The Rock and Roman Reigns’ conspiracy to headline WrestleMania 40, being thwarted by Cody Rhodes has been one of the most talked about storylines ever. A head-scratching moment on SmackDown led to a PPV-quality press conference that made things official.
Cody would face Reigns for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship at Wrestlemania 40. But the biggest news has been The Bloodline Rock’s official heel turn.
The Rock officially joined The Bloodline on SmackDown last week.
WWE has promised The Rock will appear on the next three SmackDown episodes. But Bloodline Rock will be more than a Hollywood novelty act. Expect The Rock to draw from his “High Chief” moniker.
This is NOT @TheRock we remember… 👀
This SOLD OUT #SmackDown crowd is getting RIPPED TO SHREDS TONIGHT. 🫢#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/pbScC6sGWn
— WWE (@WWE) February 17, 2024
Bloodline Rock Is The High Chief Dwayne Johnson
The Rock showed us the full Bloodline (Anoa’i) Family tree, during the WrestleMania Kickoff press conference. He claimed they were the one true royal family in wrestling. Adding that The Rock facing his cousin Roman Reigns was the biggest box office match in WrestleMania history.
Cody Rhodes spoiled the cousin’s plan by cashing in his championship shot earned by winning the Royal Rumble.
Those with an eagle eye would have noticed something very interesting on The Rock’s branch of the Anoa’i family tree. On the Dwayne Johnson branch of the tree he was referred to as High Chief/ Seiuli.This name was given to Dwayne Johnson when he was acknowledged as the High Chief of Samoa.
Many took to X, formally Twitter, to herald the return of Hollywood Rock. Hollywood Rock was a heel character in 2003. He cut promos from his movie trailers and talked down the WWE fans that he felt he no longer needed.
The character we have seen from Dwayne Johnson in recent weeks has totally different motivation. This was Bloodline Rock.
Bloodline Rock
The Rock spoke passionately about his family and declared this to be the driving force behind his desire to headline WrestleMania 40 with his cousin Roman Reigns.
With, is a key word here. At no point have we seen any conflict between Reigns and The Rock. The two are paired together in a pact to headline the show.
The Rock also doesn’t seem to be coming for Roman Reign’s moniker as Head of the Table. The two are fully in cahoots. The Rock and Reigns both currently seem to “know their role’ as High Chief/ People’s Champ and Tribal Chief/ Head of the Table respectively.
This is a key difference between Hollywood Rock and Bloodline Rock. The latter is driven by his family heritage and being recognized as the greatest wrestling family of all time.
The Rock’s character is all about respect. But no longer does he want respect for his movie career, he wants it for his family’s heritage.
One Family
Rock showed the full Bloodline Family tree and referenced how many more branches it had compared to the Rhodes family. We can expect everything the Rock does to be based on this belief. To be fair, The Bloodline Family Tree does have a lot more branches to it than The Rhodes.
At some point, The Rock is going to show the Bloodline Family Tree again and then show The Rhodes Family tree and it’ll be so entertaining!
Bloodline Rock is a whole new level I can’t wait to see. pic.twitter.com/MisotZKlor
— Laurence Gibbons (@GibbonsGob) February 9, 2024
An interesting dynamic was that The Rock took the spotlight from Reigns. Reigns, who has stood tall over The Usos for four years as Head of the Table, was now playing second fiddle. But we’ll have to wait until after WrestleMania for this dynamic to play out.
THIS FRIDAY on #SmackDown@TheRock is back! pic.twitter.com/Hmewt0WldR
— WWE (@WWE) February 27, 2024
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