The Rock’s surprise WWE appearances continue, with his most recent appearances on SmackDown and RAW.
The Rock made a surprise return to WWE on SmackDown in mid-September, interrupting a segment with Pat McAfee and Austin Theory. Before laying out Theory with the People’s Elbow, he did a promo.
Rock interrupted Jinder Mahal on Monday’s RAW, where they exchanged words before Rock laid out the fellow former WWE Champion. Rock got people talking when he made a Head of the Table reference, hinting at a possible Roman Reigns match.
Both appearances drew large crowds on social media and in television ratings. Many people believe those appearances should have been announced ahead of time in order to boost the show’s rating.
Dave Meltzer explained on Wrestling Observer Radio that the reason his appearances aren’t announced in advance is because Rock doesn’t care about ratings, but rather the reaction he gets from the audience. Although Rock is a businessman, he says that returning to WWE is more for fun than for profit.
“But also, he’s doing this for fun because he doesn’t have to do it. And he’s doing it for excitement. That type of thing. That’s why when he came back Monday, it wasn’t announced at a time like if they had announced that ahead of time. I mean, the rating would have been much higher, much higher than it was. He was doing it because in that case, he wanted that pop because of people in the building not knowing he was going to be there. And there he is. That’s what he wants. Every time he comes back, they never announce it ahead of time. They’ll do the little tease, but they won’t do so, but they won’t do the announcement,” Meltzer stated.
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
