The Rock Injury Fiasco

[Goldash]

Internet is blowing up with reports that The Rock is nowhere to be found, no showing Raw to fly back home to Los Angeles. Plans apparently had Rock cut a promo at the beginning of the show and then get laid out by Brock Lesnar to tease a Mania match for next year. Instead, those plans have been scrapped. Between last night's mediocre quality show, complaints of obstructed seats, failed WWE pay-per-view stream, the silly fallout from Maria Menounos's HOF speech and now this? What a mess.

Maybe something went down last night that we weren't sure about. Something did seem totally off after HHH/Lesnar.

Source: www.pwinsider.com/article/76774/major-plans-for-raw-thrown-out-as-major-name-wont-be-there.html?p=1

This is all developing as I write this, but WWE is working re-write
massive parts of tonight's Raw as The Rock is not there as originally
planned.

The word backstage is that he left for Los Angeles this morning. WWE
sources indicate this caught the company completely off guard and
there's a lot of heat on Rock at the moment.

This is not a planned angle to sell Rock being upset over losing
the WWE title. He was worked into their plans going forward and there
had been talk of shooting a major angle with Rock to begin building
Wrestlemania 30, possibly an angle with Undertaker or Brock Lesnar
(we've heard both discussed but mostly Lesnar) and all that is out the
window now.

------

The original script for Raw was set to feature The Rock opening the show with a promo about losing the WWE title to John Cena.

The promo would have led to Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman confronting
Rock and laying him out, setting the seeds for a future PPV bout between
the two.

With Rock bolting home without notice, WWE is currently
re-writing the show. It's "chaos backstage" according to one talent
we've heard from.

Unprofessional move by The Rock, and a bit similar to what Austin did many years back. But after a huge Wrestlemania match? Count me out of cheering for him when he decides to come back.

[swfhbdls24]

Can't say I'm too surprised. I had actually assumed that last night was his last match anyway, what with the whole sendoff thing. If that's true though, then that sucks.

[afrobandito]

Mediocre? I thought Wrestlemania was good personally aside from how the Main Event turned out (and Naomi's match getting bumped off the card.)

But yeah, if this is true, really a dick move for Rock. Is it just working with Brock or something that sends people out the door?

[Goldash]

I mean, it wasn't amazing but wasn't horrible either. Somewhere in between. I guess "mediocre" may be a bit too harsh. "Good" is a better term to describe it. It did have some great moments, especially Punk vs. Taker, which I liked more than the matches Taker had with HHH the past two years.

IDK, as I said in the Rantbox, I think the aftermath of this WM is going to be fairly negative (because of the reasons I listed above), at least among hardcore fans/smarks. As I said in my original post, something must have happened backstage last night that no one's reporting.

[jackpacnation]

Apr 8, 2013 17:11:50 GMT -5 Goldash said:

Internet is blowing up with reports that The Rock is nowhere to be found, no showing Raw to fly back home to Los Angeles. Plans apparently had Rock cut a promo at the beginning of the show and then get laid out by Brock Lesnar to tease a Mania match for next year. Instead, those plans have been scrapped. Between last night's mediocre quality show, complaints of obstructed seats, failed WWE pay-per-view stream, the silly fallout from Maria Menounos's HOF speech and now this? What a mess.

Maybe something went down last night that we weren't sure about. Something did seem totally off after HHH/Lesnar.

Source: www.pwinsider.com/article/76774/major-plans-for-raw-thrown-out-as-major-name-wont-be-there.html?p=1

This is all developing as I write this, but WWE is working re-write
massive parts of tonight's Raw as The Rock is not there as originally
planned.

The word backstage is that he left for Los Angeles this morning. WWE
sources indicate this caught the company completely off guard and
there's a lot of heat on Rock at the moment.

This is not a planned angle to sell Rock being upset over losing
the WWE title. He was worked into their plans going forward and there
had been talk of shooting a major angle with Rock to begin building
Wrestlemania 30, possibly an angle with Undertaker or Brock Lesnar
(we've heard both discussed but mostly Lesnar) and all that is out the
window now.

------

The original script for Raw was set to feature The Rock opening the show with a promo about losing the WWE title to John Cena.

The promo would have led to Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman confronting
Rock and laying him out, setting the seeds for a future PPV bout between
the two.

With Rock bolting home without notice, WWE is currently
re-writing the show. It's "chaos backstage" according to one talent
we've heard from.

Unprofessional move by The Rock, and a bit similar to what Austin did many years back. But after a huge Wrestlemania match? Count me out of cheering for him when he decides to come back.

Damn it, He was advertised for Extreme Rules but now i guess they gotta throw that out too probably replace him with Lesnar and wait Lesnar was booked Tonight??? they said he wouldn't be appearing post wrestlemania same with Taker oh well this is what you get when you make a great legend like Rock to pass the torch to a guy who showed us he only knew 5 moves last night.

[Goldash]

I may have overreacted. WrestleZone is reporting that (Figure 4 Weekly is reporting that) Rock suffered an "undisclosed injury" last night in his match with Cena.

SOURCE: www.wrestlezone.com/news/270729-another-update-on-the-rock-and-why-he-will-not-be-appearing-on-raw-tonight

In an update to the developing story of The Rock not appearing on Raw tonight, F4WOnline.com is reporting that Rock suffered some sort of undisclosed injury during his WrestleMania match last night, which is why he opted to fly home after the PPV and will not be appearing on Raw tonight.

WWE may or may not have been aware of Rock's injury, but it appears that if WWE was aware of it, the company certainly didn't expect Rock to head home as opposed to appearing on Raw tonight as scheduled.

[Goldash]

So, based on Raw tonight, it seemed Rock was injured during the match and indeed went home for medical reasons. Of course, we still don't know the full story but I'm sure a lot of us on the Internet overreacted.

[Rodney Xavior]

But I thought Finally... the Rock had come back... home...?

[Brent Delivine]

Wrestlemania was, descent. Didn't meet up to wrestlemania standards but wasn't the worst ever wrestlemania.

The Rock leaving again is no surprise, it happens everytime he shows up.

[Wrestingfan414]

Did you really have to quote dirtsheets? They NEVER get a single thing right. It's just a load of fans speculating, pretending that they are in the business.

[jackpacnation]

Rock sure walked out, i have a feeling he did not want a F-5 after getting 2 Muscles torn off the bone he even announced these injuries on his twitter.

[HEELPiTeRo]

Just a reason for next break, because what would he say on RAW to explain why is he going away. F-5 wouldn't make it for him. Anyways if he was scheduled for RAW he should appear. His injury seems fake, because seeing how he acted after match with Cena he didn't show any pain on his face.

[Goldash]

Yes, dirtsheets are a crapshoot. On the other hand, I'm always interested in seeing what's going on behind the scenes and they're the most accessible way of distributing that information.

Yes, I am well aware these are the same sites that erroneously told all of us Shelton Benjamin and Carlito would be participants in the 2013 Royal Rumble. But some are more reputable than others. Dave Meltzer, for example, is someone I trust because he's actively around the business. The same can't be said about certain others.

I admit, I overreacted, as did many others online. Though I did have a lot of doubt in the back of my mind about it as it happened. It's just seemingly easier to spout off about gossip since it happened so quickly on the day after Mania. If Rock's injury is totally on the level, then I believe him.

Jim Ross just posted this on his blog, and I think it sums up this situation quite well (SOURCE: www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/jrs-1st-post-wrestlemania-29-raw-blogtons-qas-updated-grilling-season-upon-usorder-jrs-today ) :

Found it pretty pathetic that many fans who seemingly believe all or
most of what they read online felt that the Rock walked out on WWE
Monday while missing RAW. Some people thrive on dirt and gossip...thrive
may be a too nice a word...how about 'obsess' and believe damn near
whatever they read. Rock was injured early on in the main event versus
Cena but continued the match as the two men, who I signed back in the
day, did the best that they could considering the situation.

Kinda reminds us why we should think and question what we read. I've already learned to tune out some of the bullshit from the mainstream media...time to do the same for wrestling media.

[Eddie Mac]

So the lesson here (more or less) is...



I was looking for the 60% of the time/every time one but this one fits better.

[noloking]

I wish him a speedy recovery, but I stopped caring for Flex Kavana when he left the Nation

That match with John Cena was incredible, but I do not know who is going to look good enough to beat John Cena

Seeing Brock Lesnar take on Dwayne Johnson would not be complete if it did not have a stipulation or hardcore type scenario