What does The Rock, WWE really gain with WrestleMania XL: Behind The Curtain?
For months and months, WWE fans have been sitting around waiting patiently for the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson-produced documentary, eventually named WrestleMania XL: Behind The Curtain.
Since the project was initially announced, the concept seemed rather cool; The Rock had his own camera crew follow him around over the course of his return to WWE and chronicled how his eventual WrestleMania match came together. It showed the excitement surrounding his return, the heartbreak some – read: Cody Rhodes – felt along the way, and ultimately how Paul “Triple H” Levesque and company landed on their eventual main event, the “American Nightmare” and Seth Rollins versus Roman Reigns and the “Final Boss.”
Now, for fans who genuinely didn’t follow along with the backstage drama going on behind the scenes from January through the first full weekend of April, let alone those who didn’t religiously watch the promotion’s television product through the first third of the year, there is probably plenty of entertaining tidbits sprinkled throughout the show, like when Rhodes learned about Rock-Roman, or the backstage meetings that ultimately led to the main events that took place.
But for fans in the know? Fans who followed along every step of the way? This documentary felt like low-key propaganda if not outright revisionist history.
Take, for example, the news that Rhodes was told the day of the Rumble that Rock-Roman was potentially on the table. If that was the case, why did Rhodes, a true company man, point at Reigns and declare he wanted him, with cameras following him along and Michael Cole hyping up the call? Wouldn’t Cole have been instructed to play up the ambiguity, let alone Rhodes told not to make the point?
Granted, the promotion did try to spin this, showing how The Rock is talking to the writers and media about a way to make things right for everyone, but doesn’t this feel more like a revisionist spin, as opposed to the in-the-moment reactions, especially when the documentary literally lets it be known that Rhodes-Reigns was the initial plan, then Rock-Reigns, before finally settling on what fans got in the end?
Ultimately, this show was just that, a show that gave fans an insider’s perspective on The Rock’s return and showcased him as a galavanting hero who finally answered fans’ pleas for another match in a massive way. Even if the chances of Rock-Reigns now feel incredibly unlikely, at least any time soon, fans now have a feud between the “Final Boss” and the WWE Champion to look forward to, and frankly, that’s a solid payoff to what felt like a very contentious situation.
The Rock reveals how he allowed Cody Rhodes to finish his story
Speaking of The Rock’s big return to WWE and how it impacted the WrestleMania 40 plans, the “Final Boss” delivered an absolute humdinger of a quote in a standout segment of the WrestleMania XL: Behind The Curtain documentary, where he handed over his main spot to the “American Nightmare” and his “Cody Crybabies.”
“I called Nick and Triple H, and I called Ari, and I said, ‘Here’s how I’m feeling. We can truck through this and put on this main event, and the majority of the world who don’t watch WWE, they’re gonna love this idea of Rock and Roman, and we’re gonna tell an amazing story.
“We could do that, but my gut says, Ari, Nick, and Triple H, my guy says, I don’t like, even if it’s a segment of fans, I don’t like that they’re upset, and I knew that the choice was essentially mine. Either we truck through this and we make this main event, or we don’t, and I went with the latter. I told those guys here’s what I believe we should do. We should go Roman vs. Cody, let Cody finish his story, because it’s critical and important to those fans, the ‘Cody Crybabies’ I called them.”
Is everything The Rock said in the segment correct? Yes, technically, it is; casual fans would have loved Rock-Reigns, and even if it came at the expense of Rhodes’ match, even hardcore fans would have come around to it, too. And yet, it’s the way he talks about it that simply rubs some fans the wrong way, as WWE played into the “We Want Cody” conversation on par with, if not more than, the natural upswell of fans support who organically chanted the phrase at shows and posted about it online. If The Rock wants to take that win, he can have it, even if it’s not too hard to see that it isn’t totally true.
The Rock making himself look like the "good guy" in all of this after ruining everything in the first place is so hilariouspic.twitter.com/mhlaanfnJf
— Peps #MaikaStyle (@Peps_Wrestling) July 3, 2024
The post What does The Rock, WWE really gain with WrestleMania XL: Behind The Curtain? appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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