WWE Hall Of Famer Kurt Angle Weighs In On The Rock's Heel Turn
While WWE initially positioned Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a potential WrestleMania opponent for Roman Reigns, the company later pivoted their course by setting up The Rock as an ally to Reigns instead. With this move, The Rock also adopted a cunning and crude attitude, marking his first heel turn in two decades. On a recent episode of "The Kurt Angle Show," WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle weighed in on The Rock's dramatic heel turn.
"I really enjoyed how they were able to intermingle The Rock with the storyline [surrounding Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes]," Angle said. "I thought The Rock was going to come back and beat Roman Reigns and win the world title. It was like 'Okay.' You almost could read it. It was gonna happen. I don't know if they kind of changed things because they were listening to the fans or whatever, but The Rock turning heel was genius ... It's just incredible that they were able to get Rock to turn heel. He was really good too. It reminds me of when he first started, the heel he was back then."
As Angle alluded to, the 2024 Men's Royal Rumble winner, Cody Rhodes, shockingly stepped back to allow The Rock to challenge Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40. After this move led to an overwhelming amount of backlash online, however, WWE then reportedly altered their plans to have Rhodes face Reigns, while The Rock reprised his "bad guy" persona to support Reigns in the lead-up to WrestleMania.
In his role as a heel, The Rock unleashed a series of verbal and physical assaults on Rhodes, one of which resulted in Rhodes laying bloodied outside of Chicago's Allstate Arena. Despite The Rock's onslaught of violence towards him, Rhodes ultimately emerged victorious in this storyline, as he, with the help of some WWE legends, defeated Reigns to claim the now Undisputed WWE Championship.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Kurt Angle Show" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.