On the September 15 edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Dwayne Johnson returned to WWE after four long years. The WWE Universe was beyond excited to see him. They saw ‘The Great One’ share a promo with Pat McAfee and Austin Theory.
Speaking of his promo segment, it looks like WWE wasn’t prepared enough for his comeback on SmackDown. This is why Johnson openly exposed Vince McMahon‘s promotion for their lack of preparedness for his return segment.
Dwayne Johnson does what Dwayne Johnson wants
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The kickoff segment of the blue brand show on Friday saw ‘The Brahma Bull’ and Theory insult each other, while McAfee stood at the corner of the ring. Johnson and Theory were continuously insulting each other and didn’t even stop to take a break.
At a point, McAfee had to remind them that the show runs for only two hours. He hinted to them they should wrap up the segment. Johnson replied, “The Rock knows the show is for two hours, but right now, The Rock and the people, we’re having fun baby.” He then continued his conversation with Theory.
By saying this, Johnson openly exposed WWE for not being prepared enough for his return segment. ‘The People’s Champion’ returned to WWE after four long years. So WWE should have planned adequate screen time for his return segment. But who is to blame for this?
Triple H gets blamed for The Rock’s lengthy segment on SmackDown
According to the latest news from Ringside, Creative Head Triple H among others like Executive Director of Raw and SmackDown Bruce Prichard, WWE writers Ed Koskey and Ryan Callahan are held responsible for not properly timing Johnson’s segment on SmackDown.
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The Rock’s time ran long on #SmackDown, and they had to make a few changes to the rest of the show.
We were told that the blame for that is on Triple H, Bruce Prichard, Ed Koskey and Ryan Callahan for not figuring that out in advance.”
— Steve Carrier (@steve_carrier) September 16, 2023
Whenever Johnson makes an appearance inside the square circle, he makes sure to take his time building a connection with the audience. Therefore, it is being pointed out that HHH and other members of the creative team should have prepared in advance for the SmackDown show this week.
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Due to DJ’s segment running long, the Stamford-based promotion had to cut out and edit many segments from that day. However, it didn’t bother the WWE Universe at all. All that mattered to them was ‘The Rock’ returning to WWE. It looks like they don’t mind WWE editing some segments because of Johnson’s lengthy promo.
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