After watching The Rock put on his first Rock Concert in years for the fine folks in Memphis, Tennessee, Dave Meltzer had one major takeaway from the episode of SmackDown that he decided to share on Wrestling Observer Radio: LA Knight is a “Freakin” Rock clone and not a particularly good one.

Intriguing? You bet, Knight has long been compared to the Attitude Era performers like The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, but this was the first time he had to cut a promo on the same show as “The Great One,” and even if he wasn't afforded nearly as much time on the microphone and saw his segment ended with a few closed firsts from “Napolean” AJ Styles, in the end, Meltzer was left feeling empty at the end of the segment, with the “Megastar” coming off as more of a copycat when compared to the genuine article.

“LA Knight is obviously very popular, but when he came out and did this promo, all I could think of is like, man, you're a freakin' copy of The Rock, and after seeing the real one,” Dave Meltzer said via WrestleTalk. “When Rock wasn't there, it was like, he (LA Knight) was great, and the people were going nuts, and they still were reacting well to him, but it really felt… it just felt, watching this LA Knight promo, to me, completely different from a month ago or two months ago when Rock wasn't around, and he's doing this stuff, and he was like the hot thing. And now, he's not the hot thing, and you've got the real Dwayne Johnson doing the promo, and then this guy's trying to do the same type of promo. And he's got a great delivery, too, but you just can't do it – you can't do a Rock promo right now without looking real second-rate. But, he doesn't have another speed. He's got his one promo style, and he ain't gonna change it, and I would say probably shouldn't change it, but this is not a time where it stands out.”

Unfortunately for LA Knight, Meltzer wasn't the only person who has made a similar concept, with some wondering if the proverbial foot has been taken off of the gas in terms of his push because of The Rock's return. Still, the one thing Knight has going for him is that The Rock has a movie that begins filming shortly after WrestleMania 40, which means the “Megastar” will be back to the only sheriff in town in no time.

Dave Meltzer reveals why The Rock gets different treatment in WWE.

Elsewhere on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer decided to talk about The Rock's recent appearances on SmackDown, which have been noticeably different from how other performers who call the WWE Universe home. Discussing why the “Brahma Bull” has been allowed to curse with borderline impunity when others can barely get out an h-e-double-hockey-sticks without a backstage producer looking at them funny, Meltzer revealed the lengths to which Rocky goes to get what he wants to say on the air, with WWE literally handed a script so they know how to properly censor what he wants to say.

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“The deal with the TV, what they (WWE) have to do is, FOX gets the (Rock’s) script ahead of time so they know when to bleep. Because the whole thing, the Rock’s promo, obviously it's completely scripted,” Dave Meltzer said via WrestlePurists. “But if it was anyone else, they would just be not allowed to say it, but with The Rock, it's like, he can say whatever he wants, but they know what he's gonna say and when he's gonna say it, so anything they wanna bleep out, they will bleep out. And they know when to bleep it out because they're told ahead of time. So that's kind of the gist of the promo and why certain things were bleeped out and everything like that, and they didn't miss on anything.”

You know, while seemingly everyone on the planet knows that The Rock is a pretty well-regarded screen actor, as you don't just get nominated for three Teen Choice Awards without having some talent, it's frankly impressive that he's able to write, memorize, and recall on the spot promotional segments that often times run 20 minutes at least. Sure, he probably isn't hitting his marks word for word, but still, having that kind of commitment to the bit is impressive, especially when you consider his cousin and WrestleMania 40 tag team partner can barely show up on SmackDown, period.