Finally.....

I know I only have a few readers. I also know that of those readers, no one cares about wrestling or reading a post about wrestling. So I have tried to keep them to a minimum. However, after what I saw last night, I have to discuss it with the millions (...and millions!) of my fellow fans.

As some of you may be aware, Wrestlemania is a little over 6 weeks away and as usual, the WWE is starting to shape the card not only with matches, but with celebrities as well. On the last Raw, Vince McMahon announced that the host of Wrestlemania would be revealed in a week. He said that their was only one person in the world who could do the job. At the time, the announcement seemed strange because up to now, only middling celebrities had every hosted Raw. Was I going to be excited to see Bob Barker, Dennis Miller or Johnny Knoxville host Wrestlemania? No. I mean, don't get me wrong, they are all good in their own rights, but not Wrestlemania good.

All throughout last night's show they teased the announcement. Then at 10:50 local time, a limo showed up and the cameraman focused on the person's feet. It turned out to be a woman in high heels. I started going through the possibilities. Who could Vince get that would sell tickets? Sarah Palin and Paris Hilton were my first two wild ass guesses (no idea why). Then the lights went off. The crowd was ready to pop. On the big screen, some images that looked like lightning and smoke appeared. Carmen Electra was my next guess. My immediate thought was that with all the build-up, the WWE was setting itself up for failure. I mean, the entrance was a little over the top.

And then it happened....

Throughout the arena came the following words: IFFFF YA SMELLLLLL....WHAT THE ROCK....IS COOKING!! and out walks the host of Wrestlemania XXVII, The Rock, Dwayne Johnson. I watched the clip again this morning, fully aware of what went down last night and I still got chills. It was the loudest (And most unexpected) pop from a crowd I have heard in years. Simply amazing. He received a 5 minute standing ovation and then worked the mic (excuse me, killed on the mic) for an additional fifteen minutes.

He started off with his usual catchphrase: FINALLLLY THE ROCK HAS COME BACK TO.... Then he took off his glasses, got out of character and thanked the WWE fans for supporting him and making his dreams come true over the past 7 years. He then started to set up the storyline for Wrestlemania by ripping on The Miz and right about when he was going to name the other superstar he was looking forward to meeting, he was interrupted by Michael Cole. The ensuing exchange was an instant classic. I can't do it justice but will point you to the 3:33 minute mark when the Rock kills Cole. Now it's not the whole clip, but know that he throws in classic lines such as "Pie-Eating Jabroni" and "Shine that computer up, turn it sideways and shove it straight up his candy ass". He then ends with his "Millions of Fans"and "If Ya Smell" schtick and of course, The People's Eyebrow.

I loved every minute of it. Anyone who continued to watch wrestling over the years knows how far removed the current WWE is from the Attitude Era of the late 90's. Stone Cold, The Rock and DX were edgy; they pushed the bounds and ushered in arguably the greatest era of wrestling. When they retired, it was similar to the NBA losing Jordan, Malone, Barkley, Stockton, Ewing and Robinson all at the same time. Their was a clear void of talent and it took a few years for it to bounce back. Cena and Orton are doing a fine job of carrying the company, but they will never compare to Stone Cold and The Rock. I never thought I would see either of them in a WWE arena again and I actually had not read anything about The Rock being the special guest host. I was 100% surprised and had a hard time getting to sleep. It has been 7 years since he was in the WWE, so watching him do his thing made me feel young again (after all, I was still in Jersey when he left). It made me remember why I still love wrestling and why I will continue to love wrestling. The guy is just electric and the current crop of superstars can only hope to be half as good as him on the mic.

Now with all that being said, two final comments. 1. I understand that they wanted to throw us a curveball by making it appear that the host was female, but I would have liked some explanation as to who that was coming up in the limo. A simple statement from The Rock that it was his wife or even Stephanie McMahon would have worked. 2. By calling out Cena, he basically told us all who is going to challenge The Miz at Wrestlemania. The easy thing to do would have been for The Rock to play the part of the babyface and rip on the heels, but the WWE is too smart and they had him call out the company's top babyface in Cena. It was a little awkward at times because Cena's fans under the age of 14 didn't know how to respond. They have probably never seen The Rock and have never heard his shtick. They certainly have never sensed that he was a bad guy...but that is exactly what The Rock did. He made it him versus the world. He is the biggest star...he knows it...and the rest of the world knows it.

So how do I see this playing out? Well, I think we need to go back to 1998 when Mike Tyson was named the special ring enforcer for the Main Event between Stone Cold and Shawn Michaels. The build-up to the event saw Stone Cold confront Mike Tyson and threaten to kick his ass. In doing so, Tyson was built up as a heel (he even walked to the ring in a DX t-shirt) and everyone assumed that he would help Michaels retain the belt. Well, he didn't screw over Austin. In fact, he counted 1-2-3 and then leveled Michaels after the match.

I think the same thing happens in 2011. Cena will win the Elimination Chamber. The Rock will get involved in the Cena-Miz storyline. No one will know who he will side with, but he will make it look like he has serious heat with Cena. Then at Wrestlemania, he will help Cena win. They embrace and The Rock officially passes the torch. There is no doubt in my mind this is the storyline they go with, however, if they were going to turn Cena heel, this might be the perfect opportunity as attacking The Rock would get you instant heat.

I'll end by saying this was arguably the hardest post I have ever had to write. Not because the subject was serious and thought-provoking, but simply because all I wanted to do is tell you how excited I am. I wanted to quote all his lines and make sure that you all watched the clips. Basically, I am like a 13 year old kid right now who can't form complete sentences. That is how excited I am to have The Rock back in my life (if only for 5 weeks).

UPDATE: Full clips now on YouTube. Part 1. Part 2