The Rock is back in the WWE, and will be at the upcoming WrestleMania 40. His return has been a surprise so far, thanks to his commitment to a heel turn and the number of dates Dwayne Johnson has signed up for on the organization's traveling shows. "The Great One" just announced he'll be making more SmackDown appearances soon though, with that, I do hope he'll be changing things up a bit going forward.
Per a recent Instagram post, Dwayne Johnson will appear at SmackDown in Dallas on March 8th as well as the Memphis show on March 15th. Counting his already announced appearance on March 1st, we'll have three consecutive weeks of The Rock coming up. However, will those be enough to psyche up fans for upcoming WWE events, or will they just be more of what we've already seen?
The Rock's Appearances Have Been Entertaining, But Light On Action
When the superstar shows up in front of live audiences, the crowd pretty much goes ballistic every time. I would do the same and would absolutely break myself trying to find a ticket if he was showing up anywhere near me. With that said, one has to consider that there are people at home watching him on SmackDown, and they may feel that watching his in-ring appearance isn't any different from screening Dwayne Johnson's movies. Speaking for myself, I haven't felt the jolt of the "most electrifying man in sports entertainment" when I've seen him pop up as of late.
Sure, his big speech with The Bloodline seemingly hinting at a future betrayal was interesting, but how many times can we watch that same scenario play out over the next few weeks? It's not every day that we get to see a massive superstar worked into a storyline so heavily. With that in mind, the WWE needs to be incorporating him more heavily into the show.
I Want To See The Rock Fight Someone Before WrestleMania 40, Or At Least Be A Bigger Part Of The Show
Speaking realistically, we're only going to get so many more opportunities to see Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson performing in a WWE ring. Devoting the final chunk of its show to him is all well and good but, honestly, we should be at a point where there's a full-scale Rock takeover happening on SmackDown. Move the other WrestleMania 40 storytelling to Monday Night Raw, where there's enough room for it.
I'd also want to see the Jumanji alum actually have a match against someone before we see him compete in Philadelphia. It doesn't have to be a 30-minute classic or something equatable to his other memorable moments we can revisit with a Peacock subscription, mind you. I just want a significant match that viewers will remember post-Mania, by which point the star may just shift back to his acting gigs.
Considering that Seth Rollins is rehabbing an injury, and CM Punk's tricep tear led to him missing WrestleMania 40, I could see why the WWE may be apprehensive about The Rock having a match before the big night. If we're really worried about him potentially breaking his body after one match, however, should we even be including him in the main event in the first place? I'm just wanting to see Dwayne Johnson as best as I can remember him, and that includes more than just him talking smack. We'll see if he can lay the smackdown on some candy asses!
SmackDown airs on Fox on Fridays at 8:00 p.m. ET. I'll be watching and crossing my fingers that The Rock has something interesting in store for the fans that involves more than talking into a microphone.
