“it could be a real disaster when that happens” – Eric Bischoff reveals what worried the WWE about The Rock’s return to SmackDown on their FOX premiere.
The Rock is arguably the most popular figure to ever emerge out of WWE. He rose to fame in the industry on the back of his look, skills and mic work. In fact, he was despised by the fans in the early stages of his career. His personality on the mic helped him win them over and become a life long fan favourite.
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He coined many catchphrases during his run in the WWE. His catchphrase, ‘Lay the SmackDown on your candy ass’ is where the Blue Brand got its name from. It was therefore no surprise, that the Brahma Bull made an appearance on its FOX premiere last year. There was one thing about his return however, that left the WWE worried.
Eric Bischoff reveals what worried the WWE about The Rock’s return to SmackDown
Eric Bischoff revealed that the WWE had given a specified time limit with Becky Lynch and Baron Corbin. However, they were worried that he would get carried away and go overboard which would have compromised the rest of the show.
“The mood and the feeling was very high,” Eric Bischoff said on a recent episode of his 83 weeks podcast. “It was very positive. The show went about as flawlessly as it could go. There was a lot of nervousness about Rock.
“Now I’ve never produced Rock or work directly with him as a producer. I’ve only worked with him briefly for a blink of an eye as an on-camera talent, but everybody was concerned that Rock was going to take his 12-minute promo and turn it into a 30-minute promo which as we discussed on this show before just collapse all kinds of other plans and other promos and length of match. It could be a real disaster when that happens. So it was kind of like ‘Okay, he’s gonna open up the show, let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Bischoff then said that the Rock finished his segment a minute or two before his scheduled time and it was business as usual.
“I think he came within a minute or two of his allotted time so once that major piece of business was taken care of and Rock came out and energized the audience and did what everybody expected The Rock to do and once he exited the building, then it was business as usual. It was exciting ‘business as usual’ and there was a lot more pressure and anticipation, but nothing out of the ordinary.”
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