At the end of the day, what drives WWE's bottom line? Not the wrestling, silly...no, it's...the people. From mainstream respect and navigating the waters of social media (WWE has very carefully mirrored The Rock's adoption of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in their corporate branding) to putting over 3/4 of the stars the company has made in the past 15 years, The Rock is a WWE company icon to whom Vince McMahon owes his jump from millionaire to billionaire and his company's rise from "rasslin company" to "multimedia content giant." A once in a generation icon, the fact that The Rock consistently links his growing stardom to WWE is important in the company's re-emerging profile. The Rock is the only WWE performer outside of Hulk Hogan who has appeared fully comfortable in bridging the entertainment gap between pro wrestling and the rest of the "real world." Rock's ability to do this (and always stay linked to Vince) has been an incredible asset on multiple levels to WWE. A little bit of Rocky Johnson, Ric Flair, Superstar Graham, Junkyard Dog, Iceman Parsons and the Iron Sheik (with some Hulk Hogan added in for good measure), he may be the closest thing we'll ever see to an absolutely ideal modern age wrestler.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
