My buddy Jon Robinson at ESPN has a fantastic interview with WWE Superstar The Miz. Apparently one of The Miz’ dreams is to go one-on-one with The Great One, Dwayne Johnson (the wrestler formerly known as The Rock). The Miz said:
I think he’s too much of a girl now. He’s no longer The Rock, he’s Dwayne Johnson. ‘I’m Dwayne Johnson [in his best girlie voice].’ I think now that he’s Dwayne Johnson, I can take him. He’s skinny. He’s like a toothpick. He’s what, 150 pounds soaking wet?
Okay, The Miz was partially in character when he made those comments. Anyone that’s in the business has to respect what The Rock accomplished in the “Attitude Era”. I know some of you don’t like The Miz, but I find him thoroughly entertaining. While I wouldn’t be too excited about an in-ring confrontation, the mic exchanges between The Rock and The Miz would be outstanding. After all, he’s The Miz…and he’s awesome!
@ R Pad
Do you think this might be lead up to the Rock coming back?
I think it might be the best career move Dwayne Johnson could make at this point.
@N8R Coming back? Definitely not full time. He's making great money doing work that's a lot easier on his body. He'll be guest-hosting RAW in the future.
@ R Pad
He's bombing as a star. He can keep picking up supporting roles for how much longer?
Hollywood may have washed him out but it hasn't washed him up if he steps back in the ring. There's a whole new generation watching now and it happens to be the demographic he aims most of his movies at.
I think the time for the Rock's triumphant return should be nigh.
Yeah… I should be The Rock's agent.
@N8R It depends on how you define "bombing". He's not one of Hollywood's leading men, but he's still making great money and he doesn't have to take chair shots. Certainly he's doing better than Austin is, if you want to compare his contemporaries.
Btw, I love the Jeff Hardy icon. When I was at Yuke's Yokohama, I kept saying, "It's the drug trafficker!" whenever he popped up on screen. The swanton bomb was also renamed "the drug trafficker".
@ R Pad
By "bombing" I mean the films aren't doing well. He gets paid to show up. But… if his films don't sell then producers and directors are going to pass him up and hire someone else like they did with Jean-Claude. He won't have much of a future if his roles fail.
I liked the Gameplan as well as Gridiron Gang, Witch Mountain was lame… but to the people who will potentially hire him, it's about numbers.
They don't care how Stone Cold is doing and unfortunately. Stone Cold can't come back.
@N8R Some of his movies did very well to well enough in the U.S. Witch Mountain did $67-million+, The Gameplan did $90-million+, Walking Tall did $46-million+, and The Scorpion King did $90-million+. I think you're underestimating his success.
I hated the Miz at first, but he grew on me. I like him now. He has potential.
@ R Pad
Dude… I understand that is indeed alot of money. But these producers are looking for hundreds of millions. What you or I think is irrelevant. 67 million for a Disney picture is a dive for Disney. Sure, we'd be set for life with that kind of change, but these guys were already set for life and now they're just adding to the pile and playing THAT game.
Looking at his roles coming up, it's obvious he's reaching. He's not being offered the roles he once was. His acting career is on the downhill. His wife got laid-off when Merril-Lynch went belly up and I'm sure he's got a hell of a mortgage (euphemism… he probably owns his property).
I'm saying in 5-10 years… if he doesn't think about then now, he's gonna be hurtin'.
You and I understand that there's no shame in silver, but try telling that to someone who's tasted the top and is falling.
@RRODisHere He's fun to watch. Unless things drastically change, I don't know that he gets beyond the U.S./IC Championship level.
@N8R I still think he has a future in movies. As a lead, I like him best when he gets to mix comedy and action. As a supporting actor, he has some potentially cool roles coming up as Race Bannon in Johnny Quest and Black Adam in the Shazam! movie (the latter is dead, but I'm hoping it gets picked up again).
@ R Pad
Maybe if he does a Tarantino movie.
The execs make the call on his career in Hollywood. I don't think he'll get cast in any substantial leads unless someone knowingly takes a risk. Risks in Hollywood… aren't taken very often.
The Rock has a shadow he may never overcome. It will take something drastic. Otherwise, he'll be stuck hosting the Teen Choice awards until THEY don't want him anymore.
I think the best thing he could do for his career is get back in the ring and show the world why people love him again.
Know your role! (remember?)
@N8R I'm not sure he wants to do it anymore. It's a lot of time on the road and really tough on the body. As amazing as he was on the mic, it's not like he was brilliant in the ring either. He was good and nobody sold the stunner better than he did, but it's not like he's HBK. If he does call it quit on movies, it'll still be a couple of years and he'll need time to regain muscle mass. Can he perform at a high level in his 40s? Who knows?
@ R Pad
That's what I'm saying. For all I know, he's in his home gym right now clacking weights. He never wanted to wrestle over playing football but when that didn't pan out… we got Rocky Maivia.
I always thought that he went from the Maivia DDT, to the Rock Bottom, to the People's Elbow because someone (wisely) advised him that maybe he should have a move he can do when he's in his forties. Nowadays, he just needs to show up and not even take too many shots. If anyone is capable and healthy enough to boost the ratings… it's The Rock.
I think that if he ever wants to use wrestling to up his career again, the best time to do it is in the next year or so. If the Miz is talking smack now, it really gets my hopes up. That's a great move for both of them.
I also think they should start him back on Raw so they can exaggerate his return to his namesake show (Smackdown) at a later date.
I'm also not saying call it quits on movies, I'm saying back burner like Hollywood has done to him. Witch Mountain seemed like a last chance to me. He's really not half the movie actor as he was a sports entertainer.
Also. the schedule is about half as demanding as it was when Rocky was coming up.
Damn the Yankees rallied.
Not to break this discussion but I was totally at RAW when the Rock came back to help out Mick Foley against Evolution. Awesome night, I just remember how crazy everyone went when his music came on.
Sciosia was dumb for pulling Lackey. Stupid, stupid Angeles.
Muahahahaha!!!
For the hell of it.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xap10e_the-rock-…
Yeah Angels