Cool Again: How The Rock Is Leading Pro Wrestling Into A New Boom Period
Ask a layman about pro wrestling, and they’ll probably mention names like Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Stone-Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock. Yet they’ll also likely talk about how the business isn’t as popular as it used to be. What if we told you that’s simply not true, though? Pro wrestling has quietly been experiencing a boom period that has exceeded all its former glories — and The Rock has returned to fully cement this new era of dominance.
The Rock makes a villainous return
On March 1, 2024, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — fully embracing his status as a dastardly heel in his latest WWE run — posted an Instagram video in which he ran roughshod over the company’s top good guy Cody Rhodes.
As part of the storyline, he angrily accused Rhodes of going back on his word to allow Johnson into main event Wrestlemania XL against his cousin Roman Reigns. He also made fun of Rhodes’ dedicated fanbase, to whom he assigned the hilariously juvenile nickname the “Cody Crybabies.”
Spouting gospel about the wrestling business
As Johnson is one of the finest microphone-workers ever to grace the wrestling business, the promo was entertaining, compelling, and full of twists and turns. Interestingly, though, he began the diatribe by making some very salient points about the state of the wrestling business — while still in-character as a narcissistic villain, of course!
He begins, “It’s been a big week in the world of professional wrestling. It has been a big week in the world of the WWE. It has been a big week in the world of The Rock.”
“Pro wrestling is cool once again”
“In the world of the most electrifying man walking God’s green Earth, daddy,” continues Johnson, “it has been that kind of week. And to quote the legend, one of The Rock’s heroes, what’s causing all of this?” He then smiles at the camera, and says, “Pro wrestling is exciting once again.”
He continues, “It’s been decades! Pro wrestling is cool once again. It’s been decades. Pro wrestling is undeniably exciting. Once again, it’s unpredictable. It’s disruptive because of one man — and that is The Rock.”
“Back on top, and it feels good”
The self-proclaimed “People’s Champion” continues, “The Rock…came back to pro wrestling — a business that The Rock loves, an industry that The Rock was born into — took professional wrestling, turned it on its head, disrupted…it, and it will never ever be the same again.”
He adds, “And it feels good. It feels so damn good. And whether you like The Rock or you don’t like The Rock, it doesn’t matter — because it feels good. Pro wrestling is back on top, and it feels good!”
Has the business actually been booming for a few years?
Now, obviously Johnson wanted to hype his match at Wrestlemania XL, a two-night extravaganza at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on April 6-7. He came back to wrestling to get buzz and sell tickets, so if he wanted to overplay how popular pro-wrestling is in 2024, he could have.
But here’s the thing: a lot of people believe he was speaking from the heart. In fact, there are people in the wrestling business who think it’s quietly been experiencing a new boom period for several years.
As big as it’s ever been
Back in July 2023 Dave Meltzer — publisher of Wrestling Observer Newsletter since 1983 and the industry’s most famous journalist — made exactly that claim. During an appearance on McGuire on Wrestling, Meltzer argued, “We’re in a boom period, and it’s kind of weird that some people don’t want to accept that we are.”
He continued, “But we are — not just for match quality, but we are for popularity… It’s not as big as the late ’90s, and it probably never will be. But since the late ’90s, it’s as big as it’s probably ever been.”
Great for wrestlers and fans alike
“If you’re a wrestler, that’s fantastic,” continued Meltzer. “There’s more jobs and you can go back and forth. There’s more money to be made. And for fans, there’s more options of different things, and you get more on television than at any time in history.”
He added, “You also have multiple promoters that are really, really into trying to give you great matches. It’s part of their thing. In the past, not as much. It was all about getting your money on Friday night, which is a different… thing.”
TV ratings and live attendance are way up
That same month, Meltzer told fans listening to Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE’s TV ratings had improved, tickets sold for live events had gone up, and the company was selling merchandise hand over fist.
He enthused, “Attendance is way, way up. It’s been big on cable — even in the Attitude Era, when it was big on cable, it wasn’t beating the top network shows. It wasn’t even close. But now, I mean, it is. It’s crazy, and people want to say that somehow this isn’t hot.”
Merch sales have never been higher
“It’s the hottest wrestling has been since 2001,” continued Meltzer. He claimed that, even a few years ago, WWE, “certainly weren’t doing these crowds on a regular basis like they are now.”
He added, “The crowds for the quarter would be some of the highest in many years, and so many other things when you look at them. Merchandise has never been higher. Ever. Not in the Attitude Era; not in the Hulk Hogan era; never as high as it is now.”
The biggest Wrestlemania ever
Wrestlemania 39 is a perfect example of how WWE has been thriving in recent years. That event took place at the SoFi stadium in Inglewood, California, on April 1 and 2, 2023.And it attracted a gargantuan 161,892 fans over two nights.
The gate for the event exceeded $21 million, and WWE’s chief content officer — and former World Champion — Triple H claimed in a press conference that this number made it the biggest Wrestlemania in history. He added that it also “smashed records” in terms of television viewership, sponsorship, and merchandise sales.
WWE + UFC = TKO
This record-obliterating Wrestlemania set WWE on a path for the next year which saw two more hugely lucrative deals announced. In September, combat sports fans were stunned by the news that TKO Group Holdings had paid an eye-watering $21.4 billion to merge WWE with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
The new company — officially uniting pro wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts for the first time — was to be dubbed TKO and run by famed Hollywood agent and Endeavor chief executive Ari Emanuel.
“An exciting new chapter”
Emanuel told the world, “The creation of TKO marks an exciting new chapter for UFC and WWE as leaders in global sports and entertainment. With UFC and WWE under one roof, we will provide unrivalled experiences for more than a billion passionate fans worldwide.”
The deal positioned WWE for even more growth than it had already been experiencing, and fans would soon find out that another paradigm-shifting deal had also been in the works for a long time.
Netflix changes the game
On January 23, 2024, streaming giant Netflix announced that it had agreed to pay WWE a staggering $5 billion over a period of ten years for the U.S. rights to show the flagship weekly show Monday Night Raw
The show — which has aired weekly without fail on network television since 1993 — will find its way to the streamer beginning January 2025. This sees the end of a five-year deal with NBCUniversal, which had been reportedly worth around $250 million to WWE every year. For context, the Netflix deal doubles that yearly amount for WWE.
A deal with worldwide implications
On a worldwide scale, though, the deal proved to be even more seismic. While Netflix was getting the rights to Raw for the U.S. market, it was also getting everything else for every other market.
This meant that, in vital territories such as the U.K. and Europe, Netflix would become the home for Raw, Friday Night Smackdown, NXT, premium live events such as Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, and Summerslam, as well as an additional smattering of original series and documentaries. In essence, Netflix will be a one-stop shop for everything WWE in most parts of the world.
Dramatically expanding the reach of WWE
TKO president Mark Shapiro told Variety magazine, “This deal is transformative. It marries the can’t-miss WWE product with Netflix’s extraordinary global reach and locks in significant and predictable economics for many years.”
He continued, “Our partnership fundamentally alters and strengthens the media landscape, dramatically expands the reach of WWE, and brings weekly live appointment viewing to Netflix.” The streamer’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria added, “We are excited to have WWE Raw, with its huge and passionate multigenerational fan base, on Netflix.”
A win-win for both sides
Shapiro revealed that the deal — which confirmed Netflix’s commitment to exploring the live-entertainment market — had taken months to come to fruition. He pointed to Bajaria as the key person who recognized how WWE could add value to Netflix.
He added, “We both can rarely remember a time when a deal was truly a win-win for both sides — a universally attractive platform meets a universally attractive property. Both have significant and loyal followings and the price, and the many parts of the deal are right for both parties.”
Reacting to the “streaming wars”
In terms of the sheer numbers involved, this Netflix deal is obviously huge for WWE — but what does it mean for fans? Why did WWE leave cable television in the U.S. and kill its own streaming platform — the beloved WWE Network — in other territories in order to move its content to Netflix?
Well, the answer lies in the “streaming wars” of recent year: the battle for supremacy between streaming platforms such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Max, Peacock, and AppleTV+.
Netflix won the war
For a while, it seemed like every company was convinced that having their own streaming service was the route to success. In 2022 it even looked like Netflix was starting to falter: after all, it lost subscribers for two consecutive quarters in that year.
But the streaming giant stayed the course, and as of 2024 its subscriber base had risen to an astounding 260 million worldwide — considerably more than any competitor. These rivals then began licensing their content to Netflix again, something which had been verboten for several years.
A path to attracting new fans and bringing back lapsed ones?
These days, in most cases, having a Netflix account is looked upon in a similar way to having a cable subscription: it’s a given in many households. So the chance to get WWE’s product in front of 260 million eyeballs all over the world is too huge an opportunity to pass up.
The company will be hoping that, because Netflix spent so much money to acquire its content, that it will sit front and center on the platform: this could be vital in convincing both new and lapsed fans to give wrestling a shot again.
No one really knows how much bigger WWE could get on Netflix
Netflix certainly seems to think that WWE will bring new subscribers to its platform. In January 2024 Brandon Riegg — the company’s vice president of non-fiction series — stated that Netflix sees big things in WWE’s future.
He explained, “Introducing it to a new set of fans as well as servicing the existing fans that are either already Netflix subscribers, or will come over, to me either way is a win. The truth is we don’t know how much bigger it can get. I think we’re all really bullish on it.”
The Rock lays the smackdown on the TKO board
At the same time as the Netflix deal sent shockwaves through the world of sports entertainment, WWE also made another stunning announcement — and it involved The Rock. You see, Johnson was welcomed onto the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings, receiving a cool $30 million of TKO stock in the process.
Perhaps even more importantly for the former World Champion and current Hollywood icon, he was also granted the trademark to the name “The Rock,” something which had previously been WWE’s intellectual property.
A full-circle moment for The Rock
“My grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, and my dad, Rocky ’Soulman’ Johnson, would’ve never thought this day would come,” stated Johnson, invoking the wrestling lineage in his family. “Which is why I’m very humbled to have a seat at the table that has decades of history and family legacy for me. A table that my family helped to build.”
He added, “Being on the TKO board of directors, and taking full ownership of my name, ’The Rock,’ is not only unprecedented, but incredibly inspiring, as my crazy life is coming full circle.”
Was The Rock a vital factor in the Netflix deal?
In truth, Johnson’s involvement with TKO made perfect sense: after all, Emanuel has been his Hollywood agent for the last 13 years. Many also believe Johnson was integral in getting the Netflix deal over the line. After all, as an actor he starred in Red Notice, the streamer’s biggest original movie of all time.
Perhaps more crucially, though, when it came time to partner with WWE, having one of the world’s biggest stars returning to the sports entertainment juggernaut which made his name will have made that $5 billion seem a lot less risky an investment for Netflix.
Rock brags about his status — in-character, of course!
In another Instagram promo posted after his “Cody Crybabies” speech, Johnson — again mixing in-character work with real-life elements — gloats about how important he was to the Netflix deal which may have secured WWE’s long-term future.
He speaks of his friend and business partner Emanuel, as well as his pals at Netflix Ted Sarandos and Bajaria, and asks, “You think when they’re inking… this $5 billion deal… do you think that Ted and Bela, they’re saying, ‘Hey Ari, when WWE comes to Netflix, is Seth Rollins gonna be champion?’”
“Locked in for life”
“No, they’re not asking that!” spits Johnson. “You know what they’re asking? ‘Hey Ari, we’ll sign this $5 billion historical deal — never before — but one question: ‘Where’s The People’s Champion?’ One question: ‘Where’s the man who has the most-watched film in the history of Netflix? The Rock. Where is he at in this whole thing?’”
He adds, “Ari looks at them and says…’He’s locked in for life, director of the board, owns everything as it relates to his name, he’s locked in for life.” The insanely charismatic star then stared directly at the camera and adds, “Signed. $5 billion.”
Why has interest in WWE been steadily increasing for years?
The Rock’s return to WWE has certainly brought more viewers to the squared circle, and he’s definitely become the mainstream face of this new boom period. But, as we alluded to earlier, the boom had already been in progress before Johnson came back.
While it’s easy to point to numbers as evidence of how well WWE is doing, it’s perhaps harder to define why interest has been steadily increasing for a few years. In truth, as with everything in life, there are a number of factors.
Compelling characters and expert storytelling
The first factor — and undoubtedly the most important one — is that WWE’s storytelling and match quality has been super-strong for several years. The roster is now stacked with a crop of compelling stars who have made fans invested in their characters, which makes them more excited to watch their bouts.
From the aforementioned Rollins to his real-life wife Becky Lynch; from Kevin Owens to Sami Zayn; and from the Judgment Day to Imperium, fans haven’t been this engaged in WWE’s characters in quite some time.
“The American Nightmare”
On top of these stars, though, there are two main ones who have been at the forefront of driving WWE to new heights. The first is Rhodes — arguably the most popular “babyface” character the company has created in decades. Fans are desperate to see Rhodes “finish his story” and win his first ever Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
And Rhodes is able to point to tangible evidence that he has moved the needle in terms of interest: in February 2024 his T-shirts held the top three sales spots on WWEShop.com.
“The Tribal Chief”
The second leading light of WWE is Rhodes’ opponent at Wrestlemania XL: Reigns, a.k.a. “The Tribal Chief.” As head of The Bloodline — WWE’s premier bad-guy faction — Reigns has run roughshod over the roster for more than three years as the Universal Champion.
Ever since the group — which features Reigns alongside his real-life cousins The Usos and Solo Sikoa — formed, with Reigns at the helm as its manipulative, petty, and vengeful leader, fans have been following every dramatic development of their ever-expanding story.
One of the most compelling storylines in pro wrestling history
In 2023 ESPN’s Marc Raimondi called the Bloodline’s exploits “one of the most compelling storylines in the history of professional wrestling,” and “one that has made a mark in television ratings and at the box office.” He added, “Reigns and his cousins have portrayed complex, three-dimensional characters.”
In fact, Paul Heyman — an industry veteran and Reigns’ on-screen right-hand-man — claimed that, in the modern landscape, there isn’t another TV character “that offers as much sophistication and as many layers” as Reigns.
“The Bloodline is cinema”
That same year, WWE announcer Michael Cole was only-too-happy to wax lyrical about The Bloodline on The Pat McAfee Show. He argued, “You have a story like The Bloodline, which for three years — and I’ve said this on a number of occasions — should be nominated for an Emmy award.”
He added, “Not only are they tremendous athletes… But on top of that, they’re actors. You have to be an actor. If you watch what Roman Reigns and company did in that tag match in London, it was cinema.”
Hollywood inspiration
Indeed, perhaps viewers feel The Bloodline has transcended professional wrestling and become cinema for a very specific reason: Reigns’ “Tribal Chief” character was inspired by one of the greatest movies ever!
In March 2024 Heyman told the Barrett Sports Media Summit that Marlon Brando’s Colonel Kurtz in Francis Ford Coppola’s classic war drama Apocalypse Now formed the basis of Reigns’ villainous boss. He explained that, in the film, “Brando presented himself as a pseudo-God. We call it a ‘Tribal Chief.’”
The villainy of Reigns
Heyman continued, “Then, as everyone relies on… [Kurtz] for guidance, for wisdom, for substance, for food, for shelter — he feels the burden of the responsibility… And he resents them so much that when Martin Sheen kills him and opens up the book, Kurtz had written ‘Drop the bomb, kill them all.’”
He concluded, “That’s where the villainy of Roman Reigns comes in. He sits there and says, ‘Acknowledge me as your Tribal Chief’ — but once you acknowledge him, he just looks at you as someone else [he’s] responsible for.”
Appealing to the mainstream
Another reason for pro wrestling’s rising status is WWE’s recent successes in appealing to mainstream audiences. When pop artist Bad Bunny and YouTube sensation Logan Paul came into the company to work storylines, long-time fans assumed it would be like any other time a mainstream celebrity had entered wrestling.
In the past, celebrity involvement had simply been a way to pop a rating and get some buzz in the press. Naturally, both men did do this — but they also excelled in the ring, and impressed fans with their clear love of the business.
Paul “gets” the wrestling business
Paul, in particular, shocked people with how quickly he took to the wrestling business. He is now contracted to the company on a more permanent basis, is the current United States Champion, and his enormous social media following watches him appear on WWE television every single week.
In 2023 he told ESPN, “I feel incredibly blessed to have found something that I’m good at, at 28 years old. And the fact that the organization believes I’m good enough to continue… building this WWE legacy is mind-blowing.”
Social media dominance
Speaking of social media, this is another avenue WWE has exploited to its fullest in order to break into the mainstream conversation. In 2019 the company announced it had amassed more than 1 billion followers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Then in 2024 its YouTube channel reached a staggering 100 million subscribers — putting WWE in the top-ten most-subscribed channels in the world. Crucially, there are no other sports — or sports entertainment — organizations in that top ten.
AEW is also excelling
Finally, while this article has primarily focused on WWE’s part in the current boom period, it is far from the only wrestling outfit making waves. In 2019 All Elite Wrestling debuted and gave WWE its first serious competition in many years.
By combining a host of young stars with whom TV audiences were unfamiliar, alongside a smattering of recognizable legends of the business, the company soon began packing out arenas and airing three weekly shows on TNT: Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision.
Even WWE superstars have praised AEW
In fact, AEW has been so successful that WWE superstars have publicly acknowledged it. In August 2023 its ALL IN pay-per-view at England’s Wembley Stadium attracted 81,035 delirious fans. On the After the Bell podcast, WWE’s Rollins praised the rival company, saying, “We are in the boom.”
He explained, “You have to understand, there is another company that just put 80,000 people in a stadium for one night. A week before that, we sold 90,000 tickets to Wrestlemania, broke the all-time gate on the first da
Past greats are proud of where the business is now
On top of this, the likes of New Japan Pro Wrestling and Impact Wrestling are also doing better than ever. As Rollins noted, “There are seven, eight different television programs of pro wrestling on a week, not counting premium live events or pay-per-views.”
He concluded, “It’s very easy to look back at the past with rose-colored glasses… I’m not taking anything away from the guys who paved the way… But they should be proud — and I know they are — because they are the people who got us to where we are now.”