Why WWE Fans Are Furious With The Rock - An Angry Viral Backlash Explained
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's WWE appearances are rare, but the Hollywood A-lister looks set to headline WrestleMania 40 in April. However, a good number of wrestling fans aren't happy about it. After briefly teasing it in the first "WWE SmackDown" episode of 2024, Johnson returned to the show on February 2 to set up a match with his real-life cousin Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at the event. It should be a once-in-a-lifetime dream match, but many fans think Cody Rhodes deserves Johnson's main event spot more.
Rhodes has been out to end the villainous Reigns' stranglehold on the title — which he won way back in August 2020 at that year's SummerSlam — since he returned to the promotion in 2022 after a successful run in AEW. He came close at WrestleMania 39 but lost due to some outside interference. After winning the men's Royal Rumble match for the second year in a row in January 2024, Rhodes was expected to challenge Reigns for the championship at WrestleMania 40 and finally "finish the story" — his quest to win the world title that eluded his father, the late WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes.
Unfortunately for many viewers, Johnson's arrival seemingly ruined a long-term storyline people have been invested in. Redditor u/MrFeverDreamJr summed up the view of these disheartened wrestling stans, writing, "WWE doesn't think very highly of their fans. Never have. Never will." WWE has a history of pushing part-timers and celebrities at the expense of full-time fan favorites, so the concerns are arguably valid. However, could this development be down to behind-the-scenes politics as well? With that in mind, let's look at the backlash against Johnson as the #WeWantCody movement gains momentum.
Fans believe the timing of Dwayne Johnson's return is interesting
Dwayne Johnson has been teasing a WrestleMania match with Roman Reigns for years, so this development isn't completely out of the blue. That said, the moment has arguably passed as WWE isn't Johnson's No. 1 priority, and he's also past his prime as an in-ring performer. This is the view of Reddit user u/IronMick777, who said, "No one wants to watch a 51-year-old Dwayne Johnson cosplay as The Rock to throw a few [Hulk Hogan]-style signature moves."
Meanwhile, other WWE fans have highlighted the unique timing of Johnson's return. The match with Reigns comes after he was appointed to the board of WWE's parent company, TKO Group Holdings, and earned a reported $30 million worth of stock, so did he use his influence to go into business for himself? "He politicked his way into Cody's spot at mania, pulled a power play, and forced WWE to accommodate," u/Jwynn2002 wrote. There is also the belief that Johnson has a history of wielding his power at the expense of popular WWE talents, as evidenced by his ending CM Punk's impressive title reign in 2013, despite being part-time.
More disturbingly, some people believe Johnson was brought back to divert attention away from the very public sexual misconduct lawsuit surrounding Vince McMahon and WWE at the moment. "They had to do something to take the focus of what a truly terrible person we already knew Vince was," u/mdennisreynolds added.