Do people honestly believe The Rock is done with WWE?

[rge2010]

I have seen a few posts from users stating that the Rock is done with WWE. Do people honestly believe that to be true?

2 and a half years ago when the mystery host for Wrestlemania 27 was to be announced, I seem to remember a huge proportion on here saying it would never be The Rock as he had turned his back on the business and was done for good!!! Then they said he would never step into the ring, he was just there to promote movies!

I suppose The Rock at the time had stated in numerous interviews he would come back to do 'something special' and 'not just for a match' but that brings me to my point. The Rock always plays down things and in recent interviews he has said he would be satisfied if that was it and he doesn't know if he will come back.

All he is doing is creating suspense and creating buzz. It gets people talking 'will he or wont he'. If people know he is returning, it will be welcome but some could feel it was anti climatic.

A superstar like The Rock, the biggest name in the business doesn't lose at Wrestlemania and dissappear. He gets a show centred around him, his retirement speech and the whole fanfare like Flair and HBK did.

Wrestlemania 30. He will be there. Fact!

 

[MCMG]

The thing was, that this year The Rock injured himself. Michael Bay said that he should quit wrestling and I'm sure Dwayne realises that he is jeopardising his movie career by competing. That is why people are skeptical about an in-ring return.

Personally, i think The Rock will be involved at WM30, whether it be competing or being inducted into the HOF. It is difficult to predict who he would face. Lesnar would be too physical and I doubt he would sign for that (although it would make a lot of money). I know Lesnar can wrestle as well but it would be a waste of what he brings.

Orton and HHH are other names that I would want to see face The Rock. If he is worried about what a match would do in terms of his well-being he could easily work a multi-man match with The Shield.

 

[Caitiff]

Yeah. "Injured himself." Un-huh. Yeah. Sure. I rewatched Wrestlemania a couple days ago. Dwayne was not hurt after that match. He claims that he tore a muscle in his abdomen during the match, yet after the match, he was all but prancing around, with both hands raised. Adrenaline or not, that just does not happen.

And, then he posted a couple "post-op" pictures with Dr. James Andrews, except that he never put up any pictures of the surgical scars. It's an extremely common practice for a wrestler to put up those pictures, to keep their fans updated on their condition. Case in point: John Cena put up a few recently, to show that he no longer has a baseball growing out of his elbow, and that it's elbow shaped again. With Dwayne's ego, I have to say that, if those scars existed, we'd have seen them, by now, even if only on Wrestlezone's story about it being posted.

I sincerely hope that Dwayne stays done with wrestling this time.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The Rock is almost certainly not done with WWE, at least when it comes to working with the company somehow. According to a story from the Hollywood Reporter, The Rock is negotiating now to be the lead character in a WWE Studios film production of a film version of the 1980s TV series "The Fall Guy." In the old series, the star was Lee Majors and he played a character who was a Hollywood stuntman who also moonlighted as a bounty hunter. No word on when production begins, but it won't be anytime soon as Fast & Furious 7 is set to start filming soon. So if The Rock does wind up being signed to that movie, then there's no doubt he's not done with WWE. However, I do think there's a genuinely strong chance of The Rock being done as far as an in-ring pro wrestler goes. Like MCMG pointed out, Michael Bay gave his opinion that Rock should quit wrestling inside the ring because of the legit chance of injury.

While it may just be something of a coincidence but The Rock's career has been on a massive upswing since he came back to WWE. I'm not saying that WWE has really had much of anything to do with it, but it's certainly possible that more people have been going to watch some of his movies now who also watch WWE. I saw this thread and looked up a few things on line and The Rock's career is in a completely different galaxy 3 years ago than it is right now. The Rock was mostly reduced to playing bit parts & secondary characters like in the Get Smart movie and his starring role in flops like Race to Witch Mountain and The Tooth Fairy only lowered his stock. He even appeared in a Tyler Perry movie but went uncredited. Since coming back to WWE, his career has turned around. The six movies he's been in, thus far, have grossed roughly $2.347 billion at the box office worldwide. He's established himself again as a top action star in Hollywood. He's filming the Hercules movie now and, last I heard anything about it, he was one of the favorites to play The Terminator in the planned reboot.

The Rock would be a fool not to at least consider not wrestling anymore with such a lucrative acting career going. As I said, if The Rock does wind up getting cast as The Terminator in the reboot, filming is set to start next year. I don't know the exact date filming is scheduled to begin, but I do know that the movie will be shooting right smack in the middle of WrestleMania season. The movie is set for release June 26, 2015 and it was announced yesterday that Alan Taylor, who recently finished filming the Thor sequel, is set to direct it. So it won't be too much longer before they begin casting for roles in the movie.

On top of all that, again this all just on what I read, WWE hasn't ordered any new Rock merchandise to be made for 2014. Several weeks ago, an article on wrestlinginc.com stated that WWE informed the company that actually makes their merch not to produce any new stuff for The Rock. As there's always been new Rock merchandise sold as part of his WWE return, that's a strong sign that he won't be part of WrestleMania XXX if the story is legit.

 

[thebowtiekiller]

wwe obviously isnt the rocks main priority but i think he will be back at some point.apparantly there was even an angle planned for after wrestlemania with him and lesner i think it was but it was scrapped coz of his injury speaking of that though i do think that may have put him off wrestling for a while thing is though his match with cena wasnt particularly grueling the rock isnt a youngster anymore and from what ive seen and heard hes pushing himself ridiculously hard in the gym and a body can only take so much especially at rocks age i would guess that was the main cause.

 

[H33LTurn]

I havent based my assessment on the longevity of The Rock's career or the possibility of him returning on any statements he's made to the media. The motto in this industry has always been "never say never". I base my opinion solely on the fact that there were issues with the trademark on his name, something along the lines of it not being used until 2015. The deal with his trademark seems to have been abruptly canceled, which leads me to believe that Rock either turned down an offer to return or has a full schedule due to his movie career. Neither of those scenarios indicates that The Rock is retiring, but realistically unless he does sign on to do one more match with Brock Lesnar, theres nothing left for him to do with the WWE. The Rock isn't comfortable sitting idly by in any line of work, he's very goal oriented and very driven. Lesnar was supposed to work a program with The Rock at Wrestlemania 30, but later reports indicate that he'll now be facing Undertaker. Lesnar said he has three more Manias in him, 2015 being the second of those three and also when WWE is said to resume using The Rock's trademark. My guess is if he does have one more program left in him, it will be with Lesnar. The Rock is getting up there in age and movie studios can't be too happy about having their lead actor jeopardizing his livelihood like that. Theres an immense pressure on him to retire, both physically and business wise.

 

[daddyJ_t]

Yeah. "Injured himself." Un-huh. Yeah. Sure. I rewatched Wrestlemania a couple days ago. Dwayne was not hurt after that match. He claims that he tore a muscle in his abdomen during the match, yet after the match, he was all but prancing around, with both hands raised. Adrenaline or not, that just does not happen. .

really? did you know that undertaker had a broken ankle when he completed in the infamous hell in a cell match with mankind? hmm broken ankle and still climbed the cell and still did all that shit on top of it with mick? you dont know these guys and their conditioning and training. rock is old school and taught to work through injuries. so yeah the show must go on and therefore pounch around raise ya hands up and then take a direct flight home after the show like he did. your point has been rendered invalid sir. now as for the point of the thread. no we havent seen the last of him. he will be inducted and people will chant one more match and he will deliver........ perhaps he will be announced as in inductee and a "superstar" will start some shit that he shouldnt be inducted or he should go into the celebrity wing with the other actors and after bickering for quite a while ala rock/cena it will accumulate in one last match with even a stipulation of if he loses he doesnt get inducted or he goes in the celebrity wing or some hokey shit still giving us our one last match.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Rock being done with wrestling isn't a far fetched possibility. His injury at Wrestlemania 29 prevented him from traveling and promoting Pain & Gain. I can imagine the studio and producers weren't too happy about that, because Rock was one of the two major stars in the film.

Things are taking off for The Rock's movie career again, and he's not a young man anymore. He was clearly gassed in his matches with Punk and his Mania 29 match with Cena. It's one thing to be jacked and look like a stone sculpture of a Greek God, but having the proper physical conditioning and ring shape? That's another problem. Rock can't expect to wrestle once in a blue moon, pop up again, wrestle, and just flip the proverbial switch. It doesn't work like that, because you can't outrun father time.

BUT I could easily see Rock return to do something reminiscent of his guest host role at Wrestlemania 27. He can come out, cut a promo, have a few backstage segments, give a Rock Bottom and a People's Elbow to someone, and I'm sure the crowd will go nuts for the nostalgia kick. I could also see Rock returning every now and then to do the same routine on Raw, Smackdown, pay per views, or he could always be a special guest ref. Plus, we all know the inevitable and well deserved Hall Of Fame induction is coming one day, so Rock will have to return for that.

So I don't think people are expecting Rock to completely vanish from WWE all together, but it's not out of the realm of possibility to think his in-ring career might be over for good.

 

[The Eighties]

Rock will be back to cross-promote something I'm sure, but I see him going into the HOF and doing some promos on a special episodes of Raw as opposed to working anymore programs.

 

[Pedigree1]

Honestly hard to say. Yes in hindsight the rock should be done with wrestling as he,has zero to prove. But is he done in the E? I dont think so,the rock makes a boatload of money for the E and he is good for business its a win win. Yes,he injured himself severely,he is jeopardizing his movie career by wrestling. Plus he makes more doing movies and its safer.

I suspect we will see him at WM30 to take his rightful spot in the HOF! Maybe he can be another guest host,he did a great job at WM27. SO no honestly i dont think the rock is totally done with the E

 

[DarrenYoungsCleanAssFro]

A) The Rock and the WWE have a symbiotic relationship. The Rock is the WWE. He will be involved with the WWE in some way for the rest of his career.

B) Michael Bay is an idiot. His two biggest successes in life were finding out people like big explosions and people like things that make them feel nostalgic.

 

[IT Factor]

I think The Rock will periodically always make appearance for WWE. Until such time that his movie career is over or he just cannot do those appearances anymore for whatever reasons[health or otherwise]. Rock posted the pics of his surgery stuff on Twitter, so it seems to have been a legit injury. I dunno if it was as serious as he was claiming, but that's not the issue here.

Rock is a WWE guy and they made him a household name. If not for them, he would have never even been considered for Hollywood which is why I say he will return eventually. I do find it ironic that he told the WWE Universe that he'd "never leave again" and one injury later he's not to be seen from again. Who knows? Never say never.