Why The Rock's Return Is Perfect Chance For WWE To Elevate Stars

In a largely forgetful 2010 for the WWE, there was nothing more satisfying, at least to this humble narrator anyway, than witnessing the gradual route to the world title taken by The Miz. Showing increased awareness in the ring and cutting venomous promos talking about how he had been looked down on and laughed at and bullied and mocked only to prove everyone wrong with his hard work, perseverance, unwavering self doubt and can do attitude, Miz emerged as a stand out performer with a realistic story to tell and was the perfect heel in the sense that it was impossible not to respect him even if you didn't necessarily like him or his style. Although he isn't and never will be the worlds greatest worker, he had nonetheless transformed himself into an engaging in ring presence whose weight with the microphone was worth far more than the weight around the bones of a gormless giant. Given that the company were so desperately in need of breakout headline talent it seemed that Miz was the answer to their prayers. On his side was youth, charisma, good looks, marketability and excellent vocal delivery. Which is why it made no sense that such a promising main event candidate would spend a healthy portion of his reign defending his title against a sixty year old Jerry Lawler. Adding insult to injury was the fact that in their first ladder match for the title Lawler had Miz soundly beaten until Michael Cole interfered on his behalf. Miz finally rid himself of this unwanted feud after Elimination Chamber and headed into Wrestlemania 27 as the WWE champion. Though it would be hard to erase the memory of a man almost twice his age handing him a beating, Miz had backed himself out of these sort of corners before and was more than capable of doing so again as he looked to defend his title against John Cena. But then The Rock happened. Days before the Chamber PPV Dwayne had returned and cut an epic promo in which he had not only announced himself as the guest host for Wrestlemania but also gone on a blistering tirade against John Cena which the Cena haters had marked out for in rapturous fashion. After such trash talk directed from former poster boy to current it was quite simply going to be impossible from this point forward to make anyone care about a Cena Wrestlemania match that wasn't against The Rock. Miz to his credit tried his very best. He frequently labelled himself as the most must see WWE champion of the past five years, he dealt Cena successive beatings on Raw and he was convincing in mocking The Rock despite Dwayne being his legitimate childhood wrestling hero. But what was the image we were left with heading into Wrestlemania? It was John Cena blindsiding Rock with an FU whilst Miz lay flat on his back having earlier received a people's elbow, his position on the mat very much symbolic of his status in this feud. At Wrestlemania however, there was a small glimmer of hope that the WWE still believed in Miz as a genuine headliner. Before his match with Cena, the WWE aired a compelling video package which tracked the evolution of his career. It was snappy, cleverly edited and screamed big time with Nas's €œHate me Now€ the perfect choice of music to compliment the images and story being told. Maybe it seemed the WWE were going to let this night be about The Miz after all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2aw71vghm0 Any form of optimism was short lived though as Miz and Cena competed in a tedious, poorly booked battle whilst the majority of the crowd anxiously waited for the inevitable Rock interference who of course went on to cost Cena the match. Given that no-one really cared about the outcome of the Miz/Cena tussle, one would suspect that the wwe had booked themselves into a corner by making The Rock's role in the affairs far too prominent. When it was revealed the next night on Raw however that Rock and Cena would compete one on one at the following year's event, it all became rather painstakingly clear that Miz had merely been used to add fuel to their fire. Not only was the Wrestlemania main event exposed as a set up for the following years main event but as an overall package the PPV (whilst highly entertaining) was guilty of catering to the nostalgic fans brought in because of The Rock resulting in some of the old favourites from The Rock's era being allowed ample time to get themselves over. When taking into consideration video packages, entrances and post-match aftermath the bout between Trips and Taker took up close to forty five minutes of the broadcast. Whilst the two men carved a beautiful piece of drama the whole affair could have been almost cut in half without the needlessly long winded selling which at times threatened to ruin the match and one can only imagine how such a highly charged and lengthy bout with Taker might have favoured someone with a little more to gain than Triple H. Then there was Stone Cold Steve Austin. He was as gloriously entertaining as always but instead of his star power being used to give the rub to a couple of mid card talents he was booked to be the special guest referee in a match between two announcers. Meanwhile Jack Swagger, the only regularly active wrestler involved in this farce was forced onto the sidelines as Michael Cole's coach. Why didn't someone fight for Cole and Lawler's cause you ask? Because that of course would have made too much sense. At least however Swagger made the air which is more than could be said for Daniel Bryan and Sheamus whose match-up for the United States Title no less was relegated to being a dark match. No doubt it had to make room for Rock's pointless backstage segments with the likes of Mae Young and Pee Wee Herman. Wrestlemania was a success on paper but in reality it failed. After all whilst Rock may have sold Mania were the majority of these buyers really interested in a product not featuring The Rock? Plummeting buy rates and declining tv ratings since his departure would indicate not and in the end well over half of the four hour PPV time had been dedicated to old timers, legends and announcers. Long term that quite simply accomplishes nothing. Next month however the WWE will have another chance to right this wrong as on November 14th at the TD Garden in Boston The Rock is scheduled to return for a special three hour Raw broadcast in order to hype up his much anticipated in ring return at this year's Survivor Series. During the course of his return it is hoped that product interest will be revitalised right in time for the reliably hot period which spans from the Royal Rumble to Wrestlemania. The temptation of course will be to focus the product around Rock and let him steal the show with his well show stealing, larger than life persona. More sensibly however they could actually use The Rock's presence and the mainstream viewers that he will bring in as a great opportunity to promote the depth of talent in the everyday roster. And the tragedy is that there is so much talent in the company and yet so much seems to go to waste. Not convinced, then take a look at some of the victims of WWE's protective and rigid booking: Zack Ryder was completely under the radar performing each week on Superstars but instead of losing confidence and giving up on himself, he persevered and got himself over with his heavily watched and creatively humorous you tube show Z Long Island True Story. Since his act took off he has been given a more prominent though still fleeting role on both Raw and Smackdown but quite frankly the fact that Ryder has managed to transform himself from a nobody into a somebody through sheer force of will is deeply admirable and he deserves the push of a lifetime for his efforts. His act might be one dimensional but if he is this entertaining without assistance then think how good he might be if creative actually invested some meaningful time into both his WWE character and storylines. Recently occupying a regular slot on Zak's show is Dolph Ziggler who has been cutting some fierce, stream of consciousness, Ali-esque promos which have all the attitude and delivery of a bona fide main event star. If he is this striking off the cuff then then he should be given both more time on the mic and be allowed to have some input into his own promos as he quite clearly has a very powerful voice which is just not being heard in the rigid WWE environment. And how about Christian. The WWE's best all round talent who has never been trusted to have a proper run at the top and was booked to look largely out of his depth during his long standing feud with Randy Orton. Christian not only has great matches for fun but also has both the rare ability to connect with the crowd and cut good promos. Most importantly however he would be the absolute perfect champion to eventually put over a rising new star and make them look like a million dollars in the process. Then there is of course the problem with gimmicks. Cody Rhodes with his bizarre headgear and horribly forced voice is reminiscent of a villain from some camp b horror movie from the fifties and John Morrison is a smiley babyface trapped in a gimmick based on a dead rock star from the seventies. No amount of show stealing performances is ever going to be able to make either of these men move past the limitations of their mid-card disguise. Perhaps most damning of all though is the nonsensical treatment of super talented worker Daniel Bryan who has been rewarded for his endless supply of great performances by being repeatedly buried on the mic by Michael Cole, developing one of the worst losing streaks of the year and having to walk out to some kids fairground music. Naturally of course he is currently the Money in the Bank holder. Not that anyone cares or indeed has been given reason to care about this development. These are the types of superstars who should be allowed to try and break free whilst the attention is being diverted to The Rock. For example on the three hour Raw, leave Rock to the main event/segment and build up the rest of the night by both hyping up his appearance whilst also establishing the current crop of talent in a good light. Let Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan steal the show by fighting to a time limit draw and then arouse intrigue by announcing that they'll have a rematch at Survivor Series for the United States Title. Give Zack Ryder a chance at his own talk show. He could be especially funny trying to handle the Divas problems and god knows they need some support with their mic work and character development. If people react to his show then you start making the guest and the angles bigger. Allow John Morrison and Cody Rhodes to be John Morrison and Cody Rhodes. If they've got what it takes then it'll shine through naturally. In the meantime let Miz and Truth run amok on Raw and allow them to be aggressive and intense and hyper without all the lame comedy that for some reason has to run along with it. Whilst at the end of the night it will still be The Rock making the headlines people might just start talking about some of the other superstars who caught their eye. And why not experiment? With Rock/Cena booked for Wrestlemania and good business guaranteed in the run-up the WWE have got absolutely nothing to lose and a hell of a lot to gain. After all if they can turn a fifteen year old joke in the form of Mark Henry into one of the most captivating characters in the company, there is no reason why other mid-carders shouldn't be given the same golden chance to capitalise.