Some WWE Stars Frustrated Over Lost TV Time Due to The Rock’s Return

The Rock’s return to WWE has been anything but smooth, with his February 21 SmackDown segment leaving fans and even people backstage wondering what exactly is going on. While some loved seeing The Great One back in the mix, others weren’t as thrilled—especially those whose screen time has been cut to make room for him.

During the Fightful Select Q&A podcast, Sean Ross Sapp gave insight into the backstage reaction, explaining that most people in WWE still see The Rock as a major attraction, even if his presence is shifting WrestleMania plans.

“I don’t mean this in a negative connotation, but most people are marks for The Rock in some capacity—not in a bad way, but they just love seeing him there at all. For a lot of people, it’s not going to get old seeing him. They grew up on him, they watch his movies, they aspire to have success like his.”

However, not everyone is on board with how things are playing out, especially when it comes to the creative direction.

“I know there are some people that are not thrilled that their time is cut, but also, there’s a lot of people that know that when he is involved, more eyeballs are on the show. I haven’t heard anybody outright be like, ‘God, this motherf**er’s back’ or anything like that. I just haven’t heard that,”* Sapp explained. “I have heard some people involved with creative and production say, ‘Hope it makes sense.’ That’s about it.”

One wrestler even joked about how much control The Rock has over WWE’s current direction, with Sapp revealing, ‘At the mercy of Dwayne’ and joked about that in relation to WrestleMania plans, which have adjusted quite a bit over the last few months.”

The Rock is expected to be at Elimination Chamber this weekend, and with so many moving parts leading up to WrestleMania, his presence is keeping everyone on their toes.