Last Friday, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson made an appearance on "WWE SmackDown," sharing news about next year's WWE WrestleMania 42and delivering a divisive promo aimed at Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. The Rock's "SmackDown" segment was reportedly planned without much notice, and today's "Wrestling Observer Radio" featured Dave Meltzer offering some additional details on the aftermath of the show.
"They've moved ... 2,500 tickets since Friday for [WWE Elimination] Chamber," Meltzer said. "That's pretty good. So they'll be probably over 30,000 by the time the show's there, maybe more."
It was also noted that The Rock, despite being announced for "SmackDown" just a day before, made a noticeable difference on the show's rating. Though his appearance may be good for business, Meltzer indicated that there is some internal dissatisfaction regarding how the situation has been handled.
"I don't think that the angle's any kind of a positive," Meltzer continued. "There's definitely people not happy with the way they had a game plan, and the game plan completely changed this last week. But it's probably only changing for a couple of people."
Though there's still plenty of time to course-correct, many fans took issue with Johnson flipping back-and-forth from hero to villain multiple times throughout Friday's promo. However, Meltzer firmly believes that The Rock has the ability to make a sizable impact on WWE's business, whether or not the storylines themselves are strong.
Elimination Chamber is taking place this Saturday, with The Rock and Rhodes coming face-to-face yet again. Additionally, the winner of the Men's Elimination Chamber match is currently set to challenge Rhodes at WrestleMania, giving the show significant stakes.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
