On a recent edition of his “Strictly Business” podcast, Eric Bischoff discussed Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s surprise return to WWE earlier this week.
The Rock returned to WWE on Monday night’s ‘Day 1’ themed episode of RAW, confronting Jinder Mahal and teasing a potential match with his cousin, Roman Reigns.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his initial reaction to The Rock’s return “You’ve heard me say this before. You know, creating momentum is really, really difficult. But the really super difficult part is maintaining momentum. Here’s an example of not only maintaining momentum but increasing it. And WWE has been on a creative roll. They’ve been on a strategic and creative role strategic business-wise, with all the sponsorships and affiliations and tie-ins and everything else that’s a result of this merger, which we talked about here on Strictly Business, when you may have asked me early on after the merger was announced, ‘how do how does Eric Bischoff think that this merger is going to affect WWE?’ And the obvious benefits to me, and I pointed them out, was the strength of those combined companies, especially with Nick Khan at the helm, is going to provide an opportunity for sponsorships, probably better international arena dates, all kinds of things that are not necessarily creative. And those things are happening now. You add Rock in on top of it. This company is on fire, going into the hottest time of the year for the company. So it’s amazing to me. I’m shocked and honestly, if Conrad would have said, hey, I’ll bet you you Rock will be back before the end of 2024, bet my hair on it, and I would have lost again.”
On whether the match has to happen at WrestleMania: “You know, I don’t look. I think Rock is such a phenomenon for all the reasons that you stated. I don’t think it matters. The question will be, I think, from a strategic perspective. What’s the best use of, you know, we already know WrestleMania is going to be off the charts. Suppose it were to be Cody [Rhodes] and Roman, which hasn’t even been announced yet. That’s an assumption. But if it were, we all know it’s going to. It’s going to be mind-blowing. Certainly, if you throw a Rock in there, it may be more mind-blowing, I don’t know. I. If it were me, I’d. Probably look for another opportunity to use Rock…I mean, are you going to get WrestleMania, or why not get something else?”
On the match potentially being held at Elimination Chamber in Australia: “I don’t disagree [it potentially taking place at the show instead of Mania] and to add just a little bit to that. And again, I know nothing. Of course, I know nothing. People will not have to be put on a loop. F**king people say it all the time anyway. It’s out there. Just take a look at my social media feed anytime you want. But. Here’s what we pattern. Right. If I’m good at anything. It’s recognizing patterns before most people do when it comes to the business side of the wrestling business. And if you, as you pointed out, since Nick Khan is kind of taking over the ship business-wise, you look at the pattern and where these poles are going, these big live events, where are they going? The effort is international. Rock showing up in Australia. And by the way, what’s the city again? Is it Sydney? Perth? Perth? Wow, that’s even more interesting. The Rock showing up in Australia. Perth making international headlines is only going to make international expansion more profitable in the future. You’ll have more cities internationally if they even do this. I assume they do, wanting to pay for the rights I know they do in the UK or they have in the UK. That’s the model. And Rock showing up in Perth right before WrestleMania. And the headlines that are going to get are only going to make future international expansion even more profitable. It’s a great calling card. That’s number one on the creative side, man, I don’t know. There are a million different ways to go. Of course, a million different ways to go. And I don’t like to get bogged down really in creative because that’s not what this show is all about. And that’s not what my interest is. My interest is in the business of it. I mean, I’ve never seen so much growth. Excitement. And positiveness in the wrestling industry. Well, for WWE in forever, I mean, this is amazing to watch. Yeah. It’s fun to watch. It’s fun to watch the business grow.”
