Big Update on WWE's Plans for the Rock in 2013

Make no mistake about about it: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is one busy man.

Having just finished filming sure-fire hits G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Fast and Furious 6, the A-list actor is currently working on Michael Bay's Pain & Gain with Mark Wahlberg. On Thursday, reports emerged that "The Great One" has recently signed on to star in Brett Ratner's upcoming Hercules movie. Heck, he's even done the occasional spot of crime-fighting!

In between all of these action blockbusters, he's also making time for his wrestling career. As he announced back in July at Raw's 1,000th episode, he's challenging for the WWE Championship at next year's Royal Rumble.

Most have assumed that he'll win that match and then go on to main event WrestleMania, presumably against John Cena in a rematch from last year, but nothing is set in stone.  

While it sounds like a great idea (a huge star like Rock as World Champion, even for only a short time period, would get the company a ton of mainstream attention), his aforementioned heavy schedule looks like it could cause a few problems. 

Interestingly. In this week's (subscribers-only) F4W Newsletter, Bryan Alvarez notes that the company is internally discussing the practical problems of switching the WWE Championship to Johnson at the Royal Rumble:

"

The two issues they have right now with Rock winning at Rumble (and keep in mind this has been a plan for months and months now, so it's something they should have thought about a long time ago) is that with Rock winning the title, there will be no WWE Title defenses possible at any of the house shows for a three-month period. They also have to work out with him whether he'll be available for the Elimination Chamber PPV and whether they want him to work that show.

"

As noted, The Rock as WWE Champion undoubtedly has its benefits. But however useful he is, he will, at best, only be a part-time champion, making only sporadic appearances in the run up to WrestleMania 29. WWE management will surely do everything in its power to make such an arrangement work, but with Johnson's movie career, it probably won't be very easy at all.