MR. TITO: The Double Standard of Rock’s Unscripted Promos and Social Media Against Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins

So many people are misinterpreting what I’ve been saying on The Rock lately… For one, I am HAPPY that Dwayne wants to participate more in the WWE. Granted, he has a big financial stake in this game now, but he’s an all-time great talent and all-timers are always welcomed in my eyes. But my issue is with INCONSISTENCY on how Wrestlemania 40 has been booked while the Rock has 100% freedom to say whatever he wants on Social Media or on Television while the rest of the roster has to adhere to WWE/TKO’s Corporate standards. THAT is the issue.

The Rock gets to operate with a bazooka, while the rest of the roster gets to hold butterknives.

The Rock is freely allowed ad lib, improvise, or has 1 writer INDEPENDENT OF THE REST OF THE CREATIVE TEAM (Brian Gerwirtz) that allows him to thrash WWE wrestlers, namely Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, who are NOT ALLOWED to ad lib, improvise, must stick to the script given by Creative, and are restricted on what they can say on Social Media. The Rock can freely curse on his social media, go on Pat McAfee or other shows and shoot on Cody or his fans, and thrash Cody/Seth with unscripted lines on WWE programming when Cody/Seth have to respond with scripted lines.

Furthermore, RAW and Smackdown are PG rated. All of the WWE full-time talents have to adhere to that, but when the Rock appears on both shows, he’s allowed to get vulgar when they can’t. One would think that as a WWE Board Member, he’d understand that but he constantly breaks the standards and practices that FOX has in place.

Many will suggest “well, the Rock has earned that right”. Sure, but the rest of the WWE roster looks like chumps when they can’t start shooting on Social Media or go unscripted like the Rock.

Compare Cody on RAW versus Rock on Smackdown. Cody sits down in a chair and starts crying on RAW. He HAD to do that because that’s what Creative required him to do. Compared to that to the Rock, who sings a musical parody that shoots on Cody being Stardust, being a mistake (how disgusting is that?), and openly mocking Seth for Becky being a bigger draw than him. All fine and dandy IF AND ONLY IF Seth and Cody can equally shoot on the Rock. BUT THEY CAN’T and that’s the damn point. WWE Creative keeps both Seth and Cody neutered while the Rock can do whatever the hell he wants.

So much material on the Rock, too… Nepotism, as your daughter has a big spot on NXT and Nia Jax remains employed. “Young Rock” was cancelled and that show was about him being interviewed on a Presidential campaign trail… You had breast reduction surgery during early 1999 and had to wear a shirt for many of your matches after that. Rock’s latest films haven’t been successful, and maybe his Black Adam film drove the final nails into the DC Film Universe (which for the record, was dying anyway). His XFL purchase was not successful, and has already forcibly merged into the USFL to form the UFL.

BUT Cody and Seth cannot go there because the PG Era Creative Team won’t give them any material, nor is the WWE giving either one greenlights to savage him on Social Media. Nope, just call him “Diarrhea Dwayne”.

AND you know what will happen when the Rock is hit with an unscripted line, especially to his face. Remember that incident when John Cena called out the Rock for having his lines written on his hand? The Rock got SO PISSED when that happened (though many marks still believe that was a work). After the Rock’s few initial promos, he was struggling out there and Cena was getting the upper hand. He tried to write on his wrist for things to say, but Cena noticed it and went off-the-script and the Rock was noticeably bothered. The next week, Cena was back to being scripted to keep that playing field “even” again, though the Rock was able to keep ad libbing or say whatever Brian Gerwirtz gave him.

Here’s the argument that I REALLY want to make… We always shower praise over the Attitude Era, which featured such stars as the Rock but also legendary wrestlers like Mick Foley, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, The Undertaker, Triple H, and many others in that deep midcard who are characters that we all remember to this day. Those wrestlers DID NOT have scripts to read, word-for-word. WWE’s Creative Team consisted of Vince McMahon overseeing Vince Russo, Pat Patterson, Jim Cornette, Bruce Prichard, and Jim Ross. None of those guys wrote “scripts”… They just created an outline and it was handed to the wrestlers to executive it.

“Austin 3:16” was a totally unscripted moment… Telling people to “suck it” as an unscripted moment. The many, many Rock catchphrase like “Smackdown hotel”, “Jabroni” (which he borrowed from the Iron Sheik), “do you smell what the Rock is cooking?”, “know your role…”, etc., where created by the Rock just freestyling on the microphone. The reason that the TKO Corporation gave him those phrases as recent copyrights, as part of the Rock joining the TKO Board of Directors, is because he created those out of thin air. Nobody scripted him to say any of that stuff.

Now, fast forward to 2002… Didn’t Steve Austin have endless problems with the Creative Team that year? Furthermore for 2003, didn’t he retire from in-ring stuff after Wrestlemania 19? Yeah… The scripted promo stuff was already in place and being forced onto wrestlers.

Vince Russo leaves during 1999, and Chris Kreski takes over his spot as lead writer… However for 2000, Kreski is beginning to transition out for Stephanie McMahon to take over his spot, eventually, and he’d become a consultant afterward. 2000 was when the WWE became traded on the Stock Exchange and became a little more corporate with that Viacom TV deal. Of course, fast forward to the WWE returning to USA Network, and they were now owned by Comcast who neuters and sanitizes everything. Stephanie installed a group of writers and that group wouldn’t just be wrestling oriented, but she actively recruited Hollywood and comedy writers to join the staff. With the WWE becoming increasingly corporate and WWE now having a full-time writing staff to assist Stephanie, wrestlers were being given scripted lines to rehearse and say.

If you look at WWE during 1999 and compare it to how WWE became during late 2000 and throughout 2001-2004, promos are very controlled and wrestlers begin to lack creativity compared to the late 1990s. This new corporate structure and WWE Creative Team consisting of non-wrestling writers has only grown ever since. When Triple H took over Creative during late 2013, he kept that writing room going and did so until he was demoted from Creative during the Fall of 2019. When HHH re-acquired the Creative during June 2022, he did not terminate the writers and has kept most of that existing group in tact.

So yeah, the Attitude Era was better… But the damn thing was mostly UNSCRIPTED and UNFILTERED during the late 1990s. When the WWE became scripted during the early 2000s, gee, why did the WWE decline besides the bad WWE Creative overall? Suddenly, you’re suffering through the awful 2001 WCW/ECW Invasion angle but you must recite these horribly written lines as promos to get across why the Alliance was better than the WWE. Or how about the New World Order returning to 2002. Don’t cut cool promos that got you over during 1996, here’s what we have scripted for you. Hell, we’ll run a truck into a limousine carrying the Rock while we’re at it, too.

Today’s generations of WWE wrestlers have endured nothing but scripted stuff, without any creativity like the older Attitude Era guys once had, including the Rock. At the very least, the Rock saw it coming and sank his fangs into Brian Gerwirtz to always have his back and their chemistry working together for ideas is undeniable. But nobody else gets their exclusive writer to help give them lines, no does anyone else have the ability to go unscripted as they see fit. It’s no coincidence that WWE’s success began to plunge once most of the wrestlers became scripted and lacked that authenticity they once had. Had the talent during the late 1990s been neutered with scripting, they may not be as popular.

The FACT is that Roman Reigns has greatly improved, since August 2020, because he and Paul Heyman were granted some creativity on their promos. While the Creative Team still controls both, they have parameters to work within and both have thrived. This contrasts with the Roman Reigns we witnessed during 2014-2019 who was HEAVILY scripted and basically a bad John Cena clone. Roman Reigns once said “suffering succotash” in a scripted promo once, you know, the old Daffy Duck line from those Warner Bros. cartoons. Roman was terrible as a babyface back then and being too controlled was a big reason why.

Several WWE talents have had to apologize for Social Media tweets over the years anytime their words crossed a line, or at least had to take said Tweet down. If you are a WWE talent, you have to grant the company access to your accounts OR have to be careful what you post. WWE owns you, your likeness, and your communications when they sign you to a WWE contract. Cody nor Seth are allowed to jump on X/Twitter and respond to any of the vulgar posts that the Rock has posted. They are NOT allowed… Meanwhile, the Rock can say and do whatever he wants, even if the Creative Team has no knowledge of him doing it.

That’s unfair… The Rock looks and sounds great because he doesn’t have the Creative and Corporate restrictions that the full-time wrestlers do. While Cody cries on RAW, Rock is singing about condoms breaking while also calling himself the “Final Boss” and cutting whatever unscripted promo he wants to get that new character vibe over. The real final boss once was Roman Reigns, who gave opponents difficulty in getting through Solo or Jimmy just to reach him. Now, it’s the Rock going into business for himself and blasting everyone with his massive bazooka while everyone else is trying to carefully carve a scripted promo with a butterknife.

This imbalance is the issue… Rock has 100% freedom on his Social Media, and is allowed to ad lib or improvise on television. Cody/Seth have NO freedom on their Social Media accounts and must say everything that WWE Creative scripts for them. Any improvisation by them would likely merit punishment for them.

Do you not see how ridiculous this is?

No wonder Seth and Cody look like goofs… They are in an unfair fight.

Why can’t they point out that Rock’s concert was reading from a paper sheet, the entire damn time, like John Cena once did calling out Rock’s handwritten notes on his wrist?

But they can’t because WWE is happy to have the Rock back and on television, even if the benefits he has makes the entire roster look foolish.

If you can’t see that imbalance and sets of complete double standards, then you’re an absolute Rock mark.

When Rock leaves for his next Hollywood movie, which is weeks after Wrestlemania 40, what’s going to happen? Cody and Seth have been humiliated thanks to Rock’s promo and are not allowed to truthfully respond. “Diarrhea Dwayne”… Meanwhile, Roman Reigns has had to take a backseat to Mr. Final Boss. You know, the long-time WWE champion and the guy who BUILT this company since August 2020 to want to be purchased by Endeavor and to also acquire that massive Netflix deal. The Rock is just riding the bandwagon of the company that has organically grown.

Sure, the Rock is packing houses how, but like I said, what happens when he leaves and Cody/Seth/Roman aren’t as strong of characters because the Rock’s unscripted nature on Social Media and on television has taken over everything?

It’s like book and film Moneyball… The Rock is the New York Yankees and is afforded unlimited resources, while the rest of the WWE roster are the Oakland Athletics fighting for scraps or are stuck under the mound consisting of 50 feet of crap that the WWE Creative Team forces them to do. It’s an unfair game.

Until the playing field is allowed to be even, enjoy lots of news stories like this:

• Rock’s Social Media Promos Have Rubbed WWE Talent the Wrong Way

• Rock Responds to Standards and Practice Claims

• Rock Responds to Cody Crying on RAW via his Social Media – “Are you F’N Kidding Me”

Come on, WWE… Take the handcuffs off of Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. If the Rock can SHOOT on them, then why can’t they trash his good name back? If you trust both to perform well against the Rock at Wrestlemania 40, shouldn’t you trust both to handle things well on the mic or social media?

Do y’all understand it clearly now? Of do I need to buy a larger box of crayons to spell it out?

Rock has a bazooka while Cody/Seth are fighting back with butterknives with instructions on how to use them.

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