WWE Stars Pushing To Have “Handcuffs Taken Off” Like The Rock

Not everyone within WWE is happy with The Rock’s special treatment.

On March 16th it was reported that some WWE Superstars were growing increasingly frustrated by The Rock appearing to get special treatment since he returned to the company.

The star has been a regular on television since early February, turning heads after returning to his “Hollywood Rock” persona last seen in 2003. In throwing himself back into WWE life, Rock has released several expletive-laden promos on social media, while he’s also been pushing the boundaries on TV.

According to the report, some within WWE were frustrated that the megastar can get away with swearing while they’ve been warned via a memo to keep things family-friendly.

Meanwhile, a new report from Dave Meltzer has confirmed the unrest, adding there’s a feeling that Rock can “do what he wants.” One person noted, “he does what he wants and because he’s on the Board of Directors, nobody is going to say anything to him.”

Furthermore, he’s surrounded by a team of representatives that handle any issues. With regard to double standards, this was a regular occurrence during the Vince McMahon era with some stars given much more freedom than others, although with McMahon gone, this approach reportedly went with him. But The Rock has now blown this out of the water.

There had also been suggestions that The Rock’s segment overran on SmackDown, but this was disputed by writer Brian Gewirtz. Meltzer confirmed that Gewirtz’s assessment was correct. However, the Rock Concert did cause changes to the formatting of the show and the timing of the commercial breaks.

Interestingly, there is a feeling from some talents that “they could get more traction on television promos and in social media if they had those handcuffs taken off them.” Meltzer closes by saying that the handcuffs are only off for The Rock, with even Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes having to adhere to the PG policy.

FOX Taking Steps To Censor The Rock

Meanwhile, it’s been reported that FOX is getting sent The Rock’s scripts ahead of SmackDown to allow them to bleep out any bad language. The report reiterated that The Rock can say whatever he wants, but none of it is a surprise to those watching from Fox.

In the report from Meltzer, the long-serving journalist notes that WWE talent isn’t allowed to use the word “ass” but Rock frequently gets away with it.