The Rock vs…. Zack Ryder #What2Watch

This past Monday Night featured the return of the Rock but also featured the return of… the Kiss Cam.  This segment featured quite the cast of characters from The Great Khali to Hornswoggle, to Ariel Winter from Modern Family to adult film star Allie Haze.  It also featured two of my favorite, lesser seen, WWE stars William Regal and Zack Ryder.  (3:24 in video below)

Here is William Regal’s tweets after this great moment.

William Regal is one of the funniest people on the WWE roster.  If anyone deserves to be in a WWE film, it’s this man.  His life story is amazing and if you haven’t read his book, please go out of your way to.  Get it here.  If there is a character we want more of, it’s William Regal.  Maybe he should open a YouTube channel!  Zack Ryder did!

Remember when Scotty Goldman had a great show on WWE.com?  Look at how Colt Cabana continues to reach out to his audience with his Art of Wrestling podcast.   Zack Ryder took it upon himself to get more attention and launched his own show this week.  I applaud Zack for taking the initiative to reach out to his audience.  Zack was one of the first guys to talk about his “twitter” followers on tv.  Tweet him – (@ZackRyder)  While some weeks his TV time, like Regal, is limited to 5 to 15 seconds, he now presents a little slice of himself online.  Subscribe to his YouTube channel and I have a feeling you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

This week on Zack’s show – he has a huge match.  Zack Ryder vs…. THE ROCK!!!

David Lagana / IWantWrestling.com

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Finally…. The Rock Has Come Back to Wrestling!!!

Moments that stick with us are genuine.  They can be manipulated but can’t be manufactured.  Tonight in Anaheim, CA on Monday Night Raw was one of those moments.  There were misdirections, there were leads, there were reports.  But at 10:58pm Eastern it became a reality.  The live reaction let you know immediately what was happening was big.  The ripple effect on social media outlets let you know how wide it reached.  The Rock had come back to wrestling… Finally.

I had two people who were there live, tweet me.

That’s the energy The Rock creates.  We’re now on the Road to Wrestlemania knowing that The Rock will be the guest host; including a tease that there will be a confrontation with John Cena.  But, tonight was about the people.  Rock always called himself “The People’s Champion.”  Tonight for fifteen minutes the Rock entertained and electrified the people by giving a performance that should be studied by everyone who aspires to be the best.  If you’re a young wrestler, aspiring actor, performer, comedian or simply a person wanting to accomplish anything, watch and study what the Rock did tonight!

Today is/was Valentines Day.  It’s one of those days that draws a positive or negative reaction.  A love/hate type of day.  For me, Valentines Day 2002 was the day I was hired by WWE!  Yep, I’ve been in the wrestling business officially for nine years today.   There I was, sitting in the waiting area of the WWE TV studio after my second interview.  My flight back to Los Angeles was in a few hours and a car was on it’s way to get me.  I didn’t know if I had the job or what would be next.  Stephanie McMahon saw me as she was walking out and said, “oh, I’ll see you in Milwaukee on Sunday.”  Yep, it was that quick and this journey began.  Ironic that the hobby that became my job would start on Valentine’s Day.   And here on 2/14/11, the Rock returned and reminded us all why we love the business so much.

Tonight’s moment reminded of my second night in WWE in February of 2002.  The return of Hulk Hogan to WWE TV was met with a confrontation with with The Rock setting up their legendary match at Wrestlemania 18.  It was my second day in the company; my duties ranged from shadowing Ed Koksey to doing whatever I was told to do.  This included letting Rock know how close we were to the segment being on the air as he prepared.  He had worked passionately with Brian Gewirtz (who he always collaberated with and most likely did tonight) to create these epic and memorable promos.  Brian doesn’t get enough credit for what he’s done over the years.  As it’s been said millions of times before, walk a mile in someone’s shoes.  That night, it was a home run between Hogan and Rock.  We all remember it to this day.

The Rock always impressed me by his work ethic.  Remember when debuted, he wasn’t well loved; chants of “Die, Rocky, Die”.  Did he quit?  Did he hope someone else would help him get to the top?  He worked harder.  He didn’t wait for anything to be handed to him.  He reached the top of the wrestling business faster then anyone else. He had another dream to chase down in Hollywood.  And for everyone who said he wouldn’t make it there, I think he’s doing pretty good.  And tonight, he came back to the WWE and as he called it… came back to his family.

One thing Rock always seemed to have problems remembering was my name.  “Hey Steve, good to see you.”  When you’re new at WWE, the rule is they don’t really learn your name for the first few months because people didn’t last.  There would be long stretches when The Rock wouldn’t be around and my interactions were usually limited to a hello, handshake and pleasantries.  When he would come back, he kept calling me Steve.  Was he waiting for me to correct him?   Was I walking into some horrible rib?  Then in Atlanta in 2003, I was assigned to produce a few shots with him during the Goldberg program.  Just as we’re about to go live with the shot, we’re standing there talking and he looks over at me.  “You know I know your name is David, right?  I’ve known the whole time.”  He gave me a wink and a smile as the stage manager counted down the shot.  That is Rock’s charisma.  He’s got you in the palm of his hand; controlling your emotions while charming you at the same time.

 

Rock goes Social

As I wrote earlier, Rock is now fully jumped into social media launching a Twitter and Facebook page.  He presented an amazing and genuine message to his fans tonight on RAW before he entertained them with his routine.  He said he came back to the WWE not for the money or to promote a movie but for the fans.  He told them he would never leave them again.  Rock’s new t-shirt proclaims “I Bring It.”   That’s his brand.  He brought it tonight.  He brought it in the past and we know he’ll bring it to Atlanta for Wrestlemania 27.

David Lagana / IWantWrestling.com

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Sting on Why He Didn’t Go to WWE in 2002

We’ve all seen the 2/22/11 video by now.  Frame by frame searching for clues; does the smoke spell Sting? I believe we’ll see another video this week that will provide more clues and questions but my gut tells me we won’t get answers until that Monday on Raw.  There have been reports that WWE hasn’t even talked to Sting.  Could those videos be simply for the return of Undertaker?  The next two weeks will be full of that speculation.   But why didn’t Sting come to WWE before now?

As talked about in my article last week, Sting was first approached to wrestle Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania 18 in 2002.  WWE wanted Sting to work the full time schedule.  Sting has stood firm on the life he wanted and didn’t come for that reason.  But there also was another reason that he spoke of in the video below.

WWE became the number one brand brand in wrestling in 2001 when they bought WCW and ECW.  In their hand was years of storylines and potentially millions of dollars in brand vs. brand programming.  The alliance (WCW & ECW) vs. WWE storyline lasted from June 2001 – November 2001.    Sting spoke on how WCW talent was used in WWE  especially the Booker T/Rock confrontation why he decided to not go to WWE.  Below we have that clip and a few others on how WCW talent was used in WWE.

 

Rock/Booker T – “Who are you?”

Scroll to 6:30 for the line.

 

Goldberg / Goldust – “The Gold Wig”

 

 

Eric Bischoff / Mae Young – “The Bronco Buster”

 

David Lagana / IWantWrestling.com

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