WWE has heavily hyped up its anticipated Netflix premiere of Monday Night Raw for several months now, and the big day has finally arrived. It makes sense then why WWE came out swinging with one of its all-time biggest names to get things started, as The Rock made his WWE return in front of the LA Monday Night Raw crowd. After making his way to the ring, Rock announced that tonight was “the largest arena gate in the history of WWE, congratulations.” Rock also had something to say about Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, and also teased he’ll be watching Tribal Combat between Reigns and Solo Sikoa closely.
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First Rock addressed the Undisputed WWE Champion, though he did so in fun it seemed, saying, “Cody Rhodes, one more thing, tell Mama Rhodes The Rock said hello.” Rhodes laughed and took it in stride, and then Rock moved on to Reigns. Rock said, “Lastly I want to acknowledge one other man, and that’s Roman Reigns. Not only is Roman Reigns the Tribal Chief, the original Tribal Chief, tonight Tribal Combat rules, The Rock is going to be watching. I’m going to be watching this match closely.” You can watch it here.
It is funny that Rock said Reigns was the Tribal Chief and then added the original when the crowd got loud, so it remains to be seen what side he is really on. The last time fans saw The Rock was in Atlanta at Bad Blood. The Rock would surprise the crowd after the match between that saw Roman Reigns team up with Cody Rhodes to take on Solo Sikoa’s Bloodline. That match and the team up that ensued caused quite a ruckus, and Rock was no exception. Rock would come out after Reigns and Rhodes won the match, but he didn’t actually say anything.
All Rock did was give the 1 sign and then count to four before gesturing that Reigns (and presumably Rhodes) time was coming to an end at some point. At the time it was thought that maybe this was a tease of some sort of involvement at Survivor Series WarGames, but that didn’t end up being the case.
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Since then Reigns has had quite the rollercoaster ride. After getting pummeled a few times by Sikoa’s new Bloodline, it was actually Jimmy who helped out Reigns and started to bring the band back together. The mission then was to get Jey, and while there were some hiccups on that trip, they did eventually get Jey’s help. The most recent addition to that group has been Sami Zayn, and that was a wild journey as well, but afterwards all four members are once again united and on the same page (at least for now).
That’s also part of why tonight was so important, as it was a battle of Tribal Combat between Reigns and Sikoa. The winner would leave with the Ula Fala and the ability to call themselves the one and only Tribal Chief. The Rock obviously has some vested interest in this, and it will be interesting to see how he factors in around WrestleMania 41 time.
What have you thought of Monday Night Raw so far? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @KnightofOA!
