WWE Rumors on The Rock's WrestleMania Absence, Becky Lynch, Bayley and Joe Hendry
Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.
The Rock Reportedly Never 'Committed' to WrestleMania Appearance
It's probably not a good sign that one of the biggest stories coming out of WrestleMania 41 centers around a performer who wasn't at the show.
The Rock was conspicuous by his absence in Sunday night's main event. The Final Boss was the person who set John Cena's heel turn into motion, yet he wasn't there as Cena beat Cody Rhodes for his record-setting 17th world title reign.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio after the show ended, Dave Meltzer reported this wasn't necessarily a surprise.
"I was talking to people there and it was always, 'He's not committed to the show,'" Meltzer said of his conversations with WWE personnel. "Now, on the day of the show does that mean he won't be there? It's up to him. But it was always he's not going to be on the show."
The frustrating thing in retrospect is that The Rock wasn't even a necessary piece in Cena's heel turn at Elimination Chamber. There are numerous ways his pivot to the dark side could've made narrative sense without involving The Final Boss.
While WWE never advertised The Rock as part of WrestleMania, his presence has loomed over the entire storyline. Having him duck out immediately after Elimination Chamber feels like a bit of a bait-and-switch.
Becky Lynch Shuts Down Part-Time Talk after Replacing Bayley
Becky Lynch competed in her first WWE match in nearly a year when she was Lyra Valkyria's surprise tag team partner and helped dethrone Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for the belts.
Bryan Alvarez reported on Wrestling Observer Radio (via Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats) having Lynch take Bayley's place "was not a last-minute thing." That echoes earlier reporting on how the backstage attack on Bayley to justify her sudden removal was the original plan all along.
PW Insider Elite (via Ortman) reported some of Bayley's peers in the locker room felt sorry for her to be written out of WrestleMania 41 when she was healthy enough to compete.
It looks like this at least wasn't in service of creating a big WrestleMania moment before Lynch quickly slips out of the spotlight again.
"Yeah, The Man don't do part-time," she said in per press conference after the show. "When I go, I go hard. I go hard until I can't go no more, or until I take another break."
Maybe there's even a singles feud between Lynch and Bayley to come. Revealing that The Man was the perpetrator behind the the attack on Bayley is a straightforward setup to turn her heel.
Hendry's WrestleMania Debut Reportedly a Surprise to TNA Personnel
TNA world champion Joe Hendry got his first WrestleMania showcase at Allegiant Stadium, answering Randy Orton's challenge on Sunday night.
Fightful Select (via Ringside News' Felix Upton) reported that "a lot of people in TNA say they found out about the match yesterday."
While he came up short, Hendry seemed to receive a show of respect from Orton. The Viper helped his defeated foe off the the canvas and raised his arm before delivering an RKO.
Kevin Owens was originally slated to go up against Orton, but he announced on April 4 he needed surgery for a neck injury and will be out indefinitely.
That presented quite the opportunity for Hendry.
The 36-year-old has now shown up on two of WWE's biggest annual shows following his Royal Rumble appearance. That will only fuel more speculation about his future as time ticks down on his contract with TNA.
Blame The Rock for John Cena's Trainwreck WWE WrestleMania 41 Win vs. Cody Rhodes
WWE got the result right in the main event of WrestleMania 41 by having a heel John Cena beat Cody Rhodes for the promotion's top title.
Unfortunately, everything else around the match was historically bad.
And frankly? Point the finger right at The Rock.
The fact that the match between Cena and Rhodes was so-so wasn't all that shocking, considering the part-time status of one of the combatants. But all could have been forgiven if it didn't devolve into a trainwreck that put Travis Scott of all people in a deciding role.
Once Scott’s music hit and it was apparent it wasn't going to blend into The Rock's music, signaling the musician would be going out on his lonesome, one could feel the air being sucked out of Allegiant Stadium.
Scott was blatantly a stand-in for Rock, from interfering with the referee to getting physical with Rhodes to straight-up swinging the result of the match.
It absolutely boggles the mind that The Final Boss couldn't be bothered to show up for a 10-minute spot or less and take one bump, just one year removed from outright competing at 'Mania in a main event.
Point blank, if Rock was a last-minute audible and couldn't attend, rather than Scott, WWE could have thrown out Solo Sikoa or somebody in the Bloodline's orbit to produce a much more satisfying scenario.
It could have at least boosted the heel status of whoever played Scott's role. Fans know Triple H is better than this, too.
Instead? It feels like WWE tried to get way too meta after whispers about Scott injuring Rhodes' eye the last time they encountered each other. It feels like WWE wanted to lean into that and its budding bro-sphere of celebrity influence now that it's on Netflix streaming.
Consider the story now. As it stands, Cena sold his soul to The Rock so he could…get a rapper's help in the main event of WrestleMania? There's something worth exploring in a fading legend knowing he can't keep up with the top guys anymore. But one would think Cena would seek out, say, help from professional wrestlers who wouldn't mind aligning with him, not an entertainer.
Which is a shame, because Cena's historic win, after decades of fan requests for his heel turn, deserved better. It's a shame because Rhodes ended up looking like an absolute dork for the umpteenth time, refusing to use a weapon handed to him by the opposition, not long after viewers saw him going wild with weapons in fights with Kevin Owens and others.
And it's made all the stinkier by the frankly horrific build to this 'Mania across the board. Worst of all was a year-plus rumbling from segments of the fanbase that The Rock had some masterplan in place. Remember him showing up to a mid-level PLE Bad Blood and patting his goosebumps and holding up a few fingers?
Just call it down the middle, too—one doesn't need to zoom in to see Rock's fingerprints all over the place. Not all that long ago, he was showing up to take Rhodes' Royal Rumble win and main-event 'Mania, only to backtrack, force an awkward tag match at The Show of Shows and then claim it was all part of the plan and/or a response to fan feedback.
Wrestling fans remember. There's no covering for the silliness now in this blurred-lines era. The headlines of Scott's involvement will fade and so will the once-a-year viewers. What WWE will be left with is a fanbase rolling its eyes if it tries to play this off as just one piece of a bigger plan.
If this was all part of the "plan" to make fans dislike Cena and outright hate the board member Dwayne Johnson, it straight-up tanked a main event of WrestleMania in the process.
So, maybe this was intended from the start. But it's such a downgrade from the line-blurring, meta and quality long-form storytelling of the Bloodline saga with Roman Reigns for years that it almost feels like some lesser promoter is putting this story out right now.
If there's any saving grace, it's that Cena's run from here should be fun. There will be encounters with the likes of Randy Orton and CM Punk before he drops the title at a SummerSlam, or perhaps even next year's WrestleMania to atone for this one.
However, the fact that we should get together and collectively agree to pretend the whole Rock and Scott involvement thing never happened is a pretty bad sign. Sunday night was a historic dud and a continuation of misguided booking, with one culprit in the decision-making process creating chaos once more.
Rejoice, though, wrestling fans. If this is how WWE wants to blend its top scene with Netflix-celebrity stuff and involve (or not) The Rock from here, the likes of Seth Rollins, Reigns and Paul Heyman are elsewhere putting on weekend-stealing and all-time matches and stories.