WWE Has Become Too Dependent on the Rock in Their Promotion of Survivor Series

Survivor Series 2011 is now less than two weeks away, and WWE's greatest promotional tool in building up to the event has been The Rock.  Although there's certainly nothing wrong with bringing in a true superstar like The Rock to generate interest, WWE has shown an alarming dependency on his involvement for one of the biggest pay-per-views of the year.

To get a firm grasp of how Survivor Series 2011 is being promoted, I'd like to turn to one of the great minds of professional wrestling, Paul Heyman.  That's right, I'm a Heyman guy.  

Heyman's take on promotion was that three questions need to be answered. Who are the fighters, why are they fighting, and why should I care?  In a nutshell, having these three questions answered, and answered well, should lead to a well promoted event.  

Let us take a look at these three questions, and see how the key match of Survivor Series 2011, John Cena & The Rock vs. The Miz & R-Truth, answers them.

Who are the wrestlers? 

John Cena is the top babyface in WWE, his current mantra is "Rise Above Hate" and he has a rabid, loyal following of fans. The Rock is a WWE legend forged in the Attitude Era, he's transitioned into acting, and is a mainstream superstar who is returning to action in the ring for the first time since he left for Hollywood. For this team, this particular question is answered before watching even one promotional clip, simply because of their names.

The Miz and R-Truth are WWE's top dastardly duo.  They've caused trouble for not just John Cena, but the entire company.  They are the most hated men in WWE today, or so we're told.  

Why are they fighting?

John Cena is such a good guy, that he wants to end The Miz and R-Truth's trouble making. The Rock is joining John Cena, who he despises and is feuding with for their match at WrestleMania, simply because Cena picked him and the WWE Universe wanted it.  

Why should I care?

The Rock is actually going to wrestle, and for the first time ever (and last time ever) he'll be teaming up with John Cena for the greater good of WWE and its fans.  

Final Analysis:

It is immediately apparent that the first question, "Who are the wrestlers?", is the strongest answer.  That's simply because fans of WWE young and old know The Rock, and know that he's feuding with John Cena.  

That immediately creates some confusion as to why The Rock would agree to team up with Cena for what, as of this moment, is no great threat to WWE, John Cena, or the fans.  Unless there is some sort of massive double cross swerve waiting in the wings, this could hurt the promotion of The Rock vs. John Cena for WrestleMania in 2012.  

The Rock's involvement being a money grab by WWE is so painfully obvious that I can't help but feel as if they're insulting the intelligence of the fans.  That is amplified by WWE announcing that The Rock would team up with Cena weeks before the angle ever played out on television.  

As fun as it will be to see The Rock back in the ring and actually wrestling, and no matter how fast WWE sold out Madison Square Garden, I can't help but feel that WWE is setting itself up for disaster here.  With a weak supporting cast on the rest of the card, and what I can only call a strange move in having The Rock set aside his differences with Cena, the promotion of Survivor Series is shortsighted and costly. 

So Bleachers, what do you believe WWE needs to accomplish with the Rock/Cena angle leading up to and at Survivor Series to not end up hurting themselves in the long run?  Could the tag team match go off without a hitch and not hurt the promotion of The Rock vs. John Cena?  Sound off in the comment section!