With WrestleMania 29 in the books and The Rock’s future in professional wrestling up in the air at the moment, I thought it would be a good time as ever to discuss if The Rock’s return to the WWE was a success or a failure.

I feel like the majority of wrestling fans believe that The Rock’s run with the WWE since WrestleMania 27 was a failure. I believe fans look at it as The Rock being paired with the wrong guy, John Cena, and use that as their focal point for how the run has been perceived since he returned to WWE television on February 14th, 2011. Now those fans that believe it was a failure have very valid points.

In my opinion Wrestlemania 27 was one of the worst WrestleMania’s of the last decade and that was due in large part to the The Miz/John Cena/The Rock storyline. The WWE Champion at the time, The Miz, was an after-thought to the main event match and the focus was more on John Cena’s interaction with the host of WrestleMania 27, The Rock. The feud between those two overshadowed the match itself and gave us one of the worst/anti-climatic WrestleMania finishes ever.

The night after WrestleMania 27 gave us our first official match for WrestleMania 28, The Rock vs. John Cena. It was an unprecedented move by the WWE to announce a WrestleMania match one year in advance and gave the creative team officially one year to build towards one of the biggest dream matches since The Rock battled Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 18. The WWE had struck “gold” by getting The Rock back in the ring to take on their top superstar.

Rock vs. Cena at WrestleMania 28 gave the “old” “attitude era” fans someone to represent them (The Rock), while the “new” and “younger” fans got someone to represent them (John Cena). Fans were pumped up when the match was announced and it already had fans planning a Miami vacation to attend the perceived historic event with the match fans have been dreaming to see for some time.

Once WrestleMania 28 season began and the WWE creative team began building towards the match, fans became very critical. The buildup wasn’t what fans expected, it’s quite possible they expected too much and they began looking for excuses as to why they believed it wasn’t being executed correctly (The Rock was restrained on his promos due to the “PG” rating, etc.). Still, despite all that, fans were eager to witness one of wrestling’s last “dream matches” at a WrestleMania event.

The match itself wasn’t anything special nor was it 5-star quality at the slightest. It was a decent match that had more memorable moments from the introductions and what happened immediately after The Rock won then what happened inside the ring. The majority of fans were disappointed as their expectations weren’t met in what they saw at WrestleMania 28.

Following WrestleMania 28, The Rock vowed to be crowned WWE Champion once again before riding off into the “movie sunset” until making an appearance at the “RAW 1000” episode. The Rock’s appearance catapulted then-WWE Champion CM Punk from “super” babyface to “super” heel and the seeds were planted as “The Great One” was announced to be the #1 contender for the WWE Championship at the 2013 Royal Rumble. It definitely appeared that in July 2012 the WWE would go forward with The Rock being WWE Champion yet again.

The Rock had a good series of matches with CM Punk at the Royal Rumble & Elimination Chamber, with many people, including myself, believing that the feud and matches with CM Punk surpassed anything he did with John Cena the last two years. The Rock was the WWE Champion once again as he headed into the company’s biggest show of the year while the #1 contender to his WWE Championship at WrestleMania 29 would be his old “once in a lifetime” friend, John Cena.

I was in support of The Rock/John Cena II at first but quickly letdown due to the lack of buildup to the match heading into WrestleMania 29. It was as if either superstar had very little interaction with one another and it didn’t help that The Rock did not appear for two straight weeks in the month of March, a crucial time for WrestleMania buildup. The buzz for the match at WrestleMania 29 was a far cry from what it was at WrestleMania 28 and it translated at the biggest show of the year just a month or so ago.

The match at WrestleMania 29 was by far a better match then the two had a year prior in Miami and while they had the crowd “in it” at times, I believe it wasn’t as compared to the electricity that it had in the Orange Bowl. John Cena finally got the victory over The Rock and that’s when all the real news started happening in-regards to The Rock’s most recent WWE run.

Nearly 18 hours after WrestleMania 29, the wrestling news world went crazy when it was learned that The Rock got injured in his match with John Cena and left New Jersey without WWE knowledge. It left the WWE creative team reportedly “scrambling” heading into one of their biggest RAW shows of the year and killing any interaction between The Rock & Brock Lesnar where they would’ve “planted the seeds” for a match at WrestleMania 30. The Rock later confirmed the latter of the two, while denying he did not leave New Jersey without the WWE’s knowledge.

During that same interview The Rock spoke about his questionable future in the world of professional wrestling and said there was a “possibility” he may have wrestled his last match at WrestleMania 29. Ending what could be his most recent run with the WWE.

So with that said, was The Rock’s most recent run a success or a failure? It was 100%…a success.

Now how could that be? I just blasted nearly everything The Rock had done with the WWE in the last two years. How would something like that translate into success?

First off, it’s not The Rock’s complete fault some of those storylines never panned out like the WWE may have thought. In my opinion The Rock actually saved WrestleMania 27 and The Miz/John Cena from being any worse then it truly was. It gave a “buzz” to the show that it didn’t have weeks leading into the event.

Second, The Rock vs. John Cena heading into WrestleMania 28 had all fans excited. It’s very rare nowadays that an entire majority of wrestling fans get excited for a match and don’t honestly know who will be the winner, Rock/Cena at WrestleMania 28 brought that. It also helps that there was a good “WrestleMania buzz” heading into the event as well.

Third, WrestleMania 29 was the highest grossest WrestleMania of All-Time. Now obviously that’s not all thanks to The Rock, but he certainly played a major role in it when his match main evented that card. Throughout the entire 2-year run for The Rock he helped the WWE make a lot of money and bring them some good “pop culture” notoriety.

In America we base success off of how much money you earn and have gained. The WWE earned AND gained a lot of money when The Rock was with the company the last two years. I honestly believe the figures they have had in the last two years deserve an amount of credit to The Rock. People aren’t spending money if they don’t care, so despite what the “internet” may tell us, fans were locked in.

The “pop culture” notoriety was also a big deal for the WWE as they were able to get “mainstream” attention. The Rock is a “machine” in Hollywood nowadays and people are clamoring to see him in a wrestling ring or on the silver screen. I’ll never forget how The Rock nearly “shut down” Twitter and various other social media outlets when he returned to the WWE in February 2011. All fans were genuinely pumped to have him back and to this day his return that night is one of my favorite YouTube wrestling videos to watch due to the amount of emotion/excitement that Anaheim crowd had that night.

You can’t deny that was not a “once in a lifetime moment” in professional wrestling history.

To me the facts state that The Rock’s 2-year run with the WWE was a successful one. Could it have been better? It most certainly could have but, the “would ya, could ya, should ya’s” are exactly that. Plus I believe it’s important for fans to appreciate everything The Rock has done the last two years because let’s be honest here, he didn’t have to come back in the first place.

His heart still had love for professional wrestling and he still had love for the wrestling fan(s). For that we should all be grateful for the last two years The Rock was with the WWE, should it be his last for whatever ever reason.

For more on this topic join us for the Thursday May 9th edition of “The Still Real to Us Show” and download the show at www.wheelhouseradio.com or www.wrestlechat.net.

You can listen to Jeff on “The Bower Show” every Monday – Friday from 3pm – 7pm ET on 97.9 ESPN in Hartford, CT. You can listen online at www.979espn.com

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WWE: WrestleMania 29 DVD

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One of the biggest questions leading into WWE WrestleMania 29 was whether The Undertaker would defend the streak. The Dead Man’s status will not be a question going into New Orleans as a report suggests that The Undertaker is ready to go and is already deliberating on an opponent for WrestleMania XXX.

This is great news, especially with all of the questions regarding the status of The Undertaker just weeks before WrestleMania 29. A new report on Wrestlezone.com indicates that the streak will be on the line and Undertaker is already talking possible opponents with Vince McMahon.

“Taker would like to work with either John Cena or Brock Lesnar,” a writing team member told WrestleZone exclusively. “Taker also has some ideas regarding The Shield. The whole scenario on Smackdown played out great, and Taker sees big money in those three.”

I never had a doubt that Taker would miss something as big as the 30th event but you always have to wonder when it comes to his health. Taker has taken some beatings the last few years and is noticeably slowing down in the ring. The story also reports that he will be undergoing surgeries on his right shoulder and left hip, although neither should prevent him from lacing up the boots.

Now that we know he is set to go, the big question now is who will get the chance at ending his streak. The story reports that Taker would like Brock Lesnar or John Cena to oppose him in New Orleans. Both are great choices and provide for high drama.

John Cena to me is the top choice here. I think the WWE badly missed the boat going into WrestleMania 29 on a Punk’s WWE title streak vs. Undertaker WM streak. That boat is docked and could sail again if the WWE can make the commitment to keep the WWE championship on Undertaker. The match would be huge and an appropriate main-event for something as monumental as a 30th anniversary event.

Brock Lesnar would probably be the ideal backup plan here if Cena is penciled in elsewhere. The realism here is what will make this one big. Most fans remember the confrontation between Brock and Taker at a UFC event and for those that don’t, there is plenty of time to tell that story. That real factor is something you won’t get between Undertaker and Cena. If The Rock really isn’t coming back and Brock is free, the match makes a lot of sense.

Speaking of The Rock, what about The Rock vs. Undertaker? It’s a curveball but why not? It doesn’t have the same luster as any of the other matches but it certainly has its appeal. The only problem here is that I don’t think there is anyone who would buy The Rock being the man to end the streak.

Finally what about one of The Shield members? Dean Ambrose is the immediate Shield member that comes to mind. They had an excellent match on SmackDown so you know it would be good. As far as an investment goes, you can’t get a better one here than using this match to elevate one of the younger stars of the future. I don’t know if anyone would truly buy Ambrose ending the streak but you have plenty of time to get him there if that’s the direction they want to go.

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Stone Cold Steve Austin is everywhere these days. He is producing podcasts on the Internet, taping Redneck Island for CMT television, appearing at the NRA convention, and starring in movies. Ironically the one place he isn’t is on WWE television and for the life of me I can’t understand why.

I started watching the Stone Cold Steve Austin: The Bottom Line on the Most Popular Superstar of All Time WWE documentary on Netflix over the weekend and I couldn’t stop. I had a blast reliving the old angles and memories produced by Stone Cold during the Attitude Era. The more I watched the more I started asking the question, “Why in the world is this guy not in the WWE?”

Look I get it and completely understand the fine line that the WWE has to walk with the old stars of the past and the current and future stars. I understand that you can’t go back in time and sacrifice your entire program to a guy that isn’t wrestling anymore. However, you can’t tell me that the WWE couldn’t find an on-camera role for their biggest drawing WWE superstar in history. How is it that this man is everywhere but the one place he should be?

I remember scrolling through Twitter the week of WrestleMania and seeing a few of Austin’s tweets. Austin was tweeting about his podcast and promoting his new venture. Maybe it was just me but it seemed very odd that you’d have one of the biggest WWE stars of all time online promoting his podcast the week of what was set to be the biggest Mania ever.

Speaking of the podcast, his podcast is fantastic! I don’t get the chance to listen to many podcasts with my schedule so it is rare that I have a chance to find a new one I like. But this was Stone Cold Steve Austin and I had to give it a chance. His podcast is fantastic! How the WWE could allow this podcast not to live on its site is astonishing for me. A company that prides itself on social media should be ashamed of itself for not signing up this superstar to broadcast on its website. Talk about lost traffic!

So what could Stone Cold do on television in 2013? Well we know he can’t wrestle so of course you have to be careful with how you use him. I can’t see why they couldn’t use him sparingly, once every four to eight weeks in either an authority position, guest commentate, or some kind of Tough Enough spinoff to get new talent over. The point is that there are plenty of things you can do with him so for God’s sakes, do something with him!

I can’t think of any other reason other than some kind of business dispute that the WWE and Austin are having as to why he isn’t on television. Austin is arguably their biggest drawing card in history and is doing nothing in pro wrestling right now. Austin still has a ton of appeal and could really help get some angles or young talent over if he is put in the right position. I can guarantee you this. The right position isn’t Austin sitting on his couch and watching Monday Night RAW from home.

If there is no rift and the simple answer is that the WWE has nothing for Austin, well shame on them. How can you not have something for a guy that is an instant ratings draw? If that is the case, it’s time to fire the entire WWE Creative Team and get someone in that has the guts to tell Vince McMahon that they need Austin!

We have already seen what kind of impact The Rock can have on ratings. Imagine what Austin could do, in addition to raising the bar and bringing back a little bit of that Attitude Era that’s missing on television today.

That truly is the bottom line because I said so.

Pro Wrestling Radio returns live tonight Tuesday May 7 at 7:30 PM/EST! You can listen live and join the chat on http://ProWrestlingRadio.com.

Stone Cold Steve Austin: The Bottom Line on the Most Popular Superstar of All Time

WWE: WrestleMania 29 DVD

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The Rock made some news last week in an interview with Peter Rosenberg of Hot 97 in New York City when he said that it was a “possibility” that his match against John Cena at WrestleMania 29 was his very last WWE match. To me I would be shocked if this is the last time The Rock wrestled for the WWE and in professional wrestling.

While I believe that thought has crossed his mind and that movie executives may suggest for him to do that since he was injured in his last match against John Cena, I would be shocked if he never wrestles again.

Lets be honest with ourselves, The Rock is a motion picture machine and in high demand right now in Hollywood. Movie executives are probably concerned that he would get back in the wrestling ring and put his movie career/schedule in jeopardy should he get injured again. The Rock needed to put word out there that he may have wrestled his last match so he didn’t lose any potential work coming up.

Movie executives will look at what happened to The Rock and instead of offering or giving him a role they may turn to a different direction and put the future of his movie career in question. The Rock can’t have that happen and while I don’t think it would happen since he is so popular right now, he needed to cover all his bases.

After 7 years away from the business where he tried to reinvent himself into a “serious” movie star, he returned to the company that gave him his first big break to “give back.” He gave back in a big way and there is no way you can deny that (stay tuned for next week). After everything I have seen in the last 2 years I believe that whether it is in the squared circle every WrestleMania or not, The Rock is back in professional wrestling to stay.

Plus we know how those “retirement” things go in professional wrestling; you never, say never, just ask “Stone Cold” Steve Austin who can’t stay in retirement some 10 years later.

If there is anything in question right now I would lean more towards his reported and confirmed (by The Rock himself) match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30. If The Rock getting hurt again in a wrestling match is or becomes a bigger deal then many of us even realize then he could very well hold off wrestling at the SuperDome next April. I would put those chances of that happening at 10% right now and would not be shocked if we get word The Rock is confirmed for a match at WrestleMania around the fall of this year just to be safe.

The Rock is a smart business man and he knows it wouldn’t have been a good look had he gone out there the night after WrestleMania where he was injured. What he did was preventative maintenance by getting checked out, avoiding the in-ring confrontation against Brock Lesnar and putting a return to the ring in-question.

Wrestling is in The Rock’s blood and it’ll be tough for him to go away. The Rock is NOT done with professional wrestling.

For more on this topic join us for the Thursday May 2nd edition of “The Still Real to Us Show” and download the show at www.wheelhouseradio.com or www.wrestlechat.net.

You can listen to Jeff on “The Bower Show” every Monday – Friday from 3pm – 7pm ET on 97.9 ESPN in Hartford, CT. You can listen online at www.979espn.com

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WWE.com is back at it again with a new list. This new list is certainly bound to raise debate among passionate fans from all eras as the website ranks the 50 greatest WWE championship matches in history.

This is a list a fan like me who has watched and followed pro wrestling for over 30 years can talk about. The thing I will say about this and all WWE.com lists is that they should be taken for what they are. In other words, the company is ranking its own matches so you have to expect these lists to be motivated by internal politics. As long as you keep that in mind, it is okay to have a little fun with these as opposed to getting angry over these fantasy lists.

How do you rank the 50 greatest WWE title matches ever? Did someone actually sit down and watch every title defense from television, pay per view, and old house shows? Of course not or at least I would find that highly doubtful.

Now if you wanted to put together a list by era or quantify a certain number of years, it would be much easier to put together a fairly accurate list. However when it comes to 1963-1984 you really are relying purely on folklore and legend at that point. The big championship bouts from that point forward are generally easy to find and all on video.

Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels tops the list, specifically their WrestleMania 12 Iron Man Match. Is it irony that Shawn Michaels tops most of these lists or is the fact that he is really the only top legend on good terms (although Bruno Sammartino is now on that list) with the company? I am sure it’s just irony right?

Look let’s be honest. That is a great match but I don’t know if I would put that in my personal top 10 or even top 20 WWE championship matches. It’s a very good match but I can think of at least 10 off the top of my head that blew it away. Again these lists are subjective so that said, this one isn’t anywhere near the top of my list.

It was also real interesting to see Bret Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid crack the top ten. It was a great match no doubt but is it the 8th greatest title match in WWE history? I can’t imagine that it is. The Undertaker vs. Jeff Hardy was another one that was fantastic but again not a match I’d rank in the top ten. That said I was a little surprised to see Triple H out of the top ten due to the political implications of the list.

The biggest disappointment is the complete lack of respect that Bob Backlund received on this list. Say what you will about Backlund but he held the belt for five years and had a handful of absolute classics during that time. Backlund vs. Ken Patera 1980 Texas Death Match, Backlund vs. Stan Hansen in a Steel Cage 1981, Backlund vs. Greg Valentine March 1979 and the 81 No DQ MSG, his series of matches with Magnificent Muraco in the fall of 1981, a handful of Backlund vs. Adrian Adonis matches, and of course the famous Steel Cage match with Jimmy Snuka. Now do I expect all of these to make the list? No, but I expected to see at least one if not two get proper recognition.

Anyway here is the list via WWE.com. Let the debate begin!

50. Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, Survivor Series 1997
49. The Miz vs. John Morrison, Monday Night Raw (Jan. 4, 2011)
48. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Dude Love, Over the Edge 1998
47. Superstar Billy Graham vs. Bob Backlund (Feb. 20, 1978)
46. John Cena vs. Batista, Over the Limit 2010
45. Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL, Great American Bash 2004
44. CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan, Over the Limit 2012
43. Bruno Sammartino vs. Ivan Koloff (Jan. 18, 1971)
42. John Cena vs. Triple H, WrestleMania 22
41. Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker, Royal Rumble 1998
40. Mankind vs. The Rock, Royal Rumble 1999
39. CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, Extreme Rules 2012
38. Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar, SmackDown (Sept. 16, 2003)
37. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Chris Jericho, Vengeance 2001
36. The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar, SummerSlam 2002
35. Superstar Billy Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes (Oct. 24, 1977)
34. John Cena vs. JBL, Judgement Day 2005
33. The Rock vs. Kurt Angle vs. Triple H, SummerSlam 2000

32. Brock Lesnar vs. Eddie Guerrero, No Way Out 2004
31. Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff, Saturday Night’s Main Event (Jan. 3, 1987)
30. The Rock vs. Triple H, Judgement Day 2000
29. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle, Unforgiven 2001
28. CM Punk vs. John Cena, SummerSlam 2011
27. Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase, WrestleMania 4
26. Randy Orton vs. John Cena, Bragging Rights 2009
25. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock, Backlash 1999
24. Triple H vs. Chris Jericho, Monday Night Raw (April 17, 2000)
23. Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar, WrestleMania 19
22. Bruno Sammartino vs. Killer Kowalski (April 29, 1974)
21. Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle vs. The Rock, Vengeance 2002
20. Rey Mysterio vs. John Cena, Monday Night Raw (July 25, 2011)
19. Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker, No Mercy 2002
18. Iron Sheik vs. Hulk Hogan (Jan. 23, 1984)
17. John Cena vs. Rob Van Dam, One Night Stand 2006
16. Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind, In Your House (Sept. 22, 1996)
15. Ric Flair vs. Macho Man Randy Savage, WrestleMania 8
14. Edge vs. John Cena, Unforgiven 2006
13. Triple H vs. Cactus Jack, Royal Rumble 2000
12. Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart, SummerSlam 1994
11. Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Hulk Hogan, WrestleMania 5
10. The Rock vs. Mankind, Monday Night Raw (Jan. 4, 1999)
9. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, WrestleMania 23
8. Undertaker vs. Jeff Hardy, Monday Night Raw (July 1, 2002)
7. Bret Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid, Monday Night Raw (July 11, 1994)
6. Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior, WrestleMania 6
5. Royal Rumble match in 1992
4. John Cena vs. CM Punk, Money in the Bank 2011
3. Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant, WrestleMania 3
2. The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, WrestleMania 17
1. Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, WrestleMania 12

The History of the WWE Championship DVD

WWE: WrestleMania 29 DVD

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The Rock just finished up a three-run return to WrestleMania with a loss to John Cena at Met Life Stadium. An injury kept The Rock away from Monday Night RAW and a new interview with Dwayne Johnson reveals that it may have been last match in a WWE ring.

Wrestling with Rosenberg interviewed The Rock and got what at this point has to be exclusive. The promotional interview conducted for Johnson’s movie quickly turned into a wrestling discussion. Rosenberg asked him point blank whether he was done wrestling and The Rock gave him quite the exclusive.

“Possibly, to be honest with you. The goal three years ago was I sat down with Vince McMahon and strategized about it, about three WrestleManias back to back. I committed myself to the company and I was very proud of that moment. It didn’t matter if I lost or I did the job, but it was an honor to do the honors. There is no better way to give back… then by doing the honors.”

It should also be noted that later in the interview The Rock says he wouldn’t rule out another match but the plan was to create the Miami event and then what he calls “the biggest show of all time” in the biggest market of all time.

The Rock also goes on to tell Rosenberg that he feels there was no better way to honor the wrestling profession than by giving back aka doing the job. The Rock also acknowledges criticism that he put over John Cena and tells Rosenberg that it isn’t for him to decide who gets that spot.

Rock and Rosenberg then talk a bit about the comparisons of Hulk Hogan putting over The Rock and The Rock putting over Cena. Rock tells him that Hogan was on the way out and they wanted to do things differently by putting Rock over as champ and then giving Cena the win. He also agrees with the host who tells him that Cena deserved the spot.

One thing is perfectly clear here. The plan all along was for a two-match WrestleMania series with Cena and The Rock. There were a lot of reports after WrestleMania 28 that indicated Rock vs. Brock Lesnar was next and pontificated about how the result was booked with Rock going over Cena. What this tells me is that there was very little substance to those reports and that the plan from day one was the plan we saw play out.

Rock does confirm that the plan for WrestleMania 30 was a match with Brock Lesnar. He says he loves Brock and the two have been friends for over a decade. He felt they could have a great athletic match. He says that they were supposed to shoot an angle on RAW which got scrapped due to his injury but the match is still possible.

Finally, Rock was asked about the report that he just walked out and left without telling anyone about his injury. “That’s so false”, says Johnson. What is funny to me is that it was Dave Meltzer who published that initial report yet it is Meltzer who has been mocking everyone since for running with it. Unless I missed it and I may have since I don’t read his boards, he has never come out and explained why he published the report and where it went wrong. Hey things happen and everyone misses one every once in a while, but he really did create a firestorm with that report and probably should at some point explain the background on it.

The other takeaway here is recent reports that Rock vs. Brock was actually scheduled for SummerSlam are either wrong or Johnson is working the interviewer. It would appear from everything else revealed that The Rock was brutally honest with the interviewer so I’ll chalk that up to another bad report on that one.

WWE: WrestleMania 29 DVD

WWE: The Best of in Your House

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Have we seen the last of The Rock wrestling in the WWE? That is the question everyone is asking after he suffered a terrible injury in his match with John Cena at WrestleMania 29? Unfortunately there is a very real possibility that we have seen him don the tights a final time.

The Rock’s injury set off a firestorm on Monday night, beginning with an early report that indicated that The Rock had walked out, never mentioning an injury. As the day progressed, reports started to filer out about The Rock being injured, finally confirmed by Dwayne Johnson via tweet. The Rock was going to miss RAW, Extreme Rules, and the future is unknown.

The injury came reportedly when The Rock took John Cena’s first Attitude Adjustment and just got worse as the match continued. The Rock suffered torn abdominal and abductor muscles and suffered a hernia during the bout. Dave Meltzer reports that the muscle was completely torn off the pelvis, and that it was a bad tear that may require surgery. According to Meltzer The Rock will opt for physical therapy and has declined surgery.

The bigger problem here is The Rock’s career in Hollywood. The Rock is set to start filming Hercules, which is expected to be a blockbuster film. Surgery would have delayed the project, costing the studio a lot of money. He also has promotional tours booked for two upcoming movies. This is where the roads cross between pro wrestling and making movies and the pressure will be heavy on Johnson to hang up the boots.

This isn’t Johnson’s first injury since returning to the ring. The Rock also claims he suffered a bad hamstring tear in last year’s WrestleMania 28 match with Cena. This is two major injuries suffered by a guy who has only wrestled five times since returning. In other words, he is more injury prone than ever and for a guy that has as much to lose as he does, it really isn’t worth it.

Why all of the sudden is a guy who was a road warrior back in his WWE prime so brittle? Is it the part-time work in the ring? Maybe it is but have you seen The Rock lately? The guy is absolutely huge! This may be a case of The Rock just being too big to wrestle and being more susceptible to tears and injuries than most wrestlers who condition their bodies differently.

Maybe it was the schedule? The Rock isn’t exactly choosing one or the other. He is flying all over the world every week juggling his movie and acting careers. This isn’t a case of a guy taking time off to do wrestling. I can’t imagine that kind of schedule is healthy for anyone.

I can’t imagine that there won’t be enormous pressure on Johnson to quit wrestling. This is an A-list movie star and studios are investing millions of dollars in him. I could envision a point where studios put it in their contracts that he can’t wrestle for so many days before a movie. In addition to studios, I have to imagine his team of advisors is telling him the same things. As much as I enjoyed seeing him back, I can understand that the risks aren’t worth the reward at this point.

He was penciled in to wrestle Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30. Has anyone seen Brock wrestle lately? Wrestling Brock demands a more physical match than he would have with anyone else on the roster. If he was injured two straight years against Cena, imagine the panic studios would have if their big investment was wrestling Brock Lesnar shortly before filming a movie?

If it is the end of The Rock I don’t know if it is a bad thing. Fans were starting to get a little tired of the act and while he was still arguably the most popular guy on the roster, I could see it going the other way after a few more matches. In the ring he was good but he wasn’t what he was, nor did I expect him to be. More than anything the guy went headlining two WrestleMania events (as opposed to being in a tag team match on the middle of the card) and contributed more to the business since returning than most ever did in such a short time span.

I’d love to see him back but the realist in me says it’s over.

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