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As you know by now, The Rock will be back tonight for the SmackDown on FOX premiere. It's a much-anticipated appearance and will see The Great One return to WWE TV for the first time in a few years.
It will mark his first appearance on WWE television since April 2016 and his first SmackDown appearance since October 2014. Even that particular appearance was just a taped backstage segment that was supposed to tease Triple H vs The Rock at WrestleMania 32, but that match never came to fruition.
It's crazy that we haven't seen The Rock in so long, but that's probably because he has quietly retired. He did reveal to Maria Menounos that he retired from the ring, but his increasingly busy Hollywood schedule has probably prevented him from appearing. He was expected to appear at WrestleMania 33 since it was at Orlando, close to his hometown.
Here are a few major ways The Rock can surprise us on the SmackDown on FOX premiere.
Also read: 5 WWE superstars who desperately need to follow Finn Balor back to NXT
#5 A confrontation with Erick Rowan
While many will say that Erick Rowan lost to The Rock in six-seconds at WrestleMania, we would like to view it more positively - Erick Rowan co-main evented the biggest WrestleMania of all-time against The Rock in his retirement match! Sounds better, doesn't it?
It would be quite funny if the man he confronted was Erick Rowan. It does make sense to some extent since his distant cousin Roman Reigns, is in a feud against Big Red.
While he does have Daniel Bryan by his side, a special appearance from The Rock to confront Rowan would make a lot of storyline sense since they did have some beef 3 years ago for about 10-15 minutes.
#4 Introducing CM Punk
CM Punk's return to WWE seems inevitable, but not in the role that we think. He will be working alongside Renee Young in what is apparently a "done deal". It will be as an analyst on FOX and won't be working directly with WWE. He will be under the FOX banner.
When talking on The Collider Live Podcast, Punk revealed the nature of his role.
"My agents just called me and FOX is throwing everything at this because they spent a lot of money on this and they're all in to make it work. Originally I thought it was a WWE thing, so I was just like, 'meh, no.' But then they said, 'this is FOX.'
I'm not dealing with anybody in WWE. They explained to me what it was and I love Renee Young. Renee Young is a great person... I prefaced it with, 'Guys, I'm not going to come in and dump all over stuff just to dump on it. That's old Phil. But if it's bad, I'm not going to be able to pretend it's anything but bad."
CM Punk even teased meeting The Rock again and it would be crazy if The Rock were the one to reveal that CM Punk will have a different role in WWE. Any mention of his name would incite a huge response.
Also read: 5 ways Paul Heyman has drastically changed Monday Night RAW
#3 Announcing a match for WrestleMania 36
The Rock did reveal that he quietly retired from wrestling and in all probability, he was forced to do so by his insurance company. The back story of that essentially goes back to WrestleMania 29, where he wrestled in the main event against John Cena for the second consecutive year. He suffered a major injury where his abdominal and abductor tendons separated from his pelvis, requiring surgery, delaying the filming of Hercules and costing a lot of money.
However, this coming WrestleMania 36 happens to be at Miami, his hometown. It would be surprising if The Rock doesn't make an appearance at all, but it wouldn't be too surprising if he doesn't wrestle.
With that being said, we would like to keep our minds open to the possibility of him competing in his hometown at the Grandest Stage of Them All. There are already a whole bunch of opponents he can wrestle. He could appear on SmackDown to announce that he will wrestle at WrestleMania 36!
WWE would most likely be going for a match against a veteran like Triple H or someone else with whom he is familiar. It could be argued that Roman Reigns is the best possible match-up for him, but there is a legend who has already issued a challenge to The Rock at WrestleMania 36 - Randy Orton!
Orton vs The Rock isn't a match that people want to see but The Great One should have a short and simple match that can send fans home happy.
Also read: 5 massive WWE storylines for Rey Mysterio's son Dominick in 2020
#2 An interaction with Becky Lynch
According to Sportskeeda's own Tom Colohue, The Rock is going to be "very disappointed" if he doesn't get to share the ring with RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch. Interestingly, he wants to share the ring with her and that could end up becoming a reality.
While this may not outright be a surprise to many, it will be a surprise to a larger part of the WWE Universe watching across the world, as an interaction with Becky Lynch would be surreal to watch.
Becky Lynch is currently slotted to team up with former rival Charlotte Flair to take on their common enemies in Sasha Banks and Bayley. It is a rematch from a recent RAW show and it's the perfect way to get the hype up for the SmackDown on FOX premiere.
It probably means that Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair would be winning and interacting with The Rock afterward, which would be great. Lynch has already teamed up with John Cena this year and even threw him out of the ring.
That was the first SmackDown episode this year and to be able to have a moment with The Rock would be another big achievement for her.
Also read: 5 harsh realities about the upcoming WWE draft that nobody wants to talk about
#1 Taking a bump and giving the rub to another superstar
The Rock hasn't taken a bump in quite a while. It has been a good part of 6 years since he took the fall for someone. He did have a physical interaction with Kane and The Big Show at Royal Rumble 2015 when he helped Roman Reigns win the Royal Rumble.
However, that didn't end well as he was visibly angry at the boos he received for helping the polarizing Roman Reigns. As mentioned, The Rock hasn't been allowed to take any bumps due to the WrestleMania 29 fiasco that delayed the Hercules filming by quite a bit.
However, that doesn't mean that any little bump is going to cause the same type of injury. He was wrestling the main event match, and unfortunately for him, his decision to excessively bulk up during the time worked against his favor.
Knowing what could happen, The Rock could change things. However, a small bump wouldn't hurt him. The idea behind this is that he is confronted by a major superstar, perhaps even The Fiend, and takes a major bump for him. If The Fiend were to attack The Rock, it would be a huge boost for him heading into Hell in a Cell 2019.
Also read: 5 things Vince McMahon shouldn't do at the upcoming WWE Draft but probably will
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