WWE: Rock's Return Must Be Utilized to Build New Stars

It’s been about 48 hours since The Rock made his return just before the 11 p.m. hour of Monday Night Raw. That should be sufficient time for our Brahma Bull hangover to have run its course. Some of us may still be a bit tipsy from the significant buzz The Rock creates, but we should try to get our heads on straight and look at what has happened with some perspective.

Dwayne Johnson has many nicknames in professional wrestling. While we know him as The Great One, the greatest gift he could provide during his latest run (no matter how long) is to leave known as a star-maker.

The Rock has the skill that very few in the history of professional wrestling have possessed. His mere presence in the ring, backstage, standing in the parking lot with anybody, doing just about anything, makes the unnamed individual more important. None of us today would know Kevin Kelly if it weren’t for his intrepid role as Rocky's verbal whipping boy.

The last time The Rock came back for a sustained in-ring run, he partook in a mini-feud against none other than The Hurricane in some of the most memorable backstage segments of the year. Anybody recall the Hurricane’s classic line of “You want to go toe-to-toe with a super hero?” Oh the memories.

The biggest failure of the WWE creative staff during the last five years has been its inability to create a true must-see star. Whether this was by design or not, it can’t be over looked in the drop in ratings and PPV buyrates. Vince McMahon has hung his hat on John Cena since 2005. He has been the centerpiece of the entire PG movement as a squeaky clean, corporate, kid-friendly babyface. Jeff Hardy was on his way to becoming arguably the biggest star in the world, before hitting legal troubles and taking his talents to Orlando (where they are hidden and nobody sees him). We all thought this time last year that Randy Orton was on his way to assuming the role as Austin to Cena’s Rock, but he hasn’t quite reached that stratosphere – a failure that I put solely at the feet of the WWE creative team.

In the next month and a half, from now until WrestleMania as that is the only timeframe we can possibly work with at the moment, WWE must utilize The Rock in a way that creates stars. As WrestleMania guest host, he isn’t entrenched in any single program, to this point. There were seeds dropped that he will have a role in the impending Cena-Miz feud, but we can’t assume anything considering we all thought it would be Cena-Punk headed to WrestleMania this time last month.

Verbal spats with heels like The Miz, CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio would raise the profile of all three men. Support for Orton, Daniel Bryan and John Morrison would give them the push they need to step to the next level.

Of course, he is the host of WrestleMania, which is not brand specific. There is no saying he can’t appear on SmackDown to go nose to nose with Dolph Ziggler with Vickie Guerrero, Wade Barrett or Jack Swagger. Imagine Swagger and Kofi Kingston in a verbal spat backstage only to have The Rock appear to separate the two only to run down Jack Swagger, tell them he just came from Teddy Long’s office with news that the two have a match later that night. His involvement makes the match more interesting.

I want to hear The Rock on commentary. I want to see him interact with as many superstars on the roster possible. While his 20-minutes of nostalgic greatness were an incredible moment in wrestling history, such ratings-spiking promos aren’t going help WWE come June when he’s just Dwayne Johnson again, doing talk shows and shooting his next movie.

If The Rock can legitimize Miz, Punk and Del Rio as main event caliber heels for the next few years that can draw ratings and buyrates on their own, it will be a success.