When The Rock returned to the WWE Universe, it was as a babyface.
Sure, technically he made a public declaration that he might want to sit at the “Head of the Table,” a spot typically reserved for his cousin, the “Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns, but babyfaces declare that they want to wrestle for a top title all the time and it rarely results in them whipping a potential foe with a belt until it's covered in tears and blood.
So why, you may ask, did Dwayne Johnson, a man near-universally celebrated as a nice guy, decide to add a Mr. Hyde to his Dr. Jekyll? Well, according to Paul “Triple H” Levesque in a special appearance on Logan Paul's ImPaulsive, he let it be known that it clearly wasn't the original plan WWE pitched to “The Great One.”
“There was talk about, maybe Rock would try to do something this year, we're not really sure. I've heard that a lot. Even me personally, he and I shot an angle before, and then his schedule changed. We were locked in, WrestleMania, here's what we're doing and where we're going, and then his schedule changed and he couldn't make it happen. I get it. As that becomes a reality, you have to shift thinking. Then, there are a lot of different thoughts and what the camps are. ‘We're going to do this, we think that will be good.' Some people thought Rock coming in and challenging Roman and Cody moving over would be a great thing. Other people thought it's not going to work, it'll be really tough. There was a back-and-forth, for sure,” Triple H told Logan Paul via Fightful.
“You can make the argument that Cody and Roman, and the story where we were, was massive. You can also make an argument to, the biggest star in the world comes in to your product to face the biggest guy that you have in the product in Roman Reigns. That's huge. It's a win-win. Some people are like, ‘This is going to be the reaction.' Some people are like, ‘This is going to be the reaction,' the exact opposite. The beauty of our business is, they [the fans] tell us.”
Is it surprising to learn that WWE didn't expect The Rock to receive such negative reactions? Yes, yes, it genuinely is, but in the end, WWE made it work largely because of one surprisingly open party.
Triple H says he saw the one sided reaction from fans coming about The Rock and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania and talks about Rock turning heel
“He’s taking them on a ride, but they know it and they love it.”
(Impaulsive)pic.twitter.com/CBelAeQNql
— Vick (@Vick_8122) April 5, 2024
The Rock embraced playing into the fan reactions.
Asked if he expected WWE fans to be so upset about Cody Rhodes being pushed aside in favor of The Rock, Triple H admitted that he did, but celebrated the “Brahma Bull” for feeling which direction the wind was blowing and pointing his sails in that direction.
“To be honest, for me, I did. This isn't one of those ones where I was so adamantly… I can see both sides, but I felt like, I kept saying, ‘I just don't want you to get booed in this.' When they went where they went, in all fairness, you don't get to the level of success where Rock is without being super sensitive and dialed in to what is working and what is not. You're not going to hit 1000% on everything, but you have to be aware,” Triple H explained. “In all fairness, when that happened, we all sat on it for a few days, and he was the guy who called me and said, ‘Let me throw this at you.' If you would have asked me two months earlier, Rock comes in here and it goes where it goes, ‘What do you think of Rock turning heel?' I would have said, ‘He'll never go for that.' He was the one, ‘What if we flip this. What if I turn heel.' As soon as he said it, I said, ‘1000%.'”
Is it surprising to learn that The Rock broached the idea of turning heel instead of the other way around? Sure, when you're a part-timer whose other career as an entertainer is based largely on being very popular with the general public, there is a risk in going against one's public image in such a major, public way. Still, based on his actions, it's clear The Rock has leaned into his heelish persona about as hard as anyone could imagine, with a streak of general evil in his actions unlike anything WWE fans have seen before. If he's down to have fun and talk some trash for a few months, the real winners are the WWE fans who get to come along for the ride.
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