He's a single leading man in hollywood and smashing all kinds of hot pussy. And he's made a shit load more money than Vince could ever pay him in a shorter amount of time.

I'm sure he'd much rather be taking bumps and traveling 250 days out of the year....

You just prooved my post. Are you sure you didn't mean to reply to someone else 

[cheftim]

I'm sure Rock has made a lot of money doing the Hollywood Hustle, but I can't imagine that doing movies like his latest one is too creatively satisfying:

The Tooth Fairy

"A bad deed on the part of a tough minor-league hockey player results in an unusual sentence: He must serve one week as a real-life tooth fairy."

It's just like anything else. I'm sure he was beyond happy to get his first spot in a movie. Then he became the star of his first movie. Like anything the shite gets old and your in it for the money. Look at Samuel Jackson. How many stupid ass movies have you seen him in? You think he cares? Or is he laughing all the way to the bank. The Rock is after the money. He's not after an academy award. I think the only reason why he hasn't come back to wrestling is because he wants huge money and VKM won't do it. I would never go see the Tooth Fairy. But if hollywood offered you the lead role in that movie? Would you take it?

[UPINTHEMGUTS]

You just prooved my post. Are you sure you didn't mean to reply to someone else 

Yeah, my bad.....

[Thin Lizzy]

It's just like anything else. I'm sure he was beyond happy to get his first spot in a movie. Then he became the star of his first movie. Like anything the shite gets old and your in it for the money. Look at Samuel Jackson. How many stupid ass movies have you seen him in? You think he cares? Or is he laughing all the way to the bank. The Rock is after the money. He's not after an academy award. I think the only reason why he hasn't come back to wrestling is because he wants huge money and VKM won't do it. I would never go see the Tooth Fairy. But if hollywood offered you the lead role in that movie? Would you take it?

Sure, but in addition to money gigs, I'd want to do something significant that people might care about twenty years from now.

Look at Bret Hart. He was out of the WWE for over 10 years, but, when he came back, he went over. Why? Because he made a significant contribution to professional wrestling and the fans appreciated it.

The point I was trying to make is that Rock was a GREAT professional wrestler. He's a mediocre, at best, movie star. I'd like to see him come back to wrestling. I could give a rat's ass if he ever makes another movie.

[UPINTHEMGUTS]

Sure, but in addition to money gigs, I'd want to do something significant that people might care about twenty years from now.

Look at Bret Hart. He was out of the WWE for over 10 years, but, when he came back, he went over. Why? Because he made a significant contribution to professional wrestling and the fans appreciated it.

The point I was trying to make is that Rock was a GREAT professional wrestler. He's a mediocre, at best, movie star. I'd like to see him come back to wrestling. I could give a rat's ass if he ever makes another movie.

Never happen. Maybe to host Raw or some shit like that but not as a wrestler on the roster.

[Playboy]

I'm sure if The Rock really wanted to he could easily come back on a short term deal and wrestle as he is still young enough and in fantastic shape but he's already mentioned numerous times that he has no interest. He's already wrestled and he's moved on to other things.

[Montague]

I'm sure if The Rock really wanted to he could easily come back on a short term deal and wrestle as he is still young enough and in fantastic shape but he's already mentioned numerous times that he has no interest. He's already wrestled and he's moved on to other things.

I never liked the idea of celebrity outsiders coming into an angle where they go over another wrestler. I've alway felt it compromises the integrity of the storied show – with a few exceptions.

It worked with LT because he was a former pro football player (an athlete), and also because he was in there with Bam Bam, who could carry an inexperienced worker through a match and make it look believable.

Rock would work, too. He has super credentials, and his last appearance indicates he would be well received by the fans.
There isn’t a whole lot to his ring style, so there isn’t much rust to work off.
He's already in good physical shape.
Probably, he could bump train for a few weeks to recondition his body, meet with Cena to go over a good 15 min worth of spots, maybe do a couple of dry runs through the whole thing, and he’d be good to go.

It's when the celeb has “0” skills, you don’t have a good ring general to help with the greenness, the whole thing looks phony, and the only reason the celeb goes over is because he's famous/popular...that's wrong.

[Playboy]

I never liked the idea of celebrity outsiders coming into an angle where they go over another wrestler. I've alway felt it compromises the integrity of the storied show – with a few exceptions.

It worked with LT because he was a former pro football player (an athlete), and also because he was in there with Bam Bam, who could carry an inexperienced worker through a match and make it look believable.

Rock would work, too. He has super credentials, and his last appearance indicates he would be well received by the fans.
There isn’t a whole lot to his ring style, so there isn’t much rust to work off.
He's already in good physical shape.
Probably, he could bump train for a few weeks to recondition his body, meet with Cena to go over a good 15 min worth of spots, maybe do a couple of dry runs through the whole thing, and he’d be good to go.

It's when the celeb has “0” skills, you don’t have a good ring general to help with the greenness, the whole thing looks phony, and the only reason the celeb goes over is because he's famous/popular...that's wrong.

I didn't even like the fact that LT wrestled Bam Bam and won. That was ridiculous. Bam Bam is very well respected in the industry especially in Japan. He should not have beat Bam Bam.

[Montague]

I didn’t like it, either, but at least it didn’t ruin Bammer’s career.
I guess that’s what I meant by saying, “it worked.”
Compare it to some other examples:

Mr. T was a disaster. His only credentials were that he appeared in a wildly popular TV series.
WM was a success despite T’s technical skills being only slightly worse than Hogan’s. He had a bit of an amateur background, but knew almost nothing about “working” in this type of environment. Fortunately, there was Hogan and 5 other guys who could work a crowd and cover for T’s shortcomings.
And to think that Vince originally wanted T to pin Piper in that match!
Pipes was right to say, "NO."

The next year’s Mania was a catastrophe. T vs. Piper one-on-one. They knew T couldn’t work an entire match on his own so they did boxing…and it still sucked. To make matters worse, T & Piper had genuine heat with each other and were being very uncooperative during the event.
The only thing the crowd could feel in that match was how bad T was, and I think that was a big reason that got Piper over by the end.

[Playboy]

I didn’t like it, either, but at least it didn’t ruin Bammer’s career.
I guess that’s what I meant by saying, “it worked.”
Compare it to some other examples:

Mr. T was a disaster. His only credentials were that he appeared in a wildly popular TV series.
WM was a success despite T’s technical skills being only slightly worse than Hogan’s. He had a bit of an amateur background, but knew almost nothing about “working” in this type of environment. Fortunately, there was Hogan and 5 other guys who could work a crowd and cover for T’s shortcomings.
And to think that Vince originally wanted T to pin Piper in that match!
Pipes was right to say, "NO."

The next year’s Mania was a catastrophe. T vs. Piper one-on-one. They knew T couldn’t work an entire match on his own so they did boxing…and it still sucked. To make matters worse, T & Piper had genuine heat with each other and were being very uncooperative during the event.
The only thing the crowd could feel in that match was how bad T was, and I think that was a big reason that got Piper over by the end.

Exactly. I remember on Piper's dvd, he was furious at T during their wm2 boxing match. He said that T missed a right hook by like a foot and that was supposed to be the knockout punch causing the "Shoz" in the ring afterward. He said he litterally through that stool at him as hard as he could to try and get T to attack him legitimatly so Piper could really kick his ass. Amazing.

[Montague]

Rod also mentioned (I know it’s in the book, but can’t remember about the disc set) that they had him roll his fists before putting on his gloves so that he couldn’t punch or grab anything properly.

T had his on the right way.
That pissed off Piper even more, and rightfully so!

[Playboy]

Rod also mentioned (I know it’s in the book, but can’t remember about the disc set) that they had him roll his fists before putting on his gloves so that he couldn’t punch or grab anything properly.

T had his on the right way.
That pissed off Piper even more, and rightfully so!

Piper said that the WM2 boxing match with T was the worst match of his career.

[Montague]

Just a little bump...

I thought it would be neat to compare some of our predictions & speculations from a year ago to what has transpired over the last several weeks.
 

[Montague]

Here's another discussion from around the same time regarding changes to the WWE product:
http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=320004.msg4553038#msg4553038

[Krankenstein]

It's when the celeb has “0” skills, you don’t have a good ring general to help with the greenness, the whole thing looks phony, and the only reason the celeb goes over is because he's famous/popular...that's wrong.

So, you are saying Dennis Rodman....or (karl malone?) in the WCW matches werent great?   

[Playboy]

So, you are saying Dennis Rodman....or (karl malone?) in the WCW matches werent great?   

And Hogan vs Jay Leno....

[Krankenstein]

And Hogan vs Jay Leno....

I forgot about that epic match....damn.

[Montague]

I forgot about that epic match...

I wish I could.

[Playboy]

I'll believe this one when I see it. How much do you think the Rocks asking price is to come back?

He was making 1mil per year base salary when he left back in 2004. Who knows. I think its just a temporary basis just like with bret Hart. None the less, its good to see Rock again. Tonight Austin is expected to be on Raw.

[Montague]

Is WM sold out?

[Playboy]

Is WM sold out?

Nope....not even close. Ticket sales are poor thus Vince grasping at straws bringing in the Rock, Austin, Lawler out of retirement, etc.