On February 16th, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made it official, cementing his status not only as a member of The Bloodline but as a certified heel by pretty much eviscerating the fine people of Salt Lake City, Utah in a promo for the ages on SmackDown.

Now granted, none of this was particularly surprising, as Johnson has been working heel since the WrestleMania 40 Kickoff event, taking the anger he feels regarding the fans rejecting him in favor of Cody Rhodes out on anyone who steps across the ring from him, and by aligning with Reigns instead of fighting against him, he's hoping this newer, more powerful Bloodline will dominate, but still that hasn't stopped some from questioning the decision or just being surprised to see it happen.

One such person who falls into the final camp is WWE Hall of Famer and WCW legend Eric Bischoff, who revealed on his 83 Weeks podcast that he was surprised to see The Rock go heel at this stage of his career, as he has too many opportunities going on outside of the ring to risk becoming unpopular.

“At this stage of his career, it surprises me that he would fully embrace that heel role. I'm glad he did. The audience obviously digs it,” Eric Bischoff said via 411 Mania. “It's taking them back to 1999, I guess, kind of a heel Rock era at that point. So, the audience is digging it. I'm just relatively surprised. I mean, there was talk a couple of months ago about him exploring the idea of running for president. I think that's probably out the window. He won't be campaigning anytime soon in Utah. But who knows? We'll see.”

Alright, would the people of Utah actually support another candidate if Johnson ran just because of what he said on SmackDown? Frankly, that largely depends on which party he runs as a member of, as it's hard to imagine the deeply red state of Utah would vote for Johnson regardless of what he said on SmackDown if he ran with anything other than an R next to his name.

Still, that's distracting from the task at hand, which is The Rock's appearance with The Bloodline. What did Bischoff think of the actual segment? Fortunately, fans don't have to wonder, as he commented on that on his podcast, too, and his take was interesting indeed.

Eric Bischoff believes The Rock turned in an A+ SmackDown showing.

Turning his attention to the actual Bloodline segment on SmackDown with his 83 Weeks cohost Conrad Thompson, Eric Bischoff was asked to grade the segment, to which he couldn't help but give it a perfect score.

“Oh, definitely [an] A-plus for effort, because that was a h*ll of a bobble and a h*ll of a pivot. And to be able to recover at all, I think gets them an automatic B. And given the nuances in some of the details and the focus on creating anticipation — because that's what this is all about. We know we're gonna get the action. We've got a pretty solid story. The reality of this situation, given just the basic premise for Cody Rhodes. Finishing the story, that's real. That's based on actual events regarding his father Dusty, and thinking he was going to get the championship and then having it in his hands. But ‘Oh, you didn't really get it.' I mean, that's all real. This is a scripted story based on reality in a sense,” Eric Bischoff noted.

“The surprise, I mean [it's surprising enough that Rock showed up on the scene in the middle of it all. So they got that covered. So the five elements that it takes to make a great story are all there. They've checked the box, but it seems like they're turning up the volume in anticipation so much that that effort? Gets me up into a B+ or A- type of grade, I think for where they are currently. We'll see how it evolves. But would do you not give your students a B plus to an A minus. Not only for the pivot, but for the details, the story and the attention to detail that this is getting so far. And the fact that they're giving themselves a couple of different options to get out of it. Or to end it, I should say. Not to get out of it, that makes it sound like a burden. So, they'll have an opportunity to end this story, this movie is called WrestleMania, any number of different ways at this point.”

Did The Rock do a “perfect job” of reincorporating himself into the WWE Universe with his heel efforts? In a word, yes; ever one to work over his tried and true formula for promotional success, The Rock checked all of his usual boxes on his heel card but incorporated a few new ideas into his efforts, too, including a few digs and hand gestures that multiple fans have suggested could be hints at an eventual turn against The Bloodline, including keeping his thumb out when he threw up “The 1s” hand gesture to imply that those in his group are, in fact, losers. All in all, a segment worthy of serious evaluation and very high marks indeed.