What’s the story?
While WrestleMania 33 contained much of what we expected – an Undertaker appearance, celebrity involvement, and plenty of surprises – one element was conspicuous by its absence: no appearance from The Rock.
Which begs the question – are we going to see him in New Orleans for WrestleMania 34? Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer says that depends on a few things.
In case you didn’t know...
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is certainly no stranger to WrestleMania appearances, having wrestled in his first main event at the show all the way back at WrestleMania 15. However, he’s been on the show every year since 2011, when he was the host for WrestleMania XXVII, where he interfered in the main event between John Cena and The Miz.
The Rock then had two main event matches against Cena at both WrestleMania XXVIII and XXIX, the latter of which was for the WWE Championship. He was part of the introduction of WrestleMania XXX with both Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin, and at WrestleMania 31, where he and MMA fighter Ronda Rousey confronted Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
Finally, in Dallas at WrestleMania 32, he and John Cena had a run-in with the Wyatt family.
The heart of the matter
For five straight years, we had appearances by The Rock, then not a sign of him – even though it was once again in his home state of Florida. According to Meltzer, it seems that the possibility of The Great One showing up at the Show Of Shows all depends on his Hollywood schedule.
After The Rock sustained an injury following his second match with Cena, it caused delays during the filming of his Hercules movie. Since most movie production companies take out insurance on their stars during filming for situations like this, further appearances could cause problems.
Companies may decline to insure Johnson if he insists on participating in a match during filming. So, as Meltzer points out, if The Rock is filming a movie, he may not make an appearance at WrestleMania – especially as his Hollywood asking price continues to rise.
What’s next?
Johnson is one of the most – if not the most – in-demand actor in the movie business right now, so unless he purposely keeps his schedule clear for WrestleMania next year, don’t count on seeing him. Even then, if the right project (or paycheck) comes around, that clear spot in his schedule can clear up pretty quickly.
Author’s take
WWE was pretty lucky to have The Rock available for a string of otherwise pretty mediocre-at-best WrestleManias. Fortunately, WrestleMania 33 turned out to be a pretty excellent show without him.
As much as WWE loves Rocky, I bet it had to feel pretty good that they could put on a really good show without having to rely on him.
