15 Greatest Promos In Modern Wrestling History
14. The Final Boss Reclaims His Crown
Once he accepted that Cody Rhodes was in fact undeniable, the Rock was sensational on the road to WrestleMania 40. After years of infrequently, reluctantly leaving Hollywood and orating phoned-in awfulness texted to him by Brian Gewirtz five minutes before showtime, the Rock in his new guise as the Final Boss reminded everybody why he had crossed over in the first place.
Basically everything the Rock said was gold after the heel turn pivot, but Rock was particularly great when hew hopped onto Instagram. He was so dialled into the character, so obviously in love with wrestling again if only for a twilight fling, that he cut what were effectively explicit remixes of his SmackDown promos, happily swearing his head off in these demented, indulgent ramblings that were fascinating, indulgent, hypnotic and genuinely unsettling. It was f*cking irresistible, ya piece o' trash. The single-most charismatic human being to ever perform in pro wrestling was also getting real weird with it.
"The Rock likes pain, but that's a whole other conversation."
Suddenly becoming fixated on 'Mama Rhodes', Rock cut a promo threatening Cody from his personal gym, purely to terrorise his mother. Playing with toxic masculinity, updating his act to strike a modern vein after all these years, he mocked Cody for crying, imitating him with a baby voice. It was callous. Insensitive. Prehistoric. It was also blackly hilarious.
"Are you f*cking kidding me? You start f*cking crying? "I can't give the belt to Dusty Rhodes, but I can give it to my mommy! My mommy!" Shut the f*ck up!"
The Rock's towering, cinematic take on a violent, weapon-wielding territory heel mad man was godly.