The Rock Was Originally Planned For WWE Survivor Series

WWE Survivor Series was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of The Rock’s debut in WWE. The show felt like it should’ve featured Dwayne Johnson, but he never showed up. Fans only got some video packages and a paid advertisement for Rocky’s latest Netflix movie, Red Notice.

Andrew Zarian of F4Wonline has reported that the original plan was for The Rock to be at Survivor Series. The entire pay-per-view was supposed to be centered around The Great One. That plan was the same until sometime around September.

“In July, I was told that the Brooklyn, New York, pay-per-view would be centered around Johnson. Between heavily promoting his new Red Notice movie on Netflix, the 25th anniversary of his WWE debut that took place in New York City, NBC’s renewal of Young Rock, and the second season of the Ruthless Aggression documentary series, the timing was perfect. […] In late-September, the same source told me that Johnson would not be on Survivor Series due to his filming schedule and needing to quarantine for travel. However, there was still a financial obligation to continue with the plan for the movie promotion without Johnson which is what we saw last night. The basic concept stayed the same, minus Johnson himself.”

WWE fans were disappointed to see a show that was obviously written around The Rock being there. They wanted to honor a legend in the flesh, not through vignettes and a commercial disguised as an angle. Unfortunately, they’ll have to wait even longer.

An appearance by Johnson may have wiped the bitter taste left by the tacky Pizza Hut-sponsored battle royal from fans’ mouths. Instead, the funny taste came from a triple-stacked box of pizza. Despite fan unrest, WWE continues to rake in the money.

Did you expect to see The Rock at Survivor Series? Let us know in the comments!