No Rock, No Champion
The fear so many fans had when Rock won the WWE Championship in the first place is about to rear its ugly head in full force. As reported, Rock will be missing several editions of Raw between now and Mania due to prior Hollywood commitments.
All can (and will) be forgiven if WWE makes the most of the Rock and Cena when they finally have them back together. However, that part won't necessarily be easy.
The WWE Championship simply isn't enough to make this program feel special or different from last year. Promo after promo and song after rap isn't enough either. Rock and Cena both are too talented and creative to rely on the "same old, same old" this time around. Not to mention, they should WANT to make this one different and fresh.
If Rock returns on March 4th and can appear on every Raw following until 'Mania, they'll have more time to build the program than they did last year. But that's no guarantee either. From what I'm seeing, Rock is only being advertised for the 3/4 show, and then not again until March 25th. That's not to say he won't be at the events in between, but without him being advertised, we won't know for sure.
Planning week to week has proven to be hard enough for WWE in the past, and that's with their full-time roster, so Rock's inconsistent schedule will make things all the more challenging.
I wasn't against Rock winning the title initially, but come WrestleMania, my mind could have changed on the subject. The extra promotion he'll receive heading into the event as Champion might not prove worth it, if and when the creative part of his involvement suffers as a result of his inability to simply show up.
