IWC Scum — The Final Boss is Levels Below (We Might’ve Just Hit Bedrock)

Welcome back to the column that puts the incessant whining and complaining in IWC. I simply go by SkitZ, and this is a typical Wednesday in the life of a concerned wrestling columnist.

Apologies for the hump day segue, but The Rock propositioning Cody last week on SmackDown felt like Diddy trying to recruit a business partner so long as it comes with benefits on the backend. What’s with all this sudden asskissing? Between sellout Rock speaking as slowly as The Undertaker and wanting Rhodes to offer up his soul, you’d think The Final Boss was assembling a new Corporate Ministry. I get that he’s trying to tempt Cody into turning, but is The Rock even sure which side he’s on in 2025? 

Based on his two appearances thus far, the TKO board member’s gone soft and lost his mojo in the process. I mean there’s been more buzz around Ricky Saints arriving in NXT than the return of The Rock, who’s been handing out ula falas like they’re Mardi Gras beads and promoting next year’s ‘Mania in NOLA like a goodwill ambassador. He’s also forgiven every person who’s wronged him apparently. Not only does the conflict within his own Bloodline seem of little interest to The Rock, but – news flash to us common folk – he and Rhodes have evidently become as close as brothers over the past year. I guess that bloody beatdown Rocky gave Cody in the rain before WM40 is merely water under the bridge now. Interesting approach to storyline continuity…  

Speaking of which, that press conference The Final Boss held on Friday night didn’t sit well with me either. “What’s great about my history with Cody is we can do A, B, C or D in the coming months without it ever leading to a match between us.”  I understand that we’re notoriously nosy bastards who crave 24/7 backstage access to everything, but there is still such a thing as exposing too many trade secrets. If you over-explain the magic trick, it greatly diminishes the reveal. The Rock’s promo raised plenty of questions and confusion, but you’re better off letting the segment marinate for a week, rather than giving most of the recipe away immediately after delivering it. 

A lot of what The Rock is cooking these days smells like a guy who can’t quite sense what whets the appetite of the current generation. And the more time he spends away from the product, the more dull those senses become. Look no further than the WrestleMania XL: Behind the Curtain documentary. The Road to WMXL was ultimately a critical success, yes, but let’s not forget how it began. Rocky drops the “Head of the Table” line on New Year’s 2024, then shows up again right after Rhodes won his second consecutive Royal Rumble. Egotistically assumed the fans wanted Rock versus Roman so badly that they’d be cool with Cody stepping aside and patiently waiting to face Reigns at a later date. What balls on the Brahma Bull to publicly castrate Rhodes like that while the rightful contender’s forced to stand there and swallow his manhood. They’re both nuts for going through with that segment.

Now obviously, The Final Boss challenging the Tribal Chief is the bigger money-drawing match, but it’s almost as if The Rock hadn’t taken into account how invested WWE’s fanbase was in Cody’s journey. Then he tries to downplay the viral pushback by saying “the fans voiced their concern about the direction we were heading in.”  Uhhh more like you misread the room. Just admit that you screwed up and had to eat some humble pie. People were more into the American Nightmare’s story than your dream match. Stop refusing to acknowledge that XFL caliber blow you took to the ego. Trying to spin the narrative into you manifesting some genius concept. I’ll tell ya… for a guy so outspoken and alert to the noise on social media, Rock can be pretty damn tone deaf at times. 

His long-awaited showdown with Roman has been stewing on the shelf for so long, do fans even find it appealing anymore? That match has all but surpassed its expiration date, much like what happened (or didn’t happen rather) with Sting versus The Undertaker. They tried aligning the stars for WrestleMania 39, but The Rock couldn’t commit due to scheduling conflicts. Looking back now, WWE would’ve been better served convincing The Final Boss to do the job in Hollywood that year. Book another big obstacle for Cody to overcome in the meantime, and force him to wait another year to challenge Reigns. Then Rhodes avoids taking the loss at WM39 and spending the next 12 months crying over it on the mic. I hate WrestleMania rematches anyway. The encore is never as great as the original.      

Recently, I watched a video reel of a fan theorizing how the new Cody/Rock angle will play out between now and ‘Mania. He suggested Rhodes joining forces with The Rock, turning heel as a result, and facing CM Punk at WM41. During the closing moments of the match, Rocky hits the ring to help Cody, and we discover the favor Punk requested from Heyman was Reigns fending off his cousin. Roman drops Rock to a huge pop, opening the door for Punk to win the WWE Championship, and the Final Boss battle that I no longer care about is set for WrestleMania 42. 

My reaction? Well, I could sure as shit fantasy book something far worse. 

After what occurred in Philly last April, we all felt fairly confident about the Rock/Roman match FINALLY taking place at this year’s ‘Mania. Yeah so much for that idea. The Rock returns to – who the hell really knows – groom his buddy back into being “Dashing” Cody Rhodes or something. And by opting out of wrestling Reigns at WM41, The Final Boss has Hunter reshuffling the card once again. At this stage of his career, the only logical WrestleMania opponents for Roman are The Rock and maybe CM Punk. All signs currently point to the latter working with Cody while Reigns seeks revenge on Rollins. 

Didn’t we wrap up their beef and send it out to pasture last spring? Seth curb stomping Roman into the steel steps is a retread no fan is clamoring to see. There were a handful of more intriguing options, but now we’re staring down the barrel of Reigns being tasked with carrying a mid-50s Rock for half an hour in 2026. A big difference from The Final Boss having Rhodes and Rollins to bump for him the entire match. Since we’re not settling any of this “who’s the true Head of the Table?” business at WrestleMania 41, there’s really no demand for The Rock to join the fray. Whether Cody faces John Cena, CM Punk, or someone else, The Final Boss’s involvement will only bring negative energy to the title feud (even if it’s mainly IWC scum complaining about him weighing down the build). 

And how many times is this man gonna make the camera guy zoom in on his forearm? The only goosebumps I wanna see up close and personal are the missing books from my childhood collection on eBay. It 100% feels like the actions of a babyface which, last I checked, The Rock is not. Right? It’s hard to tell when he’s singing with the crowd one moment, then snapping back into heel mode and insulting them the next. Rocky rambled and talked in circles for so long that other segments on the show were cut short to offset his long-winded promo. The dude’s acted in over 50 films, yet still can’t reel it in and hit his cue. Not every move of Triple H’s is a winner, but regardless, The Game remains levels above The Final Boss. Rock’s mindset for the business strays more towards Vince’s creative vision, and that ain’t exactly a compliment. 

Despite me spending the majority of this column saying The Rock is slipping a bit, he’s also one of the Rolling Stones of professional  wrestling. I grew up enamored with The Great One just like the rest of his millions (and millions) of fans. Hell, 12-year old SkitZ nearly fell to pieces when the babysitter tore up my WWF Magazine and tossed it in the trash as punishment for laying the smack down on my sister. 

She had it coming, but the point is I have mad respect for The Rock and what he’s done for the industry as a whole. This business between him and Cody however interests me very little. In my mind, there are plenty of more pressing matters concerning The Final Boss that need answering. Burning questions such as why is Ava Raine so limited in NXT? Is the microphone mightier than the match quality? Did she not pick up wrestling as fast as the rest of the family? Do you Rock have the power to override Hunter in a creative capacity? Or can he shoot you down when an idea sucks as much as last year’s? And how come you stopped carrying around the People’s Championship? Have you accepted how utterly ridiculous you looked strutting around with it? Speaking of milking shit from the past, do I even need to mention the cow print vest? 

Oh and lastly, when you were raising Roman’s hand following his win over Solo on the Netflix debut of RAW, why couldn’t you just pull Reigns in and plant him with a rock bottom??? This road to WrestleMania would’ve been more straightforward yeah, but in turn a lot less anticlimactic. Cody selling his soul to The Rock is giving me major Austin/Vince WM17 vibes, and we all remember how that panned out in the long run.  

Twitter/X: writersblock_skitz (@JoshKeegan20)

Email: skitztmrlop@gmail.com

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