WWE veteran opens up about future plans for The Rock; explains Final Boss character
The Rock returned to WWE earlier this year and has made it clear that he is back with the company for the foreseeable future. The Hollywood heavyweight reinvented himself once again by introducing his latest character - The Final Boss. A key associate of The Rock's has just revealed the scoops on his future and the new gimmick.
WWE signed The Great One to a major deal earlier this year, and he joined the TKO Board of Directors. The attitude behind Rock's new Final Boss character was cemented when he decided to take Cody Rhodes' WrestleMania XL spot, a decision that was seemingly reversed due to fan backlash. The gimmick seemed to be a perfect fit for The Bloodline as Rock joined up with his family members.
The Rock's rivalry with Rhodes is apparently not over. Former RAW head writer Brian Gewirtz is one of the few people behind the creative for Rock's comeback and his new character, as he has also done for Rock's wrestling appearances in recent years. The longtime associate of The People's Champion left WWE in 2015 to join Rock's Seven Bucks Productions, where he is the Senior Vice President of Development. Speaking on The Masked Man Show, Gewirtz indicated that fans will see a lot more of the 28-year veteran.
"There is definitely a difference between the usual, 'I’m going to go make a movie and maybe I’ll return,’ to this lingering presence of Dwayne Johnson on the TKO Board of Directors and The Rock essentially now existing in the space that is WWE, who can drop a Final Boss promo on Instagram anytime he wants in relation to a storyline, or tweet something. I don’t think it’s going to be a regular occurrence, but I do think it’s going to happen and it’s great because he’s in it, and by extension, I’m in it too," Brian Gewirtz said. [H/T - Fightful]
Gewirtz continued and revealed how Rock's camp was happy with his most recent run, and how things turned out better than the original plan of babyface Rock vs. heel Reigns. He also declared that nothing is out of bounds creatively for The Final Boss.
"We’re all so happy how this run turned out because it’s a hell of a lot more interesting and fun and unpredictable than if had we just gone with Rock vs. Roman, babyface vs. heel. I’m sure that would have been good, too. We had some fun ideas for that, but this new direction, nothing is out of bounds in terms of, 'Why don’t we suggest this?’ ... ‘Yeah, let’s try it and do it,'" Brian Gewirtz said.
Gewirtz and others writing the Rock vs. Rhodes storyline had a major pop culture influence, which was just revealed this week.
Triple H speaks on The Rock's WWE future
The Rock is expected to be involved with WWE more often moving forward. A massive WrestleMania 41 match is among the rumored plans.
Triple H and Nick Khan were instrumental in The Great One's comeback, and will continue to work alongside Rock on various areas of the company. The WWE Chief Content Officer and President spoke at Sports Business Journal's World Congress of Sports after WrestleMania XL, and Triple H was asked about the impact Rock had on WWE.
"I can only imagine what’s next for The Rock, he’s got his hands in just about everything. We were thrilled to have Rock be involved, when you can have the biggest star on the globe, arguably, want to be a part of what we do, and in a meaningful way, and want to do it in a way where he’s not just like, 'Hey, yeah, I’ll come in, tell me what to do, I’ll go do this,’ but all of his resources, all of his brain power, all of his creative, all of those things, his branding, everything, ‘I want to invest in this, I want to make it an amazing ride for our fans’ - it doesn’t get any better than that," Triple H said.
The Game went on about Rock changing his return plans, and made a big prediction about the next time we see the actor-wrestler.