WWE is hotter than it’s been in a long time, maybe since The Attitude Era in the late 1990s. They’re selling out 10,000 to 15,000 seat venues for TV tapings on a regular basis. They just signed a massive deal with Netflix. Fans are largely very happy with the product. It’s all coming up WWE, and if you believe The Rock, who returned in the middle of the resurgence, it’s because he made wrestling cool again. At least that’s what his villainous character has been repeatedly saying in interviews. It’s been a great way to draw some cheap heat from the crowd, but if a prominent wrestling journalist is to be believed, it’s causing some heat backstage too.
Dave Meltzer, the longtime publisher of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, was recently on Wrestling Observer Radio when the subject of The Rock came up. He said everyone in WWE is singing a positive tune publicly, but that behind the scenes, some people are feeling “resentful” that it feels like he’s taking credit for all the positive momentum that preceded him. You can check out a portion of his quote below from WrestleTalk…
No one can say anything bad about him publicly but there are people who are very resentful of him going like ‘I came back and wrestling is cool’ after WWE had a tremendous year, and the idea that he’s kinda trying to take credit for this resurgence that happened a year before came back.
I have no idea whether the above is true or not true. Meltzer is by far the most famous and successful wrestling journalist in history with deep connections to the business, but he’s also not right every single time. So, you can decide how much of this quote you want to believe, but personally, I think there’s probably at least a kernel of truth to it. After all, The Rock has gotten the lion’s share of the attention since he returned, and tons of mainstream media outlets have awarded him much of the credit for WrestleMania 40’s unprecedented success, as well as some of the other wins around attendance, ratings and media rights deals. It would be unusual if that didn’t cause at least some animosity, even if the statements he's making are in character as a heel who is supposed to be self-important. There's an obvious element of truth there.
So, does he deserve the credit? Well, that’s complicated.
WWE’s positive momentum started, without question, before The Rock returned. Vince McMahon taking a step back and then ultimately leaving allowed Triple H and Nick Khan to hire new people, try out new ideas and focus more on long-term storytelling. After years of not quite getting the formula right, Roman Reigns finally found the right notes for his character and went on an all-time fantastic run, which paired nicely with growth from several other big name performers including Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Rhea Ripley, Gunther and more. The return of CM Punk, alongside the reemergence of his nemesis Drew McIntyre, gave WWE an additional hot storyline. All of that combined together to start generating the first real momentum WWE has had in a long time.
So, any story that claims The Rock turned around WWE is just blatantly incorrect. WWE was in a terrible place post-pandemic, but it has really started to find its way over the last few years. As a fan, I’m so much more invested in what I’m seeing, and that excitement has been obvious the last few years inside the arenas in live shows. Attendance numbers have been slowly growing for a few years, and rather than a steady stream of negativity on social media, there’s positivity from fans who are enjoying WWE again.
But to ignore The Rock’s role in where WWE is at right now, at this second, is wrong too. After some sporadic appearances last year, The People’s Champ was given a seat on the board of directors of WWE’s new parent company, and he started showing up regularly on TV in early January. It was quite rocky for the first few weeks, as those re-invested fans publicly vented about his presence altering storylines they were enjoying, but after he pivoted and turned heel, WWE really started moving.
Within just a few weeks, wrestling started getting more coverage in the mainstream press. Events started selling so many tickets WWE was forced to alter the size of their live arena set-up to accommodate the increased demand, and many fans who were excited before, started openly questioning whether this was the best run WWE had ever been on.
You know how you step on the gas and it takes a few beats for the car to really accelerate forward? It feels like that’s what happened here. Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Triple H, Nick Khan, Seth Rollins, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Gunther, Sami Zayn, Becky Lynch and so many others worked together to stop WWE from continuing its slide back down the hill. They worked together to generate real positive momentum for the first time in so long, and then The Rock, with all his starpower and incredible skills on the microphone, helped push that gas pedal down a little harder and really fire it forward.
If The Rock had shown up to WWE a few years ago, he alone would not have been able to provide this level of momentum. He needed good characters to bounce off and an excited fanbase to play against. If The Rock hadn’t shown up, WWE would still be moving in the right direction, but they wouldn’t be as far as they’ve gone. The Great One’s presence caused a lot of casuals to pay attention and convinced fans who gave up on the product years ago to jump back on.
Ultimately, I don’t know how many people are resentful inside WWE about The Rock talking about making wrestling cool again. There was certainly a lot of work done before he arrived, but anyone in WWE who doesn’t recognize that he’s at least partially responsible for how hot the product is right now needs to take a step back and appreciate what he’s done— just as The Rock should recognize that he was only able to do so much so quickly because everyone else put in years of work to finally stop the backwards slide and get some real positive momentum going.
