Vince McMahon Fires The Rock Before WWE Raw Goes On Air
No TV appearance for Hollywood's biggest action star.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson announced to his social media followers on Monday that he would be appearing at The Staples Center, the site of last night's WWE Raw, to work on his movie Fighting With My Family.
However, those expecting to see The Rock appear on tonight's broadcast had their hopes dashed when the WWE chairman interrupted "The Great One" and fired him in front of those in attendance at the Los Angeles arena.
Johnson came out and fired up the crowd, promoting the movie while even managing to slip in a jab at John Cena, joking "John Cena is in the movie! Just kidding, we want it to actually be good."
He said the scene they'd be filming once Raw went off the air was based on Paige's defeat of AJ Lee for the women's title and then ran through his signature catchphrases before "No Chance in Hell" blared over the loudspeakers.
Vince walked out, "fired" The Rock and escorted him to the back, much to the chagrin of the live crowd. Since it appears there were no plans to have The Rock appear on Raw, this was as good a means as any to facilitate that while managing to get some heat, although it would've been better for someone like Stephanie McMahon since she's an active member of the roster.
The Rock's new film is based on WWE superstar Paige and her entire family of professional wrestlers. The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant is directing and it stars Game of Thrones' Lena Headey as Paige's mother, Vince Vaughn in an as-yet-undisclosed role (widely expected to be Jake "The Snake" Roberts) and rising star Florence Pugh as the former WWE women's champion.