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Forged by the sea. Welcome

0:30

to a special presentation of Not

0:32

Sam Wrestling. I'm Sam Roberts and

0:35

today I have something a little different.

0:37

Something that I think you're going to like.

0:40

Something that I think you'll think is

0:42

pretty cool. You all know

0:44

if you've been following this show that the

0:47

minute those words came out of the rock's

0:49

mouth, I knew that we

0:52

had stumbled onto something different. I

0:54

fell in love with whatever

0:56

this new character was becoming. A

0:59

character that would become the final

1:01

boss. And make no

1:03

mistake about it, the final boss came in

1:06

like a whirlwind. I mean, it

1:08

picked up steam and would not

1:10

let up until

1:13

WrestleMania and technically the Raw

1:15

after WrestleMania. So now

1:18

that we finally had a chance to

1:20

take a breath, now that there is

1:22

that beat, for us to think about

1:25

what we just saw, I

1:28

thought there was no time like the

1:30

present to really analyze what I

1:32

think will go down as chapter

1:35

one of the

1:38

final boss. So it

1:40

starts on January 1st when WWE

1:42

put on a television special called

1:44

Raw Day One. And

1:46

they acknowledged internet rumors when Triple

1:49

H tweeted that he wasn't going

1:51

to quote confirm or deny the

1:54

rumors of a former WWE champion

1:56

appearing at Raw Day One. But

1:58

I will say. to stay tuned.

2:01

He did this in the days leading up to the show.

2:04

Once we finally got to day one

2:07

raw, it was announced by commentary that

2:09

a former champion would be appearing and

2:11

when the time came and as viewers

2:14

we were told to stay through the

2:17

break, the music played and that champion

2:19

was revealed to be...Ginder Mahal.

2:24

Ginder came to the ring as the

2:26

audience was shown to be visibly disappointed.

2:29

He was booed as he talked about

2:31

the disrespect that he was being treated

2:34

with and the problems with Americans in

2:36

general today. At that point, boom, the

2:39

music of the superstar that fans were

2:41

hoping for, the rock, interrupted

2:43

Ginder Mahal and the most electrifying

2:46

superstar in all of sports and

2:48

entertainment made his

2:50

appearance known. The

2:52

rock came to the ring and he

2:55

ripped down the modern day Maharaja. Verbally

2:58

then physically, taking a

3:00

few blows himself before dropping Ginder

3:03

and laying him out with a people's elbow.

3:05

We all thought that was enough but once

3:08

the rock had cleared the ring, he

3:10

said he was off to get something to eat and

3:13

he asked the crowd if he should sit at a booth,

3:16

sit at the bar or

3:18

sit at the head

3:20

of the table. We didn't know where he

3:22

was going at first but once he hit that

3:25

head of the table, a huge ovation

3:27

rang through San Diego as the reference

3:30

was lost on no one. The

3:32

rock had made appearances on the Pat

3:34

McAfee show and College Game Day a

3:36

couple of months earlier, talking about an

3:39

initial plan to do a Rock Roman

3:41

match at WrestleMania 39 and

3:43

while it had fallen through, Rock

3:45

said that it wasn't off the table. Between

3:48

that and the clear shot

3:50

at day one, fans, myself

3:52

included, started fantasy booking immediately.

3:56

I mean the Rock has said this

3:58

since but it's true. Since

4:00

Roman Reigns became the head of

4:02

the table, ever since he started

4:05

talking about the bloodline, ever since

4:07

he started talking about being the

4:09

family member in that Samoan dynasty

4:12

who brings home the bacon better than

4:14

anybody else, questions about

4:16

The Rock started surfacing. People

4:19

wanted Rock and Roman at WrestleMania 38. People

4:22

wanted Rock and Roman at WrestleMania

4:25

39. Rock vs

4:27

Roman Reigns was at

4:29

least the biggest super fight since

4:32

Hulk Hogan and The Rock.

4:35

It was this impossibility that

4:38

was kind of a possibility because The

4:40

Rock had stayed in shape forever

4:43

and Roman Reigns had

4:46

ascended to this space where it

4:48

made sense. We weren't in Philadelphia

4:51

in 2015 anymore where

4:54

the fans were booing Roman Reigns and

4:56

The Rock was looking confused. We weren't

4:58

in this space where Roman Reigns

5:00

was being shoved down our throats and we

5:02

were rejecting him. Roman

5:04

Reigns had already

5:07

revolutionized the industry. Roman Reigns

5:10

was already telling stories in

5:13

a way that some would argue has

5:15

not been done in years. I

5:17

would argue had never been done. The

5:20

Rock was the word of the

5:22

day and now

5:24

the possibility of The Rock

5:26

coming in as the tribal

5:29

chief was at his peak was

5:32

almost too much to take but what

5:36

about the story? You

5:39

know the story. Cody Rhodes had

5:41

been on a mission to get back to

5:43

the place where he had lost everything. Cody

5:46

only ever wanted to win the

5:48

title his father never did, the

5:51

WWE Championship and Roman Reigns

5:53

was the unconquerable foe who held

5:55

it. After losing at WrestleMania 39, Cody

5:58

Rhodes was the only one to win the

6:00

title. had done the impossible and

6:02

maintained and also grew support

6:05

from the fans as the year

6:07

progressed. Only weeks

6:09

after the Rock's day one appearance,

6:12

Cody Rhodes went to the Royal

6:14

Rumble, won the match and not

6:16

only pointed to the WrestleMania sign,

6:19

but pointed directly at the suite

6:21

that Roman Reigns was sitting in

6:23

to observe the match. As Roman

6:26

reacted, it was clear who Cody

6:28

Rhodes choice was. The

6:31

theatrics of the Royal

6:33

Rumble reminded fans of the two

6:35

year investment that they had made

6:37

in Cody Rhodes and the potential

6:39

for Cody Rhodes to be the

6:42

one who could finally beat

6:44

Roman Reigns and finish the

6:46

story. Things

6:49

however got a little confusing as

6:51

CM Punk was injured in the Royal

6:53

Rumble match and paths started

6:55

becoming even less clear. The

6:58

night after the Rumble on Raw, Seth Rollins

7:00

made a plea to Cody Rhodes to choose

7:03

him to be the champion that

7:05

Cody challenged at WrestleMania as Seth needed to

7:07

know that he was the best and in

7:09

order to do that, he

7:11

had to beat Cody Rhodes. But

7:14

Cody was going to pick Roman right? Well then

7:17

came SmackDown. Roman

7:19

Reigns came to the ring with

7:21

the bloodline. The first thing that

7:23

he did was almost to an

7:25

unreasonable extent verbally ripped Seth Rollins

7:27

to shreds. Then he

7:29

stated that Cody would be an idiot

7:32

not to choose Roman Reigns as

7:34

his WrestleMania opponent. That's when

7:36

Cody came out and he explained

7:38

that Roman's title was the title that he

7:41

wanted and his plan was not only to

7:43

take that title but to take everything from

7:45

Roman Reigns however he would

7:48

not do it at WrestleMania.

7:51

Cue the Rock's music. Cody

7:54

said he had taken advice from among

7:56

others the Rock. The

7:59

Rock Came to the. The ring is a

8:01

surprise that everyone in attendance. he whispered

8:03

something in the codey his ear. And

8:06

co he voluntarily but somewhat

8:08

solemnly. Left the ring, As.

8:11

Roman reigns in Iraq, stare at each other

8:13

down, The. Crowd in the

8:15

arena went absolutely ballistic. Even seeing

8:18

this is awesome. As. Not only

8:20

were they treated to a surprise appearance from the

8:22

rock. Put a class of

8:24

through Icons was headed to Wrestlemania

8:26

as they had witnessed the foundation.

8:28

Being laid. That.

8:31

Crowd. However, was

8:33

apparently not representative of

8:36

the fan base at

8:38

large. See something happened.

8:41

Between. The beginning of January

8:43

In the end of January. and that

8:45

something was the moment that Cody Rhodes

8:47

had one the Royal Rumble. We.

8:50

Realize that this was the meant we

8:52

went back to a few months before.

8:54

When. Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes. It

8:57

had that face down on Smackdown

8:59

and N N and made us

9:01

all go. There. Is magic? Hear

9:03

it brought everybody to a year

9:05

before. At the end of

9:07

Wrestlemania Thirty Nine. When Cody.

9:10

Rhodes got pinned. Any air was

9:12

let out of the room. You

9:14

can't overstate. How big

9:16

of a disappointment it was to a

9:18

huge portion of the fan base. Nobody

9:21

thought. Cody. Rhodes was going

9:23

to lose the Roman Reigns in Cody.

9:25

Rhodes had lost to Roman Reigns. The.

9:27

Fact that the fans had stayed with this guy.

9:30

Was. Only. Was

9:32

reminded to us. When.

9:35

That. Feeling swept over everyone's body when

9:37

Cody Rhodes one the Royal Rumble and

9:40

we went Oh yeah, Even. With

9:42

all the excitement of the rock. This.

9:45

Is is what was supposed to happen. Add

9:48

to that the fact that that not. Long

9:51

before this. A week. Maybe

9:53

Two weeks. Before. This

9:55

Smackdown appearance. News. had

9:57

broken that not only was w w

10:00

going to Netflix in 2025 for

10:02

a multi-billion dollar deal. But

10:06

The Rock had joined the

10:08

board of directors at TKO, the

10:11

parent company of WWE. He

10:14

had been awarded tens of

10:16

millions of dollars in stock and

10:19

he had been awarded all of his

10:22

IP, all the

10:24

trademarks, The Rock, jabroni drive,

10:26

Smackdown Hotel, all of it

10:29

was given to The Rock. He was now the

10:31

owner of it, which was unprecedented from a WWE

10:33

point of view. So

10:36

fans looked at this and instead

10:38

of being in the mindset that everybody was

10:40

in on January 1st, when

10:42

we said, oh, we're going to get to see this super match,

10:45

it was, well, The

10:47

Rock must have had this as part of his deal with

10:50

TKO. The Rock must

10:52

have said, I want my trademarks, I

10:55

want my money, and I want the main event of

10:58

WrestleMania. There was this feeling that so

11:00

many in the fan base had, that

11:03

The Rock had politicked his way

11:06

into the main event of WrestleMania and

11:08

that he had screwed over the superstar

11:11

that fans had devoted two years of

11:14

their life to, Cody

11:16

Rhodes. Technically, yes, this

11:19

match was what fans wanted, but they

11:22

wanted it from a macro perspective. It didn't

11:24

make sense in this micro

11:27

perspective. Six days

11:29

after that episode of SmackDown, during Super

11:31

Bowl week, WWE put on

11:33

an arena-sized press event that

11:36

promised the first face-off between

11:38

The Rock and Roman Reigns. Although

11:41

the WrestleMania match had not

11:43

been officially announced, the implications

11:45

were clear. And those

11:47

implications led to six

11:49

days of the internet

11:52

absolutely flaming this Decision.

11:54

The YouTube video, the segment

11:56

on SmackDown became the most

11:58

disliked, the WWE's YouTube channel.

12:00

had ever had W w

12:03

Eat the Rock or anyone

12:05

associated could not move on

12:07

social media without comments of

12:09

dismay, disapproval, disgust and disappointments

12:11

flooding every post. The.

12:14

See in huge numbers. Did.

12:16

Not like the idea of. Cody

12:18

his main event being taken away

12:20

for no clear reason other. Than.

12:23

They are perceived reason which was the rock

12:26

was back and he had recently become a

12:28

member of T K Owes board of Directors.

12:31

Then. Las Vegas happened. Before.

12:34

The press conference The Rock went

12:36

on Pat Mcafee show and not

12:38

only address the backlash but surprisingly

12:40

seized it had on. He.

12:42

Introduced the Cody Cry Babies.

12:45

A group of say is that

12:47

as adult men were ignoring their

12:49

children in the sexual needs of

12:51

their wives, pieces of cody cry

12:53

babies, were selling chicken nuggets into

12:55

their orifices and needed to shut

12:57

up and go along for the

12:59

ride. It. Was an amazing return.

13:01

In an instant we remember what the

13:03

rock was capable of. What brought him

13:06

to the dance, Why we fell in

13:08

love with this character. And.

13:10

It was only the beginning.

13:12

Once we got. To. The

13:14

Press Conference The Big Press Event,

13:17

The Wrestlemania kick Off Show. On

13:19

a rino full of people. Were. On

13:22

the same page as all the fans

13:24

on the internet. There.

13:27

Was a big picture. Roman Reigns on one side

13:29

of the stage. A big picture. The Rock on

13:31

the other side of the stage. And that's the

13:33

moment. That. The rock came in.

13:36

And instead of. Having.

13:39

This sort of competitive nature.

13:42

With. Roman reigns. Instead of being in

13:44

this position where it was like

13:46

a boy, I'm gonna teach you

13:48

a lesson. It.

13:50

Was more of a a

13:53

cooperative presentation. About. Why the

13:55

in a while eat my as he is

13:57

Simone Dynasty. Is the

13:59

greatest. In to Ever Happen. To.

14:01

Professional Wrestling and and part of that.

14:04

Was. The moment the right came out, And

14:06

he said, i've got something that you're going

14:09

to think is pretty cool and even if

14:11

you like it, you're going to have to

14:13

respect it's it was this really subtle way.

14:16

Of presenting his own family

14:18

tree. If I presented

14:20

the Roberts family tree I've really have a little

14:22

bit of modesty. You know on are no of

14:24

your care but here it is. A

14:26

cell? What the had. The. Rock presented

14:29

his family tree as if it was a

14:31

gift to the wrestling public at large. You

14:33

guys aren't gonna believe this. This is the

14:35

best thing since sliced bread. You're.

14:37

Going to think it's pretty cool and if you don't think it's

14:40

pretty cool, you better think it's pretty cool. The.

14:42

Rock was slipping into this mode. Where.

14:46

He was taking charge. We We're

14:48

so used to seeing nice guy

14:50

Dwayne Johnson. We, We're so used

14:52

to seeing the Hollywood actor who.

14:55

Knew. How to be Extremely charming at

14:57

press junkets. Always smiled, always had something

14:59

clever to say. The guy that we

15:02

always wanted to hang out with. But.

15:04

That's how you get to the top. All of a

15:07

sudden, We. Were seeing this guy

15:09

who's had none are? no, I'm taking charge.

15:11

This is my show. And

15:14

Roman was kind of their with them as you

15:16

are really reading into it. It felt like. The.

15:19

Rock and Roman Reigns had this plan

15:21

where their max. Would.

15:23

Be sort of an exhibition. To.

15:26

Show off what greatness looks like

15:28

and greatness is ultimately the Samoan

15:30

dynasty. That's. When Cody

15:33

Rhodes walked in and he said it was

15:35

B S C curse the use the real

15:37

B S word. Which. By the way

15:39

was the beginning of a lot of purses

15:41

to we would gets over the next couple

15:43

of months. As Cody came

15:45

in. And he said no.

15:48

He took back. Whatever.

15:50

He had said to the rock whatever was whispered in

15:52

the code easier the first time. Cody.

15:54

Decided know. he

15:56

said the samoan dynasty can be whatever the

15:59

samoan dynasty yeah But ultimately, I

16:02

won the Royal Rumble. I

16:04

get to decide what the main event of WrestleMania

16:06

is. I don't care if you're on the

16:08

board of directors. As

16:11

the winner of the Royal

16:13

Rumble, I'm deciding that Cody

16:15

Rhodes versus Roman Reigns will main event

16:17

WrestleMania 40. And the

16:19

crowd goes wild. And the Rock is

16:22

furious. And Roman Reigns is furious. And

16:24

we finally get this thing that The

16:26

Rock has just started to do with

16:28

the fans that like just strap in

16:31

and go along for the ride. It

16:33

went from, hey, I've

16:37

got some really great things up my sleeve. I hope

16:39

you like it. To if you

16:41

don't like what I'm doing, you need to shut up.

16:44

Because I know better. So you're

16:46

going to have to go along with what I think is right. It's

16:49

a very subtle line between those two

16:51

things. It's very thin. But on

16:53

one end, it's we're all having fun. And

16:56

on the other end, it's we're doing this

16:58

because the boss says we have to do it. And

17:00

we had drifted in to we're doing this

17:02

because the boss says we have to do it. The

17:05

final boss, as we would find out. But

17:09

Cody then goes, and

17:11

you talk about this family tree. This is no

17:13

family tree. You have a bunch of lackeys, a

17:15

bunch of yes men all around

17:17

you. And as a matter of

17:19

fact, if your grandfather Roman

17:22

Reigns and your grandfather, Rock, High Chief Peter

17:24

Myvia, if they were here today, they'd be

17:26

ashamed of all of this. They'd be ashamed

17:28

of you. And

17:30

the Rock slapped Cody in the face. And

17:33

there was a pull apart. And

17:35

then at the wrap up part of the press

17:37

conference, this is where it got great. Triple

17:41

H was doing an interview with Jackie

17:43

Redman, which was interrupted when now you

17:45

see Paul Heyman, the Rock and Roman

17:47

Reigns leaving together. And that's when it

17:49

really became clear, oh, this

17:52

was always kind of something up

17:54

their sleeve. They're leaving together and

17:56

as they pass by Triple H, the

17:59

Rock. starts telling Triple

18:01

H, you need

18:03

to not let him talk, you know what,

18:05

I mean he's cursing up a storm, he's

18:07

dropping S-bombs, he's dropping F-bombs, but

18:09

he's basically telling Triple H to control your

18:12

guy or I will. And

18:14

it wasn't wrestler energy, it

18:16

wasn't like, and if

18:18

you don't like it I'll see you in the ring, it was

18:20

I am a member of the board

18:22

of directors. You need to get your show

18:25

under control because that was BS. You

18:27

better not let him talk to me like that again or

18:29

you're in a lot of trouble. Not,

18:33

you know, at backlash I'm gonna have a match with you, it was you're

18:35

gonna be in a lot of trouble in

18:37

the boardroom, your job's on the

18:39

line. And all of a sudden, all

18:42

of these things that fans were accusing

18:44

the Rock of, we're

18:46

leaning in. Again, we're leaning in.

18:49

We're going, okay, if that's the guy that you think I

18:51

am, that's the guy that

18:53

you're gonna see. So after

18:56

all this happens, Triple H

18:59

comes on to SmackDown and

19:01

he says that, you

19:04

know, after the press conference, it appears

19:06

that they took a left turn on

19:08

the road to WrestleMania and now, quote,

19:10

that road is on fire, but

19:13

it feels good. Triple H

19:15

realizes, he said, that some people

19:17

may not know their

19:19

role. People may

19:21

have tried to assert their

19:23

authority when they don't have

19:26

any, so many Easter eggs.

19:28

He said, regardless of where

19:30

one may sit, he is the one

19:32

the answers come from. Sit at the board of

19:34

directors, sit at the head of the table, I

19:36

don't know. He announces through the main event of

19:38

WrestleMania, the biggest WrestleMania

19:40

of all time. WrestleMania 40

19:42

will, in fact, be

19:45

Cody Rhodes versus Roman Reigns

19:47

and if you don't like

19:49

it, well, it doesn't

19:51

matter if you don't like it. Incredible.

19:54

Then the unthinkable

19:57

happens. After that, The

19:59

Rock returns. to SmackDown, but this

20:01

time he's got a

20:03

designer vest on, similar to the

20:05

short shirts that he wore during

20:08

the Attitude Era. He's wearing sunglasses,

20:10

expensive chains, and he

20:12

stands with Roman Reigns and his

20:14

family, and he declares himself a

20:17

member of the bloodline. It

20:20

was a SmackDown in Salt Lake City,

20:22

Utah. When The

20:24

Rock says they broke the indoor attendance

20:26

record for the largest

20:29

gathering of trailer park trash The

20:31

Rock has ever seen, he

20:33

talks about all of their multiple wives,

20:35

their inbred grandchildren. He asks the audience,

20:38

are you sure that you want

20:40

to boo The Rock? He's

20:42

calling fans fatty. He's threatening to

20:44

slap the herpes off of people's

20:46

lips, and he explains that

20:48

this is a side of The Rock that

20:51

has always been there. It's just been

20:53

buried. Technically we

20:55

have seen it before. This is what happened

20:57

the last time fans booed The Rock. That's

20:59

why that question is so crucial. When

21:02

Rocky Myvia was advertised as a blue

21:04

chipper and the fans just didn't take

21:06

to him, he decided not to

21:08

take to them. He turned on them, insulting

21:10

all of them, owning his natural

21:12

athletic gifts and charisma. Rocky Sucks

21:14

turned Rocky Myvia into The Rock

21:16

in 1998. In

21:19

2024, Rocky sucks turned

21:21

The Rock into the character

21:23

that would be the

21:26

final boss. When

21:28

The Rock started to embrace this

21:30

side of himself, it was a

21:32

remarkable thing to watch. Because

21:36

as much swagger as The Rock always

21:38

had, when that final boss

21:40

side of him came out, it

21:43

was a different swagger than we had ever

21:45

seen before. As

21:47

much as The Rock had carved his

21:49

own path in this

21:52

world of sports entertainment, when he

21:54

started doing final boss stuff, it

21:56

truly felt like he

21:58

was working with no one. No filters

22:01

whatsoever. The pure id

22:03

of the rock was able to

22:06

fully come out. If you look at

22:08

what the rock was doing, whether it was the

22:11

language he was using, the way he was moving

22:13

his body, what he was wearing, the

22:15

way he was staring down at people, it

22:18

was a freedom in the performance that

22:22

as long as I've been watching

22:24

WWE and professional wrestling, I've never

22:26

seen from the rock. The

22:30

rock in this form was

22:33

able to own the fact that

22:36

throughout all of his years of

22:39

being a monstrous success

22:41

in multiple industries, he

22:44

was able to do and say

22:46

things, act in ways that

22:49

nobody was allowed to do.

22:52

And this version of the rock was

22:54

of course gonna take advantage of every

22:56

single one of those things. And

22:59

when we saw that, when fans

23:01

saw the rock,

23:03

the character of the rock morphing

23:05

in to who his

23:08

true self would, could and should

23:10

be, there

23:13

was something captivating about it. There was something

23:15

compelling about it. No matter how evil

23:19

the rock was, this

23:22

was who he was destined to become. And

23:25

now he was owning it. It

23:27

was a different level of cool. It

23:29

was a different level of confidence. It

23:32

was a level

23:34

that all of us would dream

23:36

to one day be at but

23:39

know that we'd never quite get

23:41

there because only the

23:44

rock could pull this off. One

23:46

of the things that made this so special was

23:49

as time went on, it was clear the rock

23:52

was not on a nostalgia run. Sure

23:54

he drew from his past as any character

23:56

should, but the rock was not

23:58

in the WWE. WWE to

24:01

be appreciated for what he had done before. Unlike

24:04

other returns, The Rock in 2024

24:07

was in the WWE to create

24:09

something new, to evolve, to answer

24:11

the question, what would happen if

24:14

The Rock, the character that we knew in 1998,

24:17

the one that we knew in 2004, what

24:19

if that character ascended to the level

24:21

and earned all the power and accolades

24:23

that Dwayne Johnson had? What would he

24:26

do with that power? All

24:28

of us grown men who grew

24:30

up with The Rock became locked

24:32

in because finally The Rock, the

24:35

real Rock's story, was

24:37

continuing. At

24:39

the Elimination Chamber premium live event,

24:41

Cody Rhodes reasserted his plan to

24:44

main event WrestleMania against Roman

24:46

Reigns, but in the meantime

24:48

said that he challenged The Rock to

24:51

a one-on-one match to pay The Rock back

24:53

for the slap that he had laid

24:55

on Cody in Las Vegas. The

24:58

Rock, wearing an even more

25:00

expensive shirt with Roman Reigns on

25:03

SmackDown, said no to Cody's initial offer,

25:05

but came back with

25:07

a challenge to Cody and Seth

25:09

Rollins to a tag team match

25:12

on night one of WrestleMania against

25:14

he and Roman Reigns with implications

25:17

that would lead into night two

25:19

and the Cody Roman match. He also

25:22

acknowledged Roman Reigns as the tribal chief

25:24

in a face-off that

25:26

was fairly tense. In

25:28

this moment, we saw The Rock not only

25:30

as an egocentric showman, the one that we've come

25:33

to know and love, but now as

25:35

the calculating shrewd negotiator

25:38

that it's assumed one would have to be in

25:40

order to make it in Hollywood. The

25:43

Rock's presentation continued to evolve, lightning

25:45

effects being added into his intro

25:48

video, the red eyes of the

25:50

Brahma Bull glowing. The only

25:52

thing that stayed the same was the goosebumps

25:55

that were on The Rock's forearm. He

25:57

began using social media to compliment

26:00

what he was doing on WWE programming,

26:02

dropping 10 to 20 minute

26:04

promos on his Instagram account hours

26:07

before his SmackDown appearances.

26:10

The Rock leaned in to

26:12

all of the perceived faults,

26:14

the politics, the influence that

26:16

fans thought he had and

26:19

gave them the monster that

26:22

they created. This

26:24

incarnation of The Rock was

26:26

a different type of heel. We've

26:29

seen heels throughout the history of

26:32

professional wrestling, but

26:34

this was different. Every

26:37

time The Rock showed up, fans

26:39

went wild because his segments were

26:42

fun. His segments

26:44

were exciting, but The

26:46

Rock did the job that The Rock

26:48

was supposed to do because if you

26:50

watch these segments every single one, when

26:53

the music plays, fans go wild.

26:56

When the jokes are made, fans are laughing.

26:59

At one point, he's calling

27:01

Philly garbage and

27:03

they're all cheering along with it, but every

27:06

single time by

27:09

the end of the segment, they

27:11

are booing The Rock or they

27:13

are chanting Rocky sucks. And

27:16

they're not doing it because they're

27:18

not happy to see The Rock. They're

27:21

doing it because they are voluntarily going on

27:23

this ride. They're doing

27:25

it because The Rock is

27:27

creating this world that

27:30

we can all escape into. And whether

27:32

you're a teenager

27:35

that's known The Rock from being in action movies

27:37

and just thinks it's fun that he's in a

27:39

WWE ring or you're a

27:41

man of a certain age like myself who

27:44

grew up as a teenager watching

27:46

Rocky Myvia evolve into The Rock,

27:50

you know as you're watching it, you're

27:52

seeing history play out. When

27:55

we are watching The Rock go

27:57

all in, not for an appearance, for

27:59

a full story. And that's what the

28:01

Rock is doing. That's

28:04

what the Rock has done. Going

28:06

100% all in. As fans, when you see him going all the

28:08

way into this thing,

28:15

not just there for a paycheck, not just

28:17

there for a quick story, not just there

28:20

to do the job and to take a hike,

28:23

but to really do something that

28:25

people will talk about for years and years and

28:27

years and years, the way he might have done

28:29

in 1998. Not

28:32

only are you enjoying

28:34

it because

28:37

of how good it is, not only are

28:39

you enjoying it because there's something cool,

28:43

there's something edgy, there's something so

28:46

unpredictable about what's happening,

28:49

but you're enjoying it because

28:51

everybody watching has

28:54

this conscious awareness that

28:57

this was never supposed to happen and

29:00

that we're witnessing history

29:03

unfold. When

29:05

I say he was a different type of heel, the

29:07

Rock positioned himself as the boss. He would

29:10

say things like that he was gonna make

29:12

sure Seth Rollins was not the champion. He

29:15

would blur the line between

29:17

being a board member and being a WWE competitor.

29:19

He wasn't saying he was going to interfere in

29:22

a Seth Rollins match. He was saying he was

29:24

going to use his pole. Insults

29:26

flew as the two teams met

29:28

face to face ending with the

29:30

Rock saying Cody's birth was a

29:32

mistake and Cody finally using

29:35

his hand to pay the Rock

29:37

back for that snap. A

29:40

week later, the Rock came back

29:42

in full final boss

29:44

form. A new entrance theme

29:47

where the original intro remixed into his

29:49

heel Hollywood Rock theme that people have

29:51

been waiting for. He put on a

29:53

rock concert that was so fun and

29:55

charismatic. He had people doubting his true

29:58

nature as a heel, but followed it

30:00

with a creepy quiet promise to

30:02

beat Cody Rhodes bloody with his

30:05

weight belt and hand

30:07

the belt to Cody's mom who

30:09

he lovingly referred to as mama

30:12

Rhodes. This was the same

30:14

night he does a line from Moana where

30:17

he's saying is Maui I'm gonna say I'm

30:19

gonna whisper in your mother's ear what can

30:21

I say beside you're welcome which

30:24

again I mean I talked about this on the podcast

30:26

but to me in this

30:28

moment the rock is using

30:31

a rock concert to lure fans into

30:33

this false sense of security like everything

30:35

is fine before

30:38

he lets you know the disgusting

30:40

terrible despicable things that he's gonna

30:42

do to Cody Rhodes the same

30:44

way in Moana Maui

30:48

used song and dance to

30:50

convince Moana that everything was okay before he

30:52

locked her in a cave and stole her

30:54

boat the rock

30:58

wasn't being not quite

31:00

a full heel he was being an evolved heel

31:04

I'm gonna make you guys cheer for this before

31:08

I tell you that I'm

31:10

gonna commit crimes against

31:12

this person and doing it in

31:14

front of the woman who loves him more than

31:16

anybody loves anybody on this planet his

31:18

own mother the

31:21

rock surprised Cody a week later

31:23

on raw whispering in

31:25

his ear and then

31:27

leaving saying that he was done he was

31:29

going home we found

31:31

out later that what he was whispering

31:33

in his ear was I'm gonna make you bleed tonight

31:36

and on the end of that episode of

31:39

Monday Night Raw we witnessed a

31:41

beat down like we've never seen on raw

31:44

all of the fun all

31:46

of the hijinks all of the

31:48

charisma that were there

31:50

when the rock was doing his rock concert

31:52

were gone as the

31:55

rock pulled Cody Rhodes out

31:57

into a rainy parking lot took

31:59

off off his weight belt, that

32:02

I believe said Mama Rhodes right on it and

32:05

started whipping Cody Rhodes and whipping

32:07

him bloody. It had been a

32:09

long time since we

32:11

had seen blood on WWE

32:14

television. But

32:16

The Rock put on this way

32:19

of talking. I'm going to

32:21

learn you boy, you better stay down boy. And

32:25

whipped Cody Rhodes into

32:27

oblivion. To the

32:29

point that it was uncomfortable to

32:31

watch you later saw footage, amazing

32:33

footage of

32:36

the cameramen literally saying okay we're clear,

32:38

the show's off the air. Alright clear.

32:42

And The Rock saying clear whip, f

32:44

that whip. Just because your show's over

32:46

doesn't mean I'm done. Whip. And

32:49

he sat on that for days before

32:52

finally releasing it to the public and being

32:54

like look at how serious this

32:57

was. As Cody

32:59

lay a beaten bloody mess and The

33:01

Rock, the final boss, lived

33:04

up to his promise. We'd

33:06

see another beat down a week later,

33:08

the Raw Before WrestleMania in Brooklyn. And

33:10

this time we'd see the bloodline and

33:12

The Rock physically working together for the

33:15

first time. Rock and

33:17

Roman Reigns just beating the stuffing out

33:20

of Cody Rhodes, out of

33:22

Seth Rollins. Even this realization that

33:25

when these two are paired

33:27

together they may truly be

33:29

indestructible. And finally we

33:32

get to a place where we're going

33:34

into WrestleMania and everybody is along for

33:36

the ride. Everybody

33:39

is along for this story. Everybody

33:41

knows who the good guy is. Everybody knows who the

33:43

bad guy is. The Rock

33:46

and Roman Reigns have made it clear that

33:48

it's not just that Cody wants to take

33:51

the title away from Roman Reigns, it's that

33:53

Cody spoiled, ruined after

33:55

winning the Royal Rumble to

33:58

them what was the greatest. greatest

34:00

potential WrestleMania match of all time.

34:03

And now, they have to teach him a

34:05

lesson. Of course, we

34:08

get to night one of WrestleMania,

34:10

and it's Seth Rollins

34:12

and it's Cody Rhodes

34:15

versus The Rock and Roman Reigns. Now,

34:19

as compelling, as captivating as

34:21

a final boss had been

34:23

for this entire ride, nobody

34:26

quite knew what to expect from him

34:28

physically. And what we got

34:32

was a real performance from

34:35

The Rock. He came out

34:37

in this jumpsuit that

34:39

I guess was somewhat

34:41

reminiscent of

34:44

the athletic warmup gear that he wore in

34:46

the beginning of 1999, when

34:48

he was wrestling Mick Foley, but had

34:51

that designer flair to it. And

34:54

then ripped it off, so he was just wearing

34:56

his classic Rock wrestling trunks, and the guy is

34:58

just a beast, out there

35:00

looking like the Samoan Incredible Hulk. It's

35:02

an amazing sight to see. I

35:06

think a lot of people assume that

35:08

what you'd get is Roman Reigns

35:11

doing most of the work in the match, The

35:13

Rock coming in with the greatest hits. And

35:16

then we'd take it home after about 20

35:18

minutes. And instead, we

35:20

got a solid 40 plus minute

35:22

match, where The Rock was doing

35:24

a ton of stuff. Now, they

35:27

figured out a way to make this a street fight,

35:30

to kind of make it so that we didn't have

35:32

to do holds for the entire time. But

35:34

it was genius the way they did it. How

35:36

would the final boss ensure

35:38

that this was a street fight? How would

35:41

the final boss ensure

35:43

that this was no disqualification? Well,

35:45

The Rock yelled at the referee halfway

35:49

through the match, if you disqualify me,

35:52

you're fired. Do not disqualify

35:54

anybody or you're fired. I'm

35:56

a member of the board. Boom,

35:58

that's how. exactly how the

36:01

final boss would

36:03

make sure that he got his way through an abuse of

36:05

power. And we

36:07

saw a spectacular, we saw the big entrance,

36:09

everything. We thought, at

36:12

least there were some that thought that in terms of

36:15

the, you never thought it

36:17

would happen, big star power,

36:19

nostalgia even, that night one

36:21

of WrestleMania would be the night. And

36:25

then night two would

36:27

be more about where we're going with the future.

36:29

There were some that were even worried that

36:32

because The Rock, the final boss,

36:35

had been such a tour

36:37

de force throughout

36:40

the storyline world of WWE

36:42

that night two may not be

36:44

able to measure up and those people, those

36:47

people were so, so. You've

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her early aptitude for science to

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her first big discovery. And

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now that graduation is right around the corner, she

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Forged by the sea. Wrong, of

37:19

course. The Rock ended up

37:22

pinning Cody Rhodes on

37:24

night one of WrestleMania. And it meant

37:26

that night two of WrestleMania would

37:29

be bloodline rules. This

37:34

was, it was incredible, the

37:37

main event for night two of WrestleMania.

37:40

People are already describing it as the

37:42

greatest main event in the history of

37:44

WrestleMania. And the reason is, at

37:47

WrestleMania 40, not

37:49

only did that main event

37:51

celebrate all

37:54

of WWE, and the 40

37:56

years that built to this main

37:58

event. It also

38:00

celebrated the stories that brought

38:02

us there. It made it so

38:05

if you've been watching for a year, you

38:08

really get to see this

38:11

Rock Cody Rhodes thing pay off. If you've

38:13

been watching for four months, you really get

38:15

to see this final boss character pay off.

38:18

But if you've been watching for years and years and years,

38:21

everything that's happening has

38:23

significance. It's

38:25

bloodline rules, but the bloodline has done

38:28

nothing but make enemies along the way.

38:31

So we get the whole first half of the

38:34

match is just Roman

38:36

Reigns and Cody Rhodes trying

38:38

to take each other down. Then

38:41

you get the

38:45

interference begin. Jimmy Uso is

38:48

the first person to interfere in that match.

38:51

And boom, just as Jimmy Uso

38:53

stops Cody Rhodes from beating Roman

38:55

Reigns, Jey Uso's music plays. When

38:59

Jimmy sees Jey coming out, Jimmy runs

39:01

up to stop Jey. Jey knocks Jimmy

39:03

with a spear off the ramp. And

39:06

so both are taken out. Now we're back to

39:08

the match. And just as Cody Rhodes is about

39:10

to win again, here comes Solo Sakoa. Solo

39:14

Sakoa stops Cody Rhodes from winning the

39:16

match. And just as we think that

39:18

with Solo Sakoa's help, Roman

39:20

Reigns will once again be

39:22

insurmountable. John Cena's

39:25

music plays. And you realize

39:27

everything really does count. The

39:29

last time we saw John Cena, Solo

39:32

Sakoa beat him. Solo Sakoa gave

39:34

him 12 Samoan spikes.

39:38

Solo Sakoa one upped him. So

39:41

John Cena comes out, gets his

39:43

revenge, and takes out Solo Sakoa.

39:45

And that's when, boom, the

39:48

Rock's music hits. And

39:50

if you've been watching the WWE for as

39:52

long as I have, the

39:55

same way, when was the last time we saw

39:57

John Cena and Solo Sakoa in a ring? Jolo

40:00

beat John. Boom, John's going to

40:02

get his revenge. When was the last

40:04

time The Rock was

40:06

in a ring with John Cena? Well, that

40:08

was WrestleMania 29 in the Meadowlands

40:11

when John Cena beat The Rock. So

40:14

now, not only is The Rock coming out to

40:16

defend Roman Reigns, but The Rock is coming out

40:18

to beat up the guy who the last time they

40:20

were together, John Cena beat

40:23

him. So

40:25

here we go. Now The Rock and John Cena,

40:27

11 years

40:29

later, as two of

40:31

the biggest icons of all time, are

40:34

face to face. And

40:38

The Rock takes out John Cena. And

40:41

just as we think it's going to be

40:43

insurmountable again, here comes Seth

40:45

Rollins in his shield gear. And

40:48

we know the significance of that if we've been

40:50

watching for whatever it is, the

40:52

last decade, because we

40:55

know that the history between Seth Rollins and

40:57

Roman Reigns doesn't just date back through the

40:59

bloodline. It goes way back to

41:01

the shield, which will come back because as

41:03

Seth Rollins gets in the ring, Roman Reigns

41:06

takes out Seth Rollins and The Rock is

41:08

still standing until bong, the

41:10

lights go out. Everybody

41:12

knows what that bong means. The lights come back

41:14

on. Here's The Undertaker. And

41:17

The Undertaker is staring down The Rock. And on one

41:20

end, yes, you're looking at

41:22

two superstars from the attitude era. You're

41:25

looking at two superstars who knew each other

41:28

in 1998, who competed against each other

41:31

in that attitude era. Two superstars who I

41:33

believe at one point were in the corporate

41:35

ministry together, two superstars who opposed each other

41:37

at the same time. The Rock with

41:40

those sideburns rolling his eyes in the back of

41:42

his head, making fun of The Undertaker. You also

41:44

know that leading up to this WrestleMania, Seth Rollins

41:46

and Cody Rhodes talked about specifically

42:00

Seth Rollins talked about how important

42:02

it was to get the title

42:04

away from Roman Reigns. That

42:06

this locker room needs to have

42:08

the title away from Roman Reigns.

42:10

It needs to be defended. It

42:12

needs to be on television. It

42:14

needs to be in matches where

42:16

there is an interference every single

42:18

time somebody steps in the ring.

42:23

And if you've been watching for all the

42:25

years, as closely as we have,

42:28

who is the one wrestler more than

42:30

anyone who

42:32

has represented the locker room. When

42:35

we talk about the locker room leader, who is

42:37

that guy? It's the undertaker.

42:40

There to fight for the locker room. And

42:42

he chokeslams the rock and the lights come back on

42:44

and they're both out of the ring. And

42:47

that's when, of course, Roman

42:49

Reigns is ready to put Cody Rhodes out. Seth

42:53

Rollins presents his back to Roman

42:55

Reigns. Roman Reigns gets his revenge

42:57

against Seth Rollins. This was Gus

42:59

Fring making a mistake. The

43:02

one mistake he made on Breaking Bad is

43:06

when he went to Tio Salamanca's room

43:09

and allowed his emotions to get the better of him. And

43:13

Tio Salamanca hit that button until

43:15

they both blew up. Seth

43:17

Rollins knew that Roman Reigns

43:20

still harbored resentment for

43:23

Seth turning on Roman to break up

43:26

the shield all those years ago. Presented

43:29

his back to Roman Reigns. Roman

43:31

laid him out. Cody Rhodes

43:33

took advantage. Cody Rhodes is

43:36

your new champion. Payoffs

43:39

on payoffs on payoffs. And

43:44

we are overwhelmed with what

43:46

I think the rock started.

43:48

The rock started this wave

43:52

of, hey, remember

43:54

all those stories? They're all

43:56

still in play. Nothing's

44:00

over and

44:02

in one fell swoop, all

44:05

of us that have been

44:07

watching for decades, not

44:09

only feel fulfilled in the sense that

44:11

you're watching a story that makes sense

44:14

week by week, but

44:16

somehow through

44:18

the Rock, John

44:21

Cena, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes,

44:23

Seth Rollins, they're

44:25

able to give you this story that

44:29

is your entire life,

44:31

it's your entire childhood. You

44:35

were there in high school watching

44:38

the Rock and the Undertaker. You

44:41

know who these people are. You were

44:44

raised on it and

44:46

all these years later, you

44:49

didn't waste your time watching. It

44:51

all counted. It all mattered because it's

44:54

all being played out in

44:56

front of your face in

44:59

2024. And that all begins with the final boss's

45:08

reign of terror in

45:10

the WWE. You're

45:13

talking about a story

45:15

so cathartic, it

45:17

left grown men in tears.

45:21

It was everything. It

45:23

was poetry. It

45:25

was Shakespeare. It's one

45:27

thing to follow a

45:29

cinematic universe and see it pay

45:31

off after six, seven years of

45:34

build. But to

45:36

see the culmination

45:39

of what we think is four months,

45:41

then we realize is three years, then

45:43

we realize is decades, a

45:46

culmination, decades in

45:49

the making. And

45:51

it all plays out. And

45:53

what happens? There are

45:55

good guys and there are

45:57

bad guys. Nobody has to

45:59

turn. on anybody, no

46:02

hijinks. At the end of

46:04

the day, the good

46:06

guys win because they did what

46:08

was right and

46:10

the bad guys lost because

46:13

they overplayed their hand. There

46:18

was one more act for

46:20

the final boss and that happened the Monday

46:22

after WrestleMania when Cody Rhodes is in the

46:25

ring announced

46:27

as the new undisputed

46:29

WWE champion and

46:31

he is holding the title that

46:34

Roman Reigns held for 1316 days. A

46:38

title that it's

46:42

hard to define outside of

46:44

the terms of the bloodline and

46:46

Roman Reigns. Cody

46:48

has entered into a whole new world. The

46:53

final boss and

46:55

Roman Reigns built

46:58

that reign to such a

47:00

crescendo that

47:02

Cody Rhodes walks out of WrestleMania

47:06

with what has to be the

47:08

highest valued world title in

47:11

the history of WWE

47:14

and on Monday Night Raw as he stands in

47:16

that ring with

47:18

that championship the

47:21

rock comes out the final boss

47:23

comes out and

47:25

it's a weird energy. It's

47:27

not a nice energy. It's not a comforting

47:29

energy. It's not an energy that you want

47:31

to be around. When

47:34

he asks Cody if

47:37

he can hold the belt. Now

47:40

there are some sleuths out there that realize that

47:43

years and years ago 10 years ago when

47:46

the Rock had his last WWE championship 11

47:49

years ago Cody

47:52

asked to hold the rocks title and

47:54

that maybe this plays in that the

47:56

Rock remembers everything and he asks to

47:59

hold Cody's title. It's

48:02

just a very prison yard energy. When

48:05

he says, this looks good on me, doesn't

48:07

it? Just feels right. Doesn't

48:09

it? He

48:12

says, Cody,

48:16

offer you congratulations. You

48:19

beat my cousin Roman Reigns one,

48:21

two, three, and you earn that title. But

48:25

the night before I

48:27

beat you one, two,

48:29

three. He says,

48:31

Cody, this story with

48:34

you and Roman Reigns,

48:37

that's over. But

48:40

the story between me and you,

48:43

that story has just begun. The

48:47

Rock's got to go now, but

48:49

when the Rock comes back, he'll

48:52

be coming for you.

48:55

And then he has something that he pulls

48:57

out of his pocket and he goes,

48:59

I want to give you something. Put your hand out. I want to

49:01

give you something. You don't even

49:03

have to open your hand because you'll know what it is, but

49:06

I want you to take it. And he slips it into his

49:08

hand without us knowing.

49:12

And the Rock says, don't ever

49:14

break my heart again. We

49:17

don't know what it was, but

49:19

what we do know is that

49:22

the Rock is not done. No,

49:26

the story is not over, but

49:28

this chapter, this

49:30

chapter is the Rock tweeted out. The

49:33

final boss is a builder, a

49:36

long gamer, WrestleMania night

49:39

two may be in the record books,

49:42

but this is only chapter

49:44

one of final boss cinema

49:47

to be continued final

49:50

boss. The

49:53

final boss is

49:55

a very special character.

49:59

A bad guy being bad in

50:01

the funnest of ways, but

50:03

also somebody

50:06

who truly

50:09

takes advantage of

50:11

what storytelling in modern

50:14

sports entertainment can

50:16

be, of what

50:18

the long play can look

50:20

like, of what building can

50:23

actually do. As

50:26

much as The Rock has done in

50:30

WWE, we're

50:33

at the point where

50:35

he's doing things that we've never seen

50:38

before. And

50:40

in three months,

50:43

three, he

50:47

elevated a WrestleMania main event

50:51

to the point that one could argue

50:53

it's never been elevated. He

50:57

was able to do that and

50:59

still have the attention at

51:02

the end of the day, be wrapped

51:05

around Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes,

51:07

and Seth Rollins, three people

51:10

that are going to be

51:12

there going forward, three people that are

51:14

superstars of today. And

51:18

what's the most remarkable thing? And

51:20

I think the thing that

51:22

people might have expected the least

51:26

is that this is only chapter one of

51:30

the final boss. And

51:33

whether you're a fan of the original

51:35

Rocky Maivia, whether you're a fan of

51:38

the corporate champion, The Rock, the people's

51:40

champion, The Rock, Hollywood

51:43

Rock, the returning Rock

51:45

versus John Cena Rock, the Rock that

51:47

pops in just to smile and say

51:49

hello, Rock. The fact is that

51:51

in 2024, not

51:53

only do we have a new

51:56

Rock, we may

51:58

have the best. best,

52:01

most compelling, most

52:05

must-watch rock that

52:08

we have ever seen. When

52:11

you're talking about characters and

52:14

versions of the rock, that

52:17

says a lot. If

52:21

we're talking about it this

52:23

way, for Chapter 1, I

52:27

truly can't wait to see what

52:30

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