The reasoning behind The Rock’s social media tirade has been revealed.
Shortly before his appearance on the March 1st episode of SmackDown, The Rock uploaded a 21-minute video to social media. The lengthy promo saw Rock explain the events from January 1st to the present day including his appearance on New Year’s Day, private conversations with Cody Rhodes and what was whispered into The American Nightmare’s ear on the infamous day where The People’s Champion seemingly stole Rhodes’ match with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40.
With multiple points explained and Rock providing new information about the WrestleMania saga, some were curious as to why the promo, albeit without the expletives, was not a part of the broadcast, especially as it was a lot better than the promo the Hollywood star cut on SmackDown.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer spoke to a backstage higher-up who confirmed that contrary to popular belief, Rock is not entitled to as much time on the show as he wants:
So I woke up on Friday morning. And I’d seen messages that he did this promo because they weren’t gonna give them enough time on SmackDown. And I said, That’s ridiculous Rock can get as much time as he wants. I mean, who’s gonna say, hey, you know, we’d rather run a five-minute Austin Theory match, or we can let The Rock be on for five more minutes and all that. So I checked with somebody who I know was over there, pretty high up. And I said there’s a story going around I know it’s bullsh*t, and they go it ain’t bullsh*t. Because he can’t get as much time as he wants, this isn’t working this way.
Bryan Alvarez noted that the issue was not the time, but that The Rock would be on TV uninterrupted for 21 minutes without a commercial. Meltzer responded that even though Rock was told he would not be allowed that much time beforehand, he was permitted to go over on SmackDown.
No, the issue was, is that originally, he wasn’t going to get that much time so he did this promo. But when he got there, he got all the time he wanted because he’s The Rock. They said he’s not going to get it but he did. He’s The Rock, he can get whatever he wants.
Alvarez also noted that there was a chance to get a commercial break between Reigns and Rock’s entrances. The whole segment took the best part of 40 minutes. Fightful Select would report the day after SmackDown that the segment went “huge over time” and adjustments needed to be made.
The Rock Helps WWE Ratings Once Again
Unsurprisingly, whenever the Hollywood megastar is on WWE TV more casual fans are interested to hear what the former World Champion has to say. According to reports, The Rock’s recent appearance was a huge ratings boost for SmackDown.
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