The Rock is fully involved in Road to WrestleMania as part of The Bloodline as he goes up against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. In fact, he has appeared on the last three episodes of SmackDown to continue preparing for the tag team match in which he will participate at WrestleMania 40.
In the latest edition of Monday Night RAW, WWE announced that The Rock will be on the episode of the red brand on Monday, April 1 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Or in other words, the last RAW show before WrestleMania 40. But how is the Rock managing to be so active? Well, it may have something to do with the advice he learned from legendary musician, Lionel Richie.
The Rock’s mantra to staying ‘Booked’
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
In a recent podcast appearance, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson talked about how he once met Lionel Richie while at the airport. And it was during this meeting that he discussed a life mantra that he follows to date. So when he met the legendary musician, he revealed that he had recently watched a documentary on Richie and he repeated the ending to him, where George Burns gives a life-changing advice. Narrating the whole instance, the Rock said, “I had just saw a documentary on him. And the end of the documentary, I repeated it back to him. He got some advice from George Burns. And it so moved me. He (Richie )said George, something to the affect of, George what’s the best advice you could give me, I need to get something from you because you know you’re the OG. George looked at him and he said, “Stay booked kid. Stay booked.”
Johnson further added, “I love that right, simple as that. Because I feel like even though you know you may not be running and gunning 300 dates a year. I’m not wrestling 250 dates a year, but we’re still looking to stay booked and doing that thing that what you and everything we possibly can’t. That’s right who we’re doing.”
Well, he surely is staying booked. As he is about to make his first appearance on RAW since WWE’s first show in 2024. The Rock will warm up in the lead-up to his match at WrestleMania when he teams up with his cousin Roman Reigns to face Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins with “the future of the industry at stake.” But he might have to get his script approved first.
FOX is censoring the Rock
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
In recent weeks, The Rock has been very present in WWE’s programming. Offering some very interesting promos. However, as many fans will have noticed by now, many of their lines are censored and include a beep to prevent them from being played on national television. This decision, far from what many think, is not directly related to WWE.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, The Rock has complete freedom to speak in front of fans. However, before the shows, WWE sends The Rock’s script to FOX. And then they are the ones who decide what to censor and what not to censor.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Most networks decide to censor the vast majority of insults that are broadcast on television. And this has been evident with The Rock. However, it is possible that this will change next year when the deal with Netflix begins. As the platform is much more flexible in these matters, so there will likely be no censorship of any kind.
