The Rock to return to next WWE RAW; Building towards Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 29 in New York

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WWE WrestleMania New York Television PPV

The Rock to return to next WWE RAW; Building towards Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 29 in New York...

The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) will be playing a major on TV role in the build up towards both major WWE PPV events - Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 29.

WrestleMania 29 in New York is just 3 months away and we're just a couple of days before 'The Great One' returns to WWE television.

"The Rock" (Dwayne Johnson in the movie and TV world) commenced WrestleMania promoting and hype during his appearance at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour this week.

Johnson, who appeared at the event to promote his forthcoming TNT series, 'The Hero,' did not confirm who he will face at WrestleMania, however tipped his opponent has been selected and they have a plan to get to the WrestleMania main event bout.

“The storyline will be that starting this coming Monday (on Raw), I’m gonna go back, and it’s going to be a big return,” Rock said, as reported by TV reporter Matt Fowler. ”That will lead to, hopefully, what will be the biggest WrestleMania of all time at Giants Stadium."

The Rock elaborated, "I will headline that show, with someone who I can’t say right now. We’ve got an amazing four months lined up and planned out that will culminate in the biggest WrestleMania of all time. It’s going to be a hell of a thing.”

Rock is scheduled for several Raw and Smackdown TV tapings in January and February surrounding the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber PPVs. Rock's March schedule has not been revealed yet, but Rock's statement indicates that he will be heavily-involved in WWE storylines over the next three months building to the Mania headline match.

Fans - who do you think with be The Rock's upcoming opponents? CM Punk, John Cena, Ryback, The Undertaker? Anyone else? Many fans and insiders believe we are heading towards The Rock VS CM Punk at WrestleMania 29, but then again, rumours swirl about a potential match with 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin or The Undertaker. Still much talk about a potential CM Punk VS Austin match - more likely in 2004 than this year, but as WWE top brass Vince McMahon keeps telling us "Anything is possible in the WWE".

Media Man Int and Wrestling News Media are pleased to report that WWE programming continues to get more edgy lately - perhaps a sign that 'The Rock' really needs that environment to shine, and if CM Punk and Austin are going to do more interviews and promos leading to a potential match, we are going to need to see more 'Attitude Era' programming, rather than the watered down PG-13 genre. Educated fans and business reporters understand why PG-13 style (investors, share price... not that its helped much lately), but let's look after the fans in the 30-60 or so type age bracket that have been following the WWE product for a few decades, and not just the newbies. Thank god for WWE DVD's, YouTube and underground tapes, so long time fans can still enjoy some of the classic matches before the kid friendly era took hold.

Australian fans will be happy to know that hardcore legend Mick Foley will tour (perform live comedy) down under from the 1st Feb (9th Feb for the Sydney show). Ah, we miss the Mankind / Mick Foley VS The Rock chairshot fests and classics with the likes of Austin, Terry Funk, Vince McMahon and friends.

2003 is looking to be an awesome year for the WWE and its fans, and how about The Shield (recently in from WWE feeder promotion, NXT), Ryback, Dolph Ziggler, Damien Sandow and a likely return of Brock Lesnar! With all this, WWE golden boy, John Cena, is also likely to ramp up his matches, not wanting to be overshadowed. Cena at his best can be awesome, so comon' WWE locker room, and let's get him at 110%.

Well done WWE and with more quality RAW and SmackDown shows, count us in for more PPV's and live events. Last word "Feed Me More".