In a very weird week of wrestling, it appears as if The Rock was in the press far more than he expected to be. As most know by now, Rock appeared at WWE RAW in Brooklyn this past Monday, and got a bit physical. He didn’t wrestle, but had a mini-altercation with Rusev and Lana. The moment was great, as very few people even knew he was coming. It was said to be a surprise to many of the Superstars and Divas in the back.
Naturally, with a comeback like this, rumors of a return are going to come out. You cannot escape it, especially if you’re The Rock. Rumors were swirling that he could be involved in WrestleMania 31 in a match with Triple H. The problem: It is only a rumor. However, we can probably expect that WWE has spoken to The Rock about a comeback at some point.
Many feel The Rock would not have been on RAW this past week if things didn’t go the way they did for him. Rock had to be in New York that morning/afternoon for some meetings. It just so happened that WWE RAW took place down the road in Brooklyn. Seeing as he didn’t have anything to do that night, Rock took the short trip to land of the Nets and appeared on the show.
If he was not in the same town, he probably would not have been there.
TMZ caught up with the former WWE Superstar on Thursday and asked him if he’d be coming back to wrestle again at WrestleMania. He said he doesn’t think so, and he jokingly mentioned that doesn’t want to ruin his face. Still, insiders are reporting that there is a “good chance” Rock could appear at WrestleMania. I think we can all assume that Rock could appear on the show. Will he wrestle though? That much is in doubt.
Movie studios are not excited about him wrestling, and people have been vocal about not wanting him to get back in the ring. He has gotten hurt the last few times he wrestled. He was so hurt the last time that Rock had to suspend filming Hercules to have surgery and recover. They obviously finished the film in plenty of time to release it around the time they wanted.
While Rock is set to be Black Adam in the new DC/Warner Bros project Shazam! and he will be in the new Baywatch film, both are not going to be in production for some time. Shazam! alone has not even been fully written; it’s a project that would probably begin filming in late 2015. Meanwhile, Baywatch is unknown. They could begin filming it at any point, but most expect filming to start for it next summer, so that it can be released the following summer.
The only thing that Rock would have to do from January of 2015 to the summer of that year would be promoting films such as Fast and Furious 7 . That being said, he could easily be part of WrestleMania and the build up to it. So he potentially has the opening. The issue is, will he risk getting hurt again and ultimately delaying a film’s production? The good and bad part of Rock is that he is in a lot of movies, but he is usually the star role. So without him, you cannot have a movie. If he was hurt again, it would risk a lot.
Despite being in shape, Rock is rarely in enough ring shape to take punishment for 30 to 50 minutes. The good thing for him would be that he would most likely be working with now WWE Executive Triple H. Triple H is known to be a safe in-ring worker. So Rock would be taken care of if they gave him Triple H. Rock wants to face his cousin Roman Reigns, but it is doubtful to happen at WM31 because Reigns is scheduled to be part of a bigger match. However, Rock facing anyone would be big for WWE. Clearly WWE wants him, but will they be able to get him? That is unknown.
Rock getting hurt each time he wrestles means that studios are not going to sign him as often. That hurts Rock’s movie career and, right now, that is more important than his very part-time WWE run. Most fans can understand this. Fans want to see him appear off and on in WWE, like this past Monday on RAW . However, fans do not need to see him wrestle all the time. So Rock appearing at all at a WWE event would be special.
[IMG Credits: zimbio.com, 7coloz.com]