“We’re filming it, brother.”
And there you go — some method to the madness that’s been The Rock’s return to the centre of the sports entertainment world.
What a whirlwind few weeks it’s been in the WWE, since one of the industry’s biggest stars made a long-awaited reappearance and caused a stir that perhaps not even he saw coming.
The Rock’s controversial WWE return
Wrestling fans were, quite simply, outraged by the circumstances around Dwayne Johnson’s return to the ring, after the company seemingly made the decision to pit ‘blood relative’ The Rock against the longest-reigning Undisputed Champion in WWE history Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.
Now all that sounds fun, except for some ‘minor’ detail — this is the Cody Rhodes show now.
The WWE has carefully crafted the narrative of rising megastar Rhodes, the son of WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes. Cody – also known as the American Nightmare – returned to the WWE scene in March 2022, setting his sights on ‘finishing the story’ — winning the championship that his father never managed to get his hands on.
Rhodes won a second-straight Royal Rumble, earning the right to challenge for championship gold at WrestleMania in March. He’s wildly popular and tipped to do what he fell agonisingly short of doing 12 months prior, beat Reigns and sit atop the wrestling universe.
So when hints were dropped that perhaps Rhodes would challenge for a different title, leaving The Rock and Roman Reigns on their own collision course, all hell broke loose.
Now it’s since been confirmed that Rhodes will, indeed, challenge Reigns for the Universal championship. But whether that was a ‘correction’ from creative, after listening to its loyal fan base, or a PR ploy all along, remains up for debate.
But you can be sure that there will be some details and stories from behind the scenes that should make for captivating viewing, when it’s all said an done.
The Rock hints at a documentary
Blink and you would’ve missed it.
Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show, Johnson was detailing the work and commitment it takes to get back into ‘wrestling shape’. And that’s when an important development was revealed.
“I assume you’re filming your entire training camp right now?” McAfee cut in.
“We’re filming it, brother,” The Rock replied.
The wrestling legend is obviously not out of shape. But gym shape and wrestling shape are certainly different things.
Johnson is working hard in the background, getting his body back in a state of handing the physicality of pro wrestling — taking hits, lifting people up and being slammed in (and sometimes out of) the ring. The outcomes are planned, the physicality, though, is not fake.
“When I do go back to the ring at WrestleMania, the most important thing is a training camp, which has already started. I have multiple rings set up.
“In the world of pro wrestling, i haven’t done that in a very long time. The body’s hurting, because it’s hard to adjust back. You do it, you love it, you leave it, it’s tough to come back to it.
“I don’t have to go back, I’ve been lucky enough to get to this point in my career, but I love what I do, I love getting in there and I love pro wrestling.
“I love it, that’s why.”
So just to be clear, nothing has been confirmed, nor in a specific form.
Do we see a docu-series, or a featured documentary, or a movie after all of this? Quite possibly.
What we do know, as evidenced by The Rock’s return so far, is that he’s more than happy to make it about him and that’s one of the secret sauces to a good docco.
Time will tell.
Who will The Rock fight at WrestleMania?
That’s the new million dollar question. The name will be slotted into this story when we know.
There are plenty of options being speculated on the internet, as you’d expect, including even a tag team match to headline Night 1, teaming up with Roman Reigns and taking on Rhodes and Seth Rollins.
Given it’s quite possible that WWE’s creative had to do a U-turn from the original plan, it’s also possible that’s still being figured out.
