Who trained The Rock for the Royal Rumble?

If you watched the Royal Rumble pay-per-view this past Sunday, you saw The Rock make his long-awaited return to the ring after a near year-long absence, last competing against John Cena at Wrestlemania 28 and emerging victorious. This past Sunday night, Rock was once again victorious, defeating WWE Champion CM Punk to earn his eighth reign with the company’s top championship belt. The match was considered very good by most who saw it, with many saying that Rock looked very fresh with little ring rust.

While Rock has always been in excellent shape and has great endurance, ring rust happens to pretty much every wrestler who takes an extended leave. It’s just something that comes with the job, and it’s up to those talents to knock off the rust, and they usually have some help from some of the more active competitors in doing so.

So, who was it that helped out “the most electrifying man in all of entertainment”? As it turns out, it was none other than third generation star Joe Hennig, more commonly known to WWE and NXT fans as “Michael McGillicutty”.

At this time, it is unknown why Hennig was the one chosen to work with Rock, but it has apparently paid off. In addition to Rock putting in a great performance, because of Hennig’s assistance, Rock is now doing what he can to help reestablish Hennig on the main roster. The son of WWE Hall of Famer Curt “Mr. Perfect” Hennig has not been seen on WWE television since August 2011, where he and David Otunga lost the WWE Tag Team Championships to Air Boom (Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston). Since then, he has been shown on WWE’s online show, Superstars, but has otherwise been relegated back to NXT, WWE’s developmental system. It is unknown at this time why Hennig has been shunted so far down the card, but that may change soon.

The Rock was reportedly very happy with Hennig’s work in getting him ready for the Rumble, and is now fully backing Hennig in an attempt to get him reestablished on the roster. In addition to Rock, Hennig also has the backing of Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who is a big fan of Hennig’s work.

Many in WWE, including Rock and Triple H, have been pushing for Hennig to wrestle using his real name, but Vince McMahon is generally against wrestlers using their real names as real names are much harder to trademark.

It will be interesting to see if Hennig does experience something of a career rebirth as a result of this story. Keep your eyes peeled.