Monday Night Raw on Netflix is off to a great start unless you’ve gone into it specifically wanting to know what Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is doing at WrestleMania 41. The Brahma Bull was there to kick off the episode, but his promo only confused many about whether he’ll be there. Johnson saw the complaints and subsequently shared a message for all those miffed he wasn’t too much of a “Final Boss” in his latest appearance.
Fans are surely looking forward to upcoming WWE events but, in the meantime, The Rock was at NXT’s New Year’s Evil event in support of his daughter and NXT superstar Ava Raine. Never shy to commentate on what the haters are saying, Johnson brought up complaints about his Monday Night Raw promo and how it seemed like glorified promotion rather than a true return to the WWE. He didn’t even confront Cody Rhodes, which he mentioned right off the bat:
Last year, all I heard was ‘Why are you being so mean to Cody? Cody’s gotta finish his story!’ One year later, Raw on Netflix, an amazing night, The Rock wanted to give props to Cody, give him his flowers. He’s been kicking ass, carrying the company on his shoulders, and what did you say? ‘Don’t be nice to Cody, you can’t be nice to Cody!’ At the end of the day, let us all remind them that The Rock is the Final Boss and he is thinking 20 steps ahead, so the best thing for them to do is to know their roles, shut their mouths and enjoy the ride that The Rock is taking them on.
I take that entire statement to say, “Stay tuned,” and that we will know what The Rock is doing at WrestleMania 41 in time. I’m not sure that makes wrestling fans any less worried, as it’s been rumored that there’s a plan in place for the big nights that both account for and work around an appearance from the A-lister.
Wrestling fans certainly expected that The Rock would be showing up to challenge Roman Reigns‘ status as the Tribal Chief, and the Hollywood actor honestly only has himself to blame for that. His hype video leaned heavily on his trip back to Samoa years ago and the title he was given as High Chief Seiuli.
With Dwayne Johnson being kind to Cody Rhodes and to Roman Reigns, we’re back to questioning who he might be taking on if he’s going to have a match at WrestleMania 41. Hell, we still don’t know at this point if he’s even going to have a match at WrestleMania 41. Is the biggest show in professional wrestling really this much up in the air, or is it all a show to keep fans in the dark?
If I had to guess, it’s both. The WWE doesn’t necessarily want its entire WrestleMania 41 card revealed in January, and Dwayne Johnson being a wildcard helps maintain some mystery as to what may happen at the Royal Rumble. So I could believe he was deliberately instructed to be cryptic ahead of the event to avoid removing the possibility of Roman Reigns, or even The Rock, winning the Royal Rumble. Even if John Cena remains the odds-on favorite to win, I’m not ruling out a shock ending just yet. All in all, I’m intrigued to see what lies ahead.
Monday Night Raw airs on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET and is available for Netflix subscription holders. I would wager we’ll see a lot more of The Rock on the program in the coming months, so let’s be a bit more patient and see what he’s “cooking” up for WrestleMania 41.