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The Rock Reacts With Strong Language To Reports About His WWE Promos

By John Canton • Published 23rd March 2024
The Rock pointing at the camera

The Rock has seen the criticism about the language of his WWE promos and has responded with an interesting choice of words.

As one fourth of the WrestleMania 40 Saturday main event, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson appeared on WWE SmackDown three times in March. During his appearance on March 15, The Rock did a “Rock Concert” that involved a song mocking his WrestleMania 40 opponents Cody Rhodes and the World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins.

That Rock promo also featured some colorful language because he mocked Cody for crying during a promo and Rock said: “You’ve gotta be sh**ting me.” Rock also has used that colorful language in videos posted to social media as well.

Following those promos using swear words, there was a report from Aaron Varble of SEScoops stating that some people within WWE were frustrated that Rock could curse in promos while others had to adhere to the TV-PG nature of WWE. The report also noted that there was a memo sent to WWE talent about it.

In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer confirmed that report while adding more context to what WWE owners TKO Group (which The Rock is part of the Board of Directors) have thought about the situation.

“While the Memphis show did appear that Rock went a long time (his promo went 20 minutes) and the rest of the show was rushed, the fact was, he didn’t go long and the show went like it was planned. After rumors started, Brian Gewirtz publicly noted Johnson actually went 30 seconds short.”

“We confirmed that. Going so long was planned, but it did change the usual format of the show.”

“On a normal show, there is a certain timing of the planned commercial breaks. This week the WWE planned the key crossover segment on Smackdown for segment five instead of the usual segment six to accommodate him doing a long promo. There is a different feedback from talent than a few weeks ago, probably due to the memo being sent at the same time Johnson was doing the stuff without having adhered to any of the written rules the rest of them were under.”

“The talent was told that because the company was publicly traded and the wishes of TKO management was to be TV-PG. The feeling was that if he’s on the board, if anything, he should be he one following the rules to set the example.”

“Some also complained they could get more traction on television promos and in social media if they had those handcuffs taken off them, and the handcuffs in this case are only off for Johnson, and even people like Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes have had to adhere to the policy, although Rhodes was allowed a lot more leeway in his comeback promo on Raw.”

How Did The Rock React To Complaints About His Colorful Language?

On Twitter/X, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson reacted to a post that cited what Meltzer wrote in his newsletter.

“This story is complete horses**t.”

As for his next WWE appearance, The Rock is scheduled to be on the April 1st episode of Monday Night Raw in Brooklyn. It’s not yet known if his WrestleMania 40 tag team partner will be there, but Raw is the show that Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins appear on regularly, so there could be some fireworks before their WrestleMania showdown.