The Rock and Vince McMahon appeared before tonight’s RAW in Los Angeles before the USA Network broadcast began.
Rock came out to a big pop and told the crowd that they would be filming footage for the “Fighting With My Family” movie based on Paige’s family from WWE Studios and Rock’s Seven Bucks Productions. He confirmed that they will be filming a scene based on Paige defeating AJ Lee for the Divas Championship.
Rock also took a shot at John Cena, first announcing that Cena was in the movie but then saying he was just kidding because they want it to be a good movie. Rock joked that he would be hearing from Cena via text message for the joke.
Rock went to wrap up his segment before Vince McMahon joined him for a quick appearance as they were getting close to the 8PM RAW start time.
The Rock was up early this morning at the Staples Centre in L.A, which also happens to be the venue of tonight’s RAW. The People’s champ posted a photo of himself and Florence Pugh (who plays the role of Paige in Rock’s upcoming movie on her family) earlier this morning.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQug9G4llE-/
Fighting With My Family
The film, “Fighting With My Family” stars the Rock and is being co-produced by WWE Studios. It centres on the family of Saraya Knight (real name Julia Hamer-Bevis) and her family. Saraya is the mother of the currently injured WWE superstar Paige.
WWE Studios co-producing the movie may allow the Rock to play a bigger role at this year’s Wrestlemania. In recent years, The Rock has made unannounced appearances, including an unannounced match against Eric Rowen last year. In the two years prior, Rock appeared with other WWE legends for an in-ring promo segment and also with Ronda Rousey for a segment with Stephanie McMahon. From WrestleManias 27-29, Rock’s feud with John Cena took centre stage at the event.
While the Rock is in L.A at the same time as RAW, there is no guarantee he appears on the show. As of yet, WWE have not advertised him as appearing.
– The current plan for the RAW Women’s Championship at Mania is for Charlotte to defend against Sasha, Bayley and Nia Jax in a Fatal 4 Way. The word going around is that Sasha Banks will be going heel in the lead-up to the match
– A new “Legends with JBL” with WWE Hall of Famer Stan Hansen as his guest is now live on the WWE Network.
– The Rock was featured in two separate Superbowl 51 commercials this year. Trailers for movies Fast & Furious and Baywatch both aired during the show, and can be seen below:
– Former WWE personality Ricardo Rodriguez had a very close call on Tuesday. Rodriguez says somebody shot at his vehicle while he was driving and posted this photo of the shattered back windshield:
To the asshole that literally shot at us and took out my back window while driving…. FUCK YOU. pic.twitter.com/aMjmt8ycKQ
The Rock announced today that his Seven Bucks production company is partnering with WWE Studios to release a movie based on WWE Superstar Paige and her legendary Knight wrestling family. The movie will be based on Film4’s “The Wrestlers: Fighting With My Family” documentary, which you can view above.
“Fighting With My Family” is scheduled to begin filming later this month in Los Angeles and London, according to a report from Deadline. They confirmed that The Rock will have a role in the movie but no word yet on who he might be playing, if not himself in a cameo role. Paige will be played by actress Florence Pugh and her brother Zak will be played by actor Jack Lowden.
Seven Bucks’ Rock, Dany Garcia & Hiram Garcia are serving as executive producers while WWE Studios President Michael Luisi and Kevin Misher of Misher Films will produce. WWE Studios and Film4 are co-financing the movie.
Corey Graves praised the WWE behind the scenes crew for their hard work during a very busy week. There was NXT Takeover, Royal Rumble, Raw and Smackdown four days in a row. Graves took to Twitter to acknowledge their efforts.
Just wanna send a shout out to our amazing @WWE crew BEHIND the cameras, who worked harder than anybody this week! #respect#homestretch
Wrestling LAD has been uploading a series of videos of people reacting to Roman Reigns coming out at number 30 at the Royal Rumble. Below are three more videos of people flipping out.
Shazam!, the upcoming film from New Line and DC Comics, has now split into two separate films. Back in 2014 we reported that Dwanye “The Rock” Johnson would be playing Black Adam in the film, and now The Rock will also be starring in a film about his character, titled Black Adam. Shazam! is the story of a teenager who can transform himself into a superhero by saying “shazam.”
Black Adam is Shazam’s arch-nemesis, and during the pre-production phase of Shazam! the studio reportedly decided he should have his own film. Shazam! is scheduled to hit theaters in 2019, and there’s no word on a timetable, writer, or director for Black Adam yet.
The Rock wrote on Twitter this month that he’s going to help “usher in a new era” of DC Comics films.
DC fans will start to see this shift in tone in future movies. Exciting time and I'm fired up to help usher in a new DC era. #BlackAdam?? https://t.co/oUC3L0tY7H
Tom Brady posted a painfully awkward video on Facebook calling out The Rock and asking what kind of sleep wear he puts on when he goes to bed. This is an obvious Under Armour advertisement but still, Brady is just not good at stuff like this. The Rock responded and completely roasted Tom Brady’s acting skills. The Rock also poked fun at how Brady was sitting. The video that Tom Brady posted on Facebook is also shown in it’s entirety in The Rock’s response. Check out video below.
Now, this wasn’t even the worst thing that Tom Brady has done when it comes to acting. Who could forget that terrible mattress commercial?
– Heath Slater and Rhyno defeated The Usos in the dark match before this week’s WWE SmackDown. The dark main event of the show saw WWE Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose retain over The Miz.
– Here’s the promo for Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman’s return to RAW next Monday in New Orleans to discuss Goldberg and the Royal Rumble match:
Jim Ross says when he first signed The Rock he knew he could be a very special pro wrestler, but had no idea he was going to be the “biggest movie star in the world.” In a recent interview with The Sun (UK), the former WWE announcer and Head of Talent Relations recalled The Rock’s legendary feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. J.R. cited some of his career highlights as calling Steamboat vs. Flair and Undertaker vs. Michaels matches, but says the Rock vs. Austin feud stands out.
“There were a lot of great [feuds], but If I had to pick out a series or a rivalry I’d pick out The Rock and Austin because of what they meant to WWE at the time, and the business in general and where their lives have taken them since,” Ross said. “They established that great fanbase in WWE, and certainly in Rock’s case, he’s been able to parlay that into an amazing career.”
“I’ve been so blessed to call great matches in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but the matches that were the most significant were the three main events that Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock had at WrestleMania – 15, 17 and 19,” Ross concluded. “Although those three matches were excellent, what they meant to the business and what they meant to the talents were really special.”
J.R. took part in the interview to promote this weekend’s World Of Sport show on ITV in the UK. You can read the entire piece here.
John Cena appeared on last night’s edition of Talking Smack and backtracked on comments he made about The Rock a few years ago. During their exchanges to promote their back-to-back WrestleMania matches, Cena often knocked The Rock for being a “part-timer.” Now that Cena is branching out into non-WWE projects, he’s changing his tune.
After JBL brought up the “part-timer” comments and asked if Cena sees himself in a similar role, Cena called those comments some of the “stupidest stuff” he’s ever said and blamed it on looking at Rock’s situation through “very blinded eyes.” Cena explains how he really wanted The Rock to come back to WWE and figured hitting him where it hurts would work. Cena admits Rock was right and he was wrong, adding that he’s apologized to The Rock in person.
Cena went on to praise Rock for being the highest paid actor in Hollywood and for transcending WWE. Cena sees it as a plus for the whole company when guys can give as much as Rock did to WWE but then actually transcend WWE.
– WWE announced 13,145 fans in attendance for last night’s SmackDown from the Allstate Arena in Chicago. They previously announced 12,708 fans in attendance in the same building for Monday’s RAW.
– Heath Slater may have suffered an injury in last night’s SmackDown 4 Corners Elimination Match as he tweeted the following after the match:
I guess I'll be seeing the DR tomorrow…. Ahhhhhhhh
USA Today named Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson their 2016 Movie Person of the Year. The Rock has become the highest paid actor in Hollywood. He certainly has come a long way since Doom. The Rock responded to being selected by USA Today on Twitter.
Dolph Ziggler has a new advertisement with Cricket Wireless. In the ad, Ziggler takes a bunch of selfies and explains how Cricket Wireless helps him keep in touch with his family and friends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDyg9bPfR3Y
Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella have a baby on the way and took some time to discuss what to name their baby girl. They have gotten the list down to five names and you can watch them discuss it in the video below.
A fan on Twitter suggested a Rock vs Batista match at Wrestlemania 33. The fan suggested that Vin Diesel be the special referee. There were reports of The Rock and Vin Diesel arguing on set during the filming of Fast 8. Batista had a funny response to the fan’s suggestion.
The Wrestling Observer is reporting that Sasha Banks is going to work an injury angle for a bit and then return to feud with Nia Jax. This is good news given the fact that Sasha Banks has pretty much exclusively fought Charlotte since the brand split. Nia Jax has often not even been featured on Raw. Nia Jax has the potential to be dominant in the Women’s division and Sasha Banks is a terrific choice to have a feud with her. Most of the WWE Universe likes Sasha Banks and Nia Jax could generate some real hatred if she continues to attack Banks while she is injured. We saw a glimpse of what Nia Jax is capable last week on Raw when she had a confrontation with Sasha Banks.
– Tickets to the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame in Orlando will go on sale Friday, 1/13. A Ticketmaster pre-sale will begin earlier that week but there’s no word yet on passcodes.
– Creativity Magazine has announced The Rock for one of their 50 Most Creative People of 2016. They linked to their write-up on Rock’s 2016 and called it his year:
– ESPN 30 For 30 has released the first look at their special on WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, seen below. The documentary is set to air in early 2017 some time.
– Monday’s RAW from Columbus ranked #2 for the night in Nielsen’s social media TV ratings, behind Oprah’s Michelle Obama special on CBS. RAW had 92,000 Twitter interactions with 18,000 unique authors and 194,000 Facebook interactions with 136,000 unique authors.
– Speaking of last night’s RAW, below are the top 10 moments from WWE:
– The Rock has announced that his clothing collection with Under Armour was the company’s #1 selling collection of 2016. He wrote the following:
On Thursday morning Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson dropped the first trailer for the new Baywatch movie, which hits theaters May 26, 2017.
Directed by Seth Gordon, BAYWATCH follows devoted lifeguard Mitch Buchannon (Johnson) as he butts heads with a brash new recruit (Zacc Efron). Together, they uncover a local criminal plot that threatens the future of the Bay.
– Charly Caruso just announced on Twitter that she and Booker T are the new RAW Pre-show hosts on the WWE Network. No word yet on who will be hosting the SmackDown Pre-show. The previous hosts for RAW and SmackDown were Booker, Lita, Jerry Lawler and Scott Stanford. It was also announced that the pre-show will air at 7:50 instead of 7:30
The brand-new #Raw preshow starts tonight…your hosts: me and @BookerT5x! Starts at 7:50 ET–find it same places as old pre show! ??
– Triple H announced today that the first NXT road trip house shows of 2017 will take place in Indianapolis, Louisville and Nashville. Details are below:
– The Rock and Under Armour have released their new “Humble Hungry” line of gear in time for the holidays. The Rock tweeted the following on the new collection:
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has finally made the cover of Sports Illustrated. He made the announcement on Instagram, which you can read in its entirety below.
“Failure can be a cool & powerful thing.. When I was 15yrs old and started playing football, I had a dream that one day I’d play in the NFL and be on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Keep in mind, at 15, I also considered becoming a pro-boxer ’cause I thought I could be beat Mike Tyson who at that time, became the youngest ever Heavyweight Champ, so clearly my goals were extremely ambitious if not crack pipe level impossible.
I failed to make it to the NFL (as well as got cut from the Canadian Football League). But my football failure created a drive that still pushes me today.”
Head over to SportsIlusstrated.com to read their cover story on The Rock and “How football helped transform Dwayne Johnson into Hollywood’s biggest star.”
– The Rock tweeted that they have a “little surprise” planned for when filming on season 3 of HBO’s “Ballers” begins in 5 weeks.
– NXT Superstar Elias Samson recently spoke with the WWE website about his return from injury and gave these cryptic comments about getting payback “I ain’t happy about what I’ve done,” Samson said. “What I’ve done don’t make me happy. I ain’t happy about where I’m going. And where I’m going don’t make me happy.”
When asked for clarification regarding what that means, he teased, “The world ain’t ready to know all the details of my life. Distance is a virtue. Just understand one thing: I intend to p*** off every last person that ever wished ill upon me. My injury was everything they ever wanted, but now I’m back. The Drifter walks again.”
– In the video below, Lince Dorado cuts a promo for tonight’s WWE 205 Live premiere and says fans expect him to be just another luchadore but they will see that he’s different, unique and hybrid. Dorado says we will see things from him on 205 Live that we’ve never seen before and he has just one thing he’s focused on – winning the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
– Tonight’s NXT episode on the WWE Network will feature No Way Jose calling out Eric Young, Rich Swann vs. Kona Reeves, six-person action with Ember Moon, Liv Morgan & Aliyah vs. Peyton Royce, Billie Kay & Daria, plus highlights from TakeOver: Toronto.
In the video below, Kay and Royce recruit Daria for tonight’s match:
– Speaking of Aliyah, she’s celebrating her 22nd birthday today while former WCW and WWE star Juventud Guerrera turns 42.
– Former WWE Champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson just had to do the Mannequin Challenge, as seen int he video below. Rock recently participated in the viral social media challenge as a way to celebrate being named People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for 2016.
Since returning to WWE in 2011, The Rock has appeared at each Wrestlemania over the past five years. He hasn’t wrestled a real match on the grandest stage of them all since Wrestlemania 29 in 2013, but he’s had three huge promos and interacted with many different personalities and added something to the show.
Next year, Wrestlemania 33 hails from Orlando, not far from Rock’s hometown of Miami. The latest ads for WrestleMania 33 feature both The Rockand there are reports going around he’ll be making more than just a cameo appearance at the event.
Wrestlemania 33 could present an interesting situation for The Rock in Orlando. It could be the perfect place for The People’s Champion to enter wrestling immortality and become a WWE Hall of Famer in during Wrestlemania weekend. As the highest paid movie star in the world, the sexiest man walking God’s green earthand a potential Presidential candidate, The Rock is on top of the world. A Hall of Fame induction sounds like a great way to involve The Rock in a meaningful way and honor not only his time in the business, but his willingness to give back and return to WWE when he certainly didn’t have to.
First and foremost, he may give the greatest induction speech in history. Not only that, but there are many people that could induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vince McMahon, Triple H, and others would add additional hype to the ceremony and make it must see.
Prior to last night’s SmackDown 900 episode, WWE legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took to Instagram and posted some interesting “Rock facts” related to the show that was originally created for him.
In addition to wrestling in the main event of some of the highest-rated episodes of SmackDown ever and main eventing SmackDown more times in a year than anybody else, Rock revealed that he was notorious for going over his allotted time and upsetting the boss. Rock says he’d listen to the people when he was out in front of the crowd and would go 35 minutes when he was slotted for 20. He’d get back through the curtain and Vince McMahon would be pissed off until Rock explained, “You can’t rush greatness.”
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson continues to tease a future in politics, telling Vanity Fair that we could see him run for President as soon as 2020. “I wouldn’t rule it out,” he said. “It would be a great opportunity to help people, so it’s possible. This past election shows that anything can happen.” The comments came while he was doing promotional work for his new animated Disney movie “Moana.”
In related Rock news, People Magazine has named him this year’s Sexiest Man Alive. After Forbes recently named him the top paid actor in the world, it’s a good time to be The Rock. When asked about what he thinks makes him so appealing, he says it’s his sense of humor. He doesn’t try to act sexy, but he’s cool and confident, which apparently people like.
Rock knows being named Sexiest Man Alive will result in his guy friends giving him crap about it. “It’s coming now, I can just imagine how it’s going to be,” he says with a laugh. “But see, here’s the thing, they give me grief, but they all wish. They all wish.”
– Next Wednesday is the scheduled finale of Total Bellas on E. It’s interesting to note that the episode is being advertised as a “season finale” rather than a “series finale.” The longevity of the 6-episode miniseries was never clearly defined, and this could mean the show will return for a full run next season. Above is a preview for the finale episode.
– As seen below, Under Armour and The Rock have released a new line of gear for men and women:
– Chicago Cubs third basement Kris Bryant is wearing the custom WWE World Championship replica sent by Triple H at today’s Cubs MLB World Series victory celebration in Chicago. Below are a few photos:
FOX has picked up a new comedy from The Rock’s Seven Bucks Productions and Will Ferrell’s Gary Sanchez Productions, based on Rock’s real-life experiences with former WWE head writer Brian Gewirtz. Andrew Gurland, creator of FX’s “Married,” will write the pilot script. Variety.com broke news on Friday.
The series offers a behind-the-scenes look at a fictional pro wrestling company and the odd couple relationship that develops between a charismatic young star and a painfully awkward comedy writer new to the business.
“This November will mark the 20th anniversary of my professional wrestling debut,” The Rock said. “I was 24 years old, putting in the hard work, making $40 bucks per match and had no clue of the long journey that lay ahead of me with characters and backstage stories so colorful you’d think there’s no way that can be true. The entertaining show that goes on in front of the crowd pales in comparison to the insanely entertaining show that goes on backstage. Brian and myself can’t wait to tell our stories.”
Gewirtz added, “Coming from Hollywood to the wrestling industry, with its intense backstage atmosphere and larger than life personalities, was a major culture shock. After working in the business for over 15 years, Dwayne and I had encounters and experiences that were unbelievable as well as unforgettable. We can’t wait to bring this project to the fans.”