It's time for your weekly fix of wrestling nostalgia. When we look at wrestlings
past eras from the Attitude era through the reality era, I'd like to think,
then maybe this company will be better after Vince McMahon's dead. But the
fact is it's it's gonna get taken over by his idiotic daughter and his dufius
son in law and the rest of his stupid family. You know, I'm
the w E Podcast. Welcome to the WWE Podcast. On this Wednesday,
November sixth, two thousand and nineteen, it's Wrestling Nostalgia Day. Are Wrestling
Nostalgia Night or morning, depending on when you're listening to this, And today
is a one of my most favorite moments in the last decade in WWE,
and I actually didn't get to experience it firsthand and actually was ruined via social
media. And I'll get to that story of exactly how that happened in that
moment, of course, being the Rocks return on Valentine's Day two thousand and
eleven in Anaheim, California. Being the host of WrestleMania twenty seven that led
into a year long program with John sena actually a almost a two year program
as The Rock went over at WrestleMania twenty eight and lost at WrestleMania twenty nine
doing the favors to John Cena for the championship, the w B Championship.
So a really fun run for The Rock back from twenty eleven to twenty thirteen
in WWE. And yeah, we've seen him compete in those kind of matches,
right with Eric Rowland that he had which was a sixth second match,
and you know those occasional appearances like he appeared in Brooklyn a few years ago
and gave Russev the People's Elbow, and and then on recently, most recently
showed up on the debut of SmackDown on Fox to rock Bottom King Corbyn.
So The Rock is not ever gone, as he'll listen to in his promo,
but he's very much an afterthought in today's world of WWE. But you
know what, that's that's the cycle of the business. And I'm not complaining
because I think The Rock had one of the best runs ever in the history
of professional wrestling. Regardless of promotion. The Rock was just that good.
He was my number two to my number one of Stone Cold. And so
again we'll get into all of that, and like I said, a personal
story coming up which ruined the moment of this, so I never got to
see this in a real time format. Again, this is remember this predates
Hulu and then the streaming option of Netflix that became mainstream. UM. And
so when you had social media, that was really your source for getting information
as it is today and even more so today, but unfortunately was spoiled via
social media. So, UM, guys, thank you again for joining me
on this November sixth as election day has come and gone and um next year
should be even more chaotic with the presidential election. UM. But first of
all, um, guys, head on over to patreon dot com. And
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show. And I have a little link right there that's a become a patron.
It's a it's a button right on that tab. So alrighty well,
guys, as always, thank you again, And let me just preface this
whole rock return in twenty eleven with my personal experience of how this all got
ruined. So it's Valentine's Day, right, It's Valentine's Day taking your significant
other out to dinner. I was taking a girl at the time that ended
up giving me the shaft. But that's neither here nor there. So this,
this loss of living this in real time wasn't even worth the price of
admission, if that makes sense. But so I had this girl, we'll
leave her nameless back into one eleven. I had her out for dinner and
Valentine's Day being a good boyfriend, and uh, I'm out and um,
you know, I'm trying to keep tabs on raw it's getting late. In
the evening as dinners run late on Valentine's Day spending you know, an arm
and a leg on those oh you know Valentine's Day dinner, you're ninety dollars
a plate, and you know, you get like a role and you get
an appetizer all this, you know, stuff that's completely overpriced and really there
just to say that you took somebody out to dinner. And so I'm trying
to keep up and trying to look at my phone, and she's saying,
hey, you gotta keep your phone. You know you need to look at
your phone around a date. Okay, blah blah blah. So um,
I glanced at my phone and it's I don't know, it was later in
the evening, and lo and behold, I glanced down at my phone.
Um, as we're looking at or having dinner, and I see that the
rock returned to raw. I think somebody put it on Facebook or or or
one of the social media platforms. And I'm sitting there going no, right,
because that's not something you want to see on social media. It's something
you want to experience as it happened. That's why I vehemently try to avoid
any kind of social media even now, because I don't watch Raw live.
I watched Raw and Delay and same with SmackDown. So it's very, very
difficult to avoid the messages people get about wanting to know what I think about
what just happened, and avoiding other people's posts. It's not an easy deal.
It's difficult, and so this was one that really spoiled it for me,
really made me a little bit annoyed, and I tried to compose myself
as a you know, mature how it was I seven years ago? Wait
no, no, no, no no, it's twenty eleven, so get
my head on straight. Eight years ago almost nine, so I was twenty
six years old, and so trying to be a mature adult and not let
that ruin the rest of my night. So, I mean, I don't
know if you're interested about the dinner. I think it was good. The
rest of it I'll remember is I'm not kidding you. For two people paying
like one hundred and twenty bucks. It killed me at some fancy place that
I'll never go again. And anyway, so that was my ruined experience.
So I you know, I get home and I was able to watch Raw
as I taped in on my DVR. We all remember when DVR was actually
a thing and it was cool to have DVR. Well, I had a
DVR box at my house and Raw was recording, so I was able to
watch Raw of course after that. And let me let me just say this,
I mean this, the build up to this. If I recalled w
W E had said that the announcement will be made for the host of WrestleMania
twenty seven on this Monday Net Raw, And I don't think anybody at the
time, and I know I didn't suspect it that it was going to be
the Rock, and I think gaging by the crowd's reaction, I don't think
they did either. W w E even steered people to complete opposite way by
it, you know, announcing that it a limo pulled up and it could
be the host of WrestleMania twenty seven and a female's legs were taped walking out
of the limo, really just to throw people off the scent of maybe thinking
it could be the Rock at all, I mean like really really laying it
on thick and driving people away from any kind of thought. And you didn't
hear any chance for you know, Rocky Rocky people had no idea. The
majority of people had no idea, there's gonna be the rocking. Those kinds
of surprises are so few and far between, and especially in today's digital age,
and people that are employed by WWE that are quote leaks to the wrestling
community and that are basically inside informants to major websites. We all know who
those are. And so with all of that and social media at our fingertips
and especially at the wrestler's fingertips, everything is difficult holt to conceal. And
this was concealed in a way that had everybody fooled, and I loved it.
I mean, after seven years, did anybody really expect the Rock to
be the one to come out? I didn't. That probably was in the
top three rock reactions I've ever heard. And yes, don't worry, audio
is coming. Audio is forthcoming. I'm gonna give that to you in just
a second. So we had we had the announcement of the Rock, he
comes out, crowd loses their minds, and well, just take a listen
and then we'll we'll reconvene. And I want to get into his promo that
he cut two, which was just absolutely stellar ladyship, and please welcome the
host media. What say this one so you guys can hear that, I
mean it's a little bit distorted through the microphone, however, I mean the
people exploded. The people absolutely lost their minds, and you know what I
mean, I did too, even even after I knew that he was there
because of my complete blown social media check. But it was still awesome to
see. And after seven years, seven years, the Rock has not done
a thing in w w E in terms of inside the ring. And I
believe the one before that, if you guys remember, was when he came
to defend Eugene against the coach and when he came and it was like the
superhero to Eugene and came back and called the coach a popcorn fart and ended
up giving him a rock bottom in people's elbow. And that was I think
the last thing we saw of the Rock, and he went on, made
his millions, made his movies, came back and the fans really really really
embraced him and took him back, and it was an amazing reaction, amazing
and I think that a lot of that credit goes to it being a secret,
which again is almost an impossibility in twenty nineteen and will continue to be
harder and harder and harder. So The Rock comes back, and I won't
give you the entire promo because half the half the podcast would be a just
you guys listening to the Rock. But the beginning of his promo, he
talks about how it's been seven long years and he's finally back home, and
talks about how many nicknames he has, the People's Champion, the Great One,
all that kind of stuff, and then talks his Dwayne and says that
you know, I'm not back for the money. I'm not here to to
uh to promote a movie. Um here because of all of you, and
then goes back into rock form um and it's it's just a such a great
promo, such a this was Rock being Rock, and you knew that with
him as the host of WrestleMania, you knew somehow, some way, somebody's
getting a rock Bottom. And as The Rock alludes to the question is who
the Rock is going to WrestleMania, The Rock will host WrestleMania and at the
drop of the time, The Rock, We'll lay at the SmackDown at WrestleMania.
But too, that's the question, could it be the WWWEK champion,
the Miss. He's the one that goes around saying I'm the Miss, and
I am awesome. I'm awesome, I'm awesome. I hear that all the
time. I'm awesome. Well, the Rock ain't no scientists, but he
pretty much knows that there's one formula that's a fact. If you got to
run around shoot your mouthball telling everybody how awesome you are, it means you
absolutely, undoubtedly, unquestionably completely suck. So taking a policy here at the
Rock alluding to and going through the list of people in which you know he
may lay the SmackDown to and the mis as you remember, was WWWE champion
at that time, and take nothing away from them is but at that point
in his career he had no business being WWE champion. He just didn't.
And that shows you the depth of the roster at this time. I remember
there's no NXT. There's there are no territories, there's no developmental. You
have OVW and you have TNA, all right, and you have New Japan,
you have Ring of Honor, you have independence. There's no NXT doesn't
exist, So think about that. Um, I know the NXT is not
viewed as a developmental territory anymore. But back then they would have died to
have a farm system like NXT, which was its original intended purpose to develop
talent, create a performance center to simulate the big you know, the big
time shows and when you're on the roster full time and you're up to the
main roster, and it was a triple h's vision. So again that just
shows you the really the lack of depth of talent at this time with the
Miss. And again he can talk, but man, he had had no
business being w B champion at this point. If if us B champion in
twenty nineteen, I think people would be a little bit more, um,
a little more accepting of that because the Miss has really proven himself in front
of the audience over the last ten years, really made strides in his matches,
his promos just as a character. So um, the Rock begins to
go through the list and you hear people screaming John Cena his name, and
the promo just just gets funnier from here. But there's one more man who
the Rock wants to see. There's one more man and the Rock is gonna
see and that man, can I have your attention place. I have just
received an email from the anonymous Raw General Manager. Oh my gosh, you
guys remember this, You guys remember the anonymous Raw GM, the anonymous Raw
GM that was never actually identified until they just realized on we should probably figure
out or tie up that loose end, you know, five years later,
and it ended up being hornswoggle under the ring with a computer. I mean,
it was just one of the worst ideas w W has ever had because
they felt the need to have a general manager, the incest it need that
the show can't go on without some kind of general manager. We don't know
who we want that to be, so it's just going to be somebody anonymous.
Um, no face, because we don't have one to put there.
It's just going to be anonymous, and it'll just put heat on Michael Cole,
who's not a wrestler or a performer. And um, it was one
of the most annoying, um illogical because not only is it illogical, but
all you have to do is just close the computer, right, just close
the computer. And furthermore, how is a a email service tied to the
lights of the building. And the reason I said that is, I know
you guys are hearing audio, not visual here. But when the when when
the email came through, as the dings went or the dings happened, the
um, the lights in the arena went in concert with that um, with
that notification sound. And so I just don't know how that's even possible.
How is that thing? It's not a thing, it's not a thing,
but it's just completely illogical. So anyway, moving down the line here,
let's continue with the promo from the Rock. Whoa whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa whoa. Michael Cole, will you take one more steps? Will
check computer? The Rock will get out of here and slap the taste so
far out of your mock you'll never get a buck. Shut up, Michael
Cole. Do you actually think that the Rock is just gonna let you walk
over that computer and interrupt him when he is live on raw? Is that
what you think? Do you actually think that any of must give a damn
what your general manager has to say? Michael Cole? Is that what you
think? I'll tell you what I think. It doesn't matter what. So
the Rock continues here with his his stick and his you know, his bit,
and Michael Cole plays the heel. Well, Michael Cole is still just
generally unlikable, isn't he? Michael Cole, for all the contributions he's made
to the wrestling industry and how long he's been He's been with the WBA since
nineteen ninety seven, people forget that. And how many times The Rock I
remember when The Rock would uh make fun of Michael Cole or an you make
fun of Kevin Kelly and call him hermaphrodite and and um, you know,
generally treat the announcers like crap. But Michael Cole was the perfect four for
that. He was generally extremely unlikable, and even in twenty nineteen, I
mean, he just has something naturally about him that you dislike. And I'm
not knocking his ability. When he's not on commentary, you feel it he
knows how to steer the ship. Michael Cole I don't think gets the credit
he deserves navigating a system in twenty nineteen. That is not what was what
it was like for Jim Ross and Jerry the King Lawler navigating commentary in nineteen
ninety eight, nineteen ninety nine, two, two thousand and one. There
is a whole boatload more of things that announcers need to do other than just
worry about what's in front of them in the ring. And that's actually unfortunate
because that should be their main concern. But now you have the announcers having
navigate social media and sponsor plugs and oh, we're going to commercial break,
but we're going to do it in the end of a match, So hey,
have your your clothes out comments before we go to commercial, which is
we all know it can so and so get back in this match as raw
rolls on. I mean, that's just what you say. And there's a
lot more in terms of what needs to be done. And you also have
a three man booth now, which I'm not a fan of, but WWE
just feels the absolute need to make it a three man booth. I think
it's a little crowded. Two is fine, Um three two is a what
is it? What's two? Is a three is a crowd? I don't
know what two is. I forget the expression, but that's what it is.
I just still feel that way. So anyway, Michael Cole gets laid
out by the Rock in terms of verbally, and we have the terrible We're
all general manager program going on and uh so let's continue with the with the
promo. Here your headset and you don't say a word, and I quote
you know your damn role. He shot your damn because if you don't,
the Rock class some pretty cool Facebook pictures to post on his Facebook tonight.
Does anyone here want to contribute to the Rocks Facebook tonight? Really simple Facebook
dot com clash Dwayne Johnson. If Michael Call doesn't do as the Rock says,
you're gonna get a beautiful picture of the Rock stepping out of this ring,
going over to that computer. Some of you may know where I'm going
with this. The pictures you're gonna get is the Rock shine in and up
real nice, turning out some bit sideways. Let's sticking it. Stet up
with Michael Calls Candy. I mean, this is the Rock. Really,
it's the Rock's greatest hits. Right now. The Rock is just laying into
coal. It's it's a good foil for him. Cole again is just inherently
unlikable. Um and so he comes out with his lines and and uh,
the Rock is the Rock, and it feels like he hasn't missed a step.
The Rock is just being who he was, and uh the twenty eleven
version of it, and uh I was. I was enjoying it. The
crowd was eating it up. They couldn't get enough. And uh, well,
let's let's continue a little bit along here. How down he looks like
a drunk hobbit. Sit your ass. Now there is one man. There's
a rock it's trying to see. There is one man who the Rock has
to see face to face, a guy who I met, a guy who
I thought was a cool guy. I wished him well, happy for his
success. When the Rock leaves, he comes in and out of the blue,
eventually he starts talking trash about the Rock. I don't know why,
and I don't care, but I'm back. Now. You might have heard
of him. His name is John Cena. So the Rock mentions John Cena,
of which you know the majority of the crowd expects. And again Michael
Cole sitting there like with a just a a sour puss on his face.
But now we're gonna get into the meat of this. We're getting get into
the meat of a year set up for a match, which hey, I'm
all for I am all for it. I don't need to see it every
year, but it is certainly unique and the challenge that Sina and Rock had
throughout the year to continue this build to the actual match that happened at WrestleMania
twenty eight, which obviously wasn't challenged an official until the night after WrestleMania of
twenty after WrestleMania twenty seven, But this was something that had never been done
before, which is what the Rock was alluding to at the beginning of his
promo that no one had ever done this before, having a challenge a year
out and I loved it. I thought that was brilliant. And people were
saying, how are they going to continue to build for a year? I
mean people are going to get bored. I never got bored. I never
got bored. I really didn't. And was the match ever going to live
up to the impossible standards? No, it wasn't. It wasn't you.
How can you possibly have a match built for a year and have it on
a trajectory that would actually have it get more and more intense week by week?
You can't. The answer is it's impossible. The limit. The limit
does not exist, is the answer. And the key was, and the
formula was over that year, was having the Rock and Scena reminds you every
few weeks every month or two of what's happening, and having back and forth
promos and maybe via satellite all that kind of stuff. It didn't need to
be done every week because you have a lot of time to build this and
just heat it up towards the end of the year, which they did,
and they teamed that Survivor series against the Miz and Our Truth and it eventually
built to a WrestleMania match. And so well, let's continue because this is
where the promo really gets funny, and the meat to the whole, the
whole conversation is right here. Saw. Let me get this straight. The
WWE has gone from the powerful Austin three sixteen to the dominant an iconic.
Can you smell what the rug is tooking all the way too? You can't
see me? You can't see you can't she know what you're playing? Peekaboo?
You calls you, I can you? Can you see me? Or
believe me, We all can see you. We all can see you.
A blindfolded sleeping stuck in the basement. Stevie Wonder can see your monkey ass.
This is just a brilliant stuff. Of the rock. I mean,
I was popping like crazy saying he's playing Peekaboo. And it's so true though,
I mean, like there there is there is so much truth to that
segment of the promo right there, and the feeling among fans that he was
able to really dictate right there about how we've gone from Austin three sixteen from
beer swelling, finger gesturing, whoop your ass, in your face, no
limits, unpredictable, stone cold to the Rock carrying the helm, although they
kind of did it in tandem. It wasn't as if Austin carried the torch,
but the message is that it goes from that believability, unpredictability, edgy
to John Cena and it's just it was such a stark contrast. And yes,
the PG era began in two thousand and eight and John Cena was at
the helm of that, and so it was just it was so true and
it was so awesome to see the Rock bring that up. That it was
such a stark contrast from basically a an older demographic product to younger audience and
the crowds, you know, um feeling for that and what the rock represented
would Austin represented We're a much different era, and I understand that the business
has to evolve. I understand why they went PG. I might have too.
I'm not saying Blood and Guts and Gore would would in TV fourteen,
would pop the ratings. I don't believe it would. I mean it might
hot shot it and you might get people interested for a couple of weeks,
but sponsors would drop out. It would be a fiscal disaster among a pr
disaster for RAW or for w WE. So I don't fault them for it,
but it is hilarious that he brought it up about how, you know,
we went from these two guys that were an iconic part of w WE
and we're are the foundation of WWE of its you know, biggest boom ever
in the nineties for the attitude era, to this soft you can't see me,
you know, pandering John Cena, that was the face of the WWE.
And it's also a bit ironic that now John Cena, for everything he
said against the Rock from for these couple of years during their two match program
was now is something that he is exactly doing. He is m I A
from WWE, Mister m I A from w WE, and goes on Ellen
DeGeneres and says, well, I don't know if you you know this,
but I fake fight people for a living. John Cena just can't help himself.
I don't need to hear that. I mean for you to disparage your
own work and the actual tears and sweat and blood and sacrifice that you've made
to just boil it down to you fake white people. As a wrestling fan,
God, I hate hearing that crap. It's not that I'm delusional.
I totally understand what pro wrestling is. But when you hear the wrestlers off
camera, and particularly when they are trying to remove themselves from the day to
day product that is WWE and step their foot into other genres of entertainment like
movies, they like to distance themselves and really reflect what the general population that
doesn't like or doesn't know wrestling and just go along with that stereotype that I
fake fight people. And it's so demeaning, and it's it's something that I
think really undermines his own career and undermines the careers and product of ww itself.
And again, you can have people say to me, you can have
people from the company say, well, everyone knows it's not real, So
what's the big deal. The big deal is we all know it's not real,
but we don't talk about how not real it is. Do you talk
about how not real movies are that you like or not real that TV shows
that you like are. No, you don't, and you particularly don't want
to hear from actors that it's all fake. No. I already know that.
I know that what you did in the movie didn't actually happen, and
I know that you were portraying a character, even if it's based on a
true story, that you are portraying a character in which this actually happened to.
But I don't need you to come out and go on some talk show
and say how you know that I just act, which means I don't really
you know what I'm doing isn't real. That's what I do for a living.
I just pretend I'm doing stuff for a living. It's such a I
don't even know the words for it. There's some some words that I just
don't have the knowledge for that. That's what this is. I know.
I dislike it and I hate it. I hate seeing it. So anyway,
I don't know how I got in that tangent. But um, again,
it was great that the Rock made that comparison because I had been thinking
that forever as many fans from the attitude there I had. So um,
let's continue out the promo, and UM, I have some more thoughts.
How then, how do you think we can miss you? Come out here?
We can bright ass purple shirt and before that your bright great shirt,
before that your bright arm shirt. You run around here looking like a big
bat ball rudy pebbles. John, See the Rock will see you at WrestleMania,
just like the Rock. We'll see them is at WrestleMania. Everyone at
WrestleMania, and just as short as the Rock, just as short as the
Rock turns WrestleMania into the most every WrestleMania of all times, and just as
short as anything can and will happen at WrestleMania, and just as short as
every day John Cena walks out here looking like he just got shut out a
body the dinosaurs Anus is just is just as short as the Rock. Garon
damtees three things at this WrestleMania the Rock. Garran damtees to show the world
that he is the most electrifying man in all of Entertainments. The Rock garon
damtees at the drop of a darn just like that, to lay at the
spacket down fount all their candy asses and the last thing and most important,
The Rock and the Millions. No no, no, no, no,
no no, that's not good enough. No no, no no, the
Rock and the Millions. No no, no, no no no, that's
still not good enough. The Rock is the people's chap You are the backbone
of the Rock. When we speak our voice to heard, we all say,
I bring it Anaheim. The world is watching, Anaheim. The world
is listening one more time when the Rock and the millions what the Rocks fans
go to WrestleMania and electrified WrestleMania and the world like no one else can Its
just sold but the Rock. So we got to uh the end of that
promo there and look this as far as promo battles go, this may have
been the Rocks night. The best night for the Rock was probably his first
night. As I said, I loved, I actually really enjoyed the bill
to this match, and I think John Cena is clearly the victor when it
comes to quick wit actual promo battles. And we all remember the Rock having
to write his promo on his arm, and then John Cena making fun of
it the next week. We all remember that. I remember that that was
not a good look for the Rock, and this was a well rehearsed,
albeit probably some off the cuff promo from the Rock, as John Cena came
out and said the next week he came out, snorton, he came out
and he was the Brambo Bull and he felt like the Rock of old and
hadn't missed a step. And I you know, this obviously still benefited John
Cena. As we remember Fruity Pebble's posts, or it was a General Mills
post, I think is the one that does the Fruity Pebbles. Cereal immediately
came to w W and said, LOUI want John Cena, and they got
him a deal with a commercial for Fruity Pebbles and ended up making him probably
a hefty paycheck just by the Rocks words. I mean, it's amazing the
power of words sometimes. So you know, again, I thought The Rock
would come in and smoke John Cena in terms of promo. He didn't.
He didn't. He did some things via satellite and then John Cena said,
you know, I bring it and his shirt said via satellite, there was
a lot of stuff that John Cena just simply got the best of the Rock.
John Cena just hate to admit it, but John Cena is the master
on the and when it comes to quick wit and true promo skills, as
I said, I have to begrudgingly admit that John Cena is just flat out
better. He is. And maybe my nostalgia was getting the best to me
thinking the Rock could smoke John Cena, and indeed it actually turned out to
be the opposite. And you know, the Rock got some good jabs in
there. But in general, John Cena is just a just master on the
microphone and he proves it every single time he's out there. That's the one
thing that he is that John Cena has better, even more than his in
ring skills, which at times felt robotic. And you know, he isn't
the smoothest guy in the ring, and you know, but hey, he's
a powerhouse. But he's also a silver tongue devil on the microphone. I
mean, he could talk ice and you know what is it the old saying,
Um, he could talk in uscim into buying Ice and he really could
so again. This rivalry lasted for two years. Their first match, we
all know the outcome. The second match, we all know the rockcome at
the Rock dropping the belt to John Cena at WrestleMania twenty nine and doing the
favors, and the Rock ended up tearing his hamstring and not appearing on Raw
the next night, which I mean, that was a whole thing that I
remember being reported all over the website said, oh my god, the Rock
just left the building. He didn't notify anybody, but he was actually injured,
and so well, guys, I hope you enjoyed it. I know,
I'm trying not to get too caught up in and moving forward on actually
touching on the Rock Rock bottoming John Cena at WrestleMania twenty seven and then their
match at WrestleMania twenty eight and their follow up match at WrestleMania twenty nine.
This is something that you know, to me is it's cool to see.
It's really cool to see, and it feels like so long ago. And
I remember actually traveling with this same girlfriend. Yeah, the same girlfriend.
Boy. It's amazing when you look back and go, you know, what
in the f was I doing right. You just look back and it's all
so clear, isn't it. It's all so clear about certain things when you
look back, and you know, you go, what what was I doing?
Anyway? Trying to stay in wrestling. We traveled to Boston. I
live in upstate in New York and Boston's two and a half three hours,
so we traveled from upstate New York to Boston just to see the Rock at
TD Garden before his match with John Cena at WrestleMania twenty eight at that time.
And I remember him at the TD Garden backstate or doing his back state
skits, and he was doing stuff about, you know, making fun of
John Cen his merchandise and throwing it in the river, and some of that
was really really funny. I remember some of the things that John Cena had
an alarm clock and he takes the alarm clock and he's, you know,
he's like ding ding, time to get your ask booked. I mean some
of this stuff, I mean, I don't know if that's planned or just
well executed by Dwayne. But you can't deny John or you can't deny the
Rocks entertainment value. His charisma is just through the roof and obviously in ring,
this guy is still got it, and I'm sure he could too.
I'm sure in twenty nineteen he could still have a match when he said blatantly
clearly that as of you know, this year, that he's no longer going
to be wrestling, and then he comes back for the Fox debut, and
I think maybe he meant inside of an actual maybe he meant in terms of
an actual match inside the ring. I don't I would think I would think
so, because Vince mcman is willing to write whatever, whatever, however big
of a check that Dwayne needs in order to get him back into the ring,
even if it's just for a you know, a quick segment or a
rock Bottom or whatever. So I don't even know the next time we'll see
the Rock. I mean, as russellmanias go by, I still while WrestleManias
go by, you know, I have that just constant muscle memory of Oh,
Stone Cold's gonna be here, Rock's going to be here. I wonder
what they're gonna do, even though they're not announced, And I've kind of
gotten away from that because I'm just being disappointed year after year of WrestleMania thinking
that's going to be the case. But I'm fine with it because it's time
to move on, I think, and for a company to not lean on
legends to sell WrestleManias and build new stars. As much as I love seeing
it now, super disappointed in Orlando at WrestleMania thirty three that neither The Rock
or Austin were there. I was very not happy about that. But again,
WWE needs to move on and build stars, and they can't just hang
on legends as they do so often and have these reunion nights and anniversary shows
and all this stuff that I totally understand why, But at the same time,
their main focus, their sole purpose in life, needs to be to
build new stars. So and you know, we're seeing that right now with
the NXT invasion that's gotten everyone's attention, and as the Monday or the Wednesday
at Wars continue, and they're continuing as I speak, with Dynamite Live right
now and the NXT Show Live right now. It's a great time to be
a wrestling fan. It's a great time to be a wrestling fan. And
I don't know why we always need to segment or fragment ourselves into only one
camp. You can only choose one master. You either love a EW or
you love NXT. Well, why why can't I like both? I don't
know why I need to choose, And if I like one, I inherently
can't like the other. There's that mentality out there. People are, you
know, hashtagging I'm with a EW or whatever, like it's some kind of
politically driven decision that if I'm a Republican, I can't like Democrats. I
mean, it's just it's a crazy world right now. I mean, I
don't know why we can't just love both. I just don't because people frame
this as a war. So if you're in a quote war, you can't
be playing both sides. You have to pick a party. You can't just
be neutral. And that's not the case. It's not the case here.
I don't know why we need to pick sides. I personally I enjoy both.
I don't have a lot of time to watch both, and I catch
the highlights and things like that, and we have co hosts covering that,
which is why I'm not covering it. But um so, anyway, well,
guys, I hope you enjoy the show. Don't don't forget tomorrow.
I'll be dropping two shows, AEW review and NXT review. I'm aware of
the volume issue. I'm gonna be fixing it. I know you said some
of our co hosts sound like they're whispering. I will up the volume for
you so you don't have to worry about that. It should be resolved.
And then I'll be back Saturday and Sunday as I have a co host from
Patreon who is coming on show on Harford, and then on Sunday we'll be
doing our typical weekend review. So it's gonna be a busy week. You
guys have four more shows to go with a lot yet to be discussed and
covered. So I hope you guys enjoyed the show. You know, next
week, I have already decided my wrestling nostalgia topic, which is going to
be the Nexus, and the Nexus is invasion into WWWE. I had one
of my other patrons who requested this, Ashley, and he asked me to
put this in, and so, hey, I like that topic. I
don't know if I've really discussed the Nexus at any kind of length here.
So the Nexus will be my topic next week, and a really interesting one,
really interesting one. And I remember that whole deal and Daniel Bryan choking
out Justin Roberts with a tie and getting suspended and Sean Michael's brought him back
and that whole debacle. So there's a lot to come and a great topic
for next week because I, you know, kind of spilled the beans on
that, but hey, I think you'll enjoy it. I think the nexus
is something that needs to be discussed. As John c you know, brought
out the brilliant golden shovel and decided to bury every one of them one by
one. So we're gonna definitely dive into that as well. So alrighty guys,
well don't forget head on over to patreon dot com slash WWE podcast.
You can get yourself an ad free experience, totally new benefits. Just give
it a look. You have questions, feel free to message me. You
can get a video shout out, you can get a followback on Twitter,
you can get a shout out on this show. You can come on this
show even depending on the tier you get, you can come on the show
to be a co host. And we have that happening as I said again
on Saturday, So it's gonna be a cool deal. And check it out
and awesome. Well I think that's it. Guys. Thank you so much
for joining me. As always, i'll talk to you next time.