Why The Rock is hurting WWE Wrestlemania 41
I wasn’t sure if I would do a full column on this or not because I wanted to wait a little bit to see where this angle was going before really judging it. But then I read something about how people backstage felt about The Rock showing up, and that made me want to write about it. While I know it might be polarizing, I’m still going to go on with this—so here we go.
1. It’s a desperate move by WWE to sell more tickets
I’m starting with one of the biggest reasons here. It’s not a coincidence that a report came out on Friday morning stating that WrestleMania ticket sales had stalled, and suddenly The Rock decided to come back and play savior. This is a move as old as time, which I like to call the “Band-Aid solution.” By that, I mean bringing in a big star to make fans think they’re watching something special, hoping that it’ll be enough to sell tickets or spike ratings.
The problem with this approach is that once the big star leaves, you’re back to the same point you were before, and nothing has really changed. The fans you gained during that period will just move on until you bring the big star back again.
That’s the type of mentality I thought would leave WWE once Vince was gone, but sadly, it doesn’t seem to have disappeared.
2. It’s hurting the full-time roster
Another downside is that because The Rock is going to be the main focus of WrestleMania now, it’s going to hurt everybody else’s chances of truly getting over at a time when WWE really needs to build new stars. They have a few draws left, but most of them are on their last legs, and they need a new crop of guys to replace them. But when WWE always goes back to The Rock when things don’t go their way, they’re pretty much admitting that their current roster cannot attract an audience, which hurts their growth.
How many more years can WWE continue to pull this stunt?
3. This is going to hurt whoever gets directly involved
The third problem with this is that if you look at who’s directly involved in this angle right now, none of them really need to be attached to The Rock or turn heel at this moment. Cody is one of the hottest babyfaces they have, and turning him heel would be as big of a mistake as when Austin turned at WrestleMania 17. The same goes for Punk.
Cena isn’t going to get booed during his retirement tour, and I doubt they would attach Priest to this. McIntyre doesn’t need The Rock to be over, and the same goes for Paul. So, whoever gets directly involved in this will hurt their momentum—especially when The Rock goes back to Hollywood to film one of his (probably mediocre) movies.
4. Ticket prices are the main reason sales are stalling
Just look at how expensive WrestleMania tickets are this year. Nobody outside of hardcore fans can afford those prices. When you add travel expenses, it’s even worse. So, I doubt that adding The Rock to the WrestleMania card is suddenly going to make families and casual fans spend a small fortune to buy tickets.
5. The fans are the reason WWE thought they needed him
Let’s face it—since the Royal Rumble, all we’ve seen on social media and wrestling websites is negativity:
“Jey Uso didn’t deserve to win the Rumble.”
“He’s the worst Rumble winner in history.”
“Gunther isn’t a main event talent.”
Fans, especially casual fans, are very easy to convince. If you repeat enough times that Jey isn’t a main event player, people will start believing it as fact. That’s why the fandom went from being super happy for Jey to suddenly not caring about him.
WWE is trying something new, and fans decided to crap on it because they wanted the same old stuff they’ve been getting for years. And now, those same people are applauding WWE for bringing in The Rock, while guys like Jey have busted their asses to climb the ladder and get a shot at the big time. Then, when WWE fails to make a new star, we’re going to complain that WWE isn’t creating new stars.
The truth is, WWE didn’t need The Rock
When I look at the rumored card—at least for the top matches—WWE really didn’t need The Rock to enhance the show.
Cena chasing his 17th world title and his first singles win in five years is a great story and a strong draw.
The way they started the buildup for Punk vs. Reigns vs. Rollins was really well done, and they could have built a fantastic WrestleMania story.
On the women’s side, the mystery of who took out Jade (probably Bianca) is really interesting.
If you add Rhea vs. Alexa to the card—a first-time match in the division—it would also be a big draw.
What happens when the legends can’t save WWE anymore?
That’s the real question.
And that’s why I feel like The Rock suddenly appearing out of nowhere as a desperate move to spike ticket sales is hurting WrestleMania and WWE in the long run. He’s going to overshadow everyone else on the card, preventing anyone from getting over and moving to the next level.
WWE should have just stayed the course instead of panicking like Vince used to. But now that they’ve pulled the trigger on this, let’s hope it doesn’t do too much damage. I’m ready to give it a chance—even though I still don’t see why it needed to happen.