The Rock scheduled to return soon

[Troy]

When WWE starts filming TV again in January, they will have some extra muscle: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
Johnson has been added to the 1/7 Raw taping im Tampa, FL and the 1/8 Smackdown taping in his hometown of Miami, Florida.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is now being locally advertised for the 1/22 Smackdown taping at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California.
Johnson will begin making appearances for the company to build to his 1/27 Royal Rumble PPV bout against WWE champ CM Punk at the beginning of 2013.

As expected The Rock will start appearing on RAW starting from the first RAW of 2013. What I find really interesting is that he is booked for a couple of Smackdown dates as well. It is about time he appears on Smackdown as well, too often these big stars are just used to pop RAW's rating and they ignore the second show. The Rock appearing on Smackdown should pop a good rating and The Rock was a mainstay of Smackdown back in the day and helped make it a successful show.

 

[Embrace Thou Maryse]

Finally...I have a reason to watch WWE again.

 

[Kiffy Lube]

Well this doesn't sound like too much news is here. WWE needs get started with what feud they are gonna build goin' into the Rumble. Of course we still gotta deal with Punk/Ryback in a couple weeks for the belt.

 

[Captain Charisma]

Finally we see more of Rock. It's good because I wasnt watching WWE for a long time. Now I can watch WWE again.

 

[Gimmick]

No surprise really. They'll need to start things right off the bat next year if they want to hype up his match with Punk at Royal Rumble. Good to hear though, hopefully he'll make these 3 hour Raw's easier to watch.

Watching him on Smackdown (if it actually goes through) should also be fun. He doesn't exactly need to appear on the show, but should boost up the ratings a little bit and help make the show look a little bit more important.

 

[Rated R Superstar]

I'm actually surprised it took this long.

 

[Darth Shizzel]

Good I can wait to hear the back and forth promo promo's between Rock and Punk hopefully neither have to hold back this time.

 

[The Cork]

Really hoping him and Lesnar are in the Chamber.

 

[Chris Dresdon]

Really hoping him and Lesnar are in the Chamber.

That would be awesome. Admittedly it's probably a long shot, but it'd be great.

 

[Troy]

Well this doesn't sound like too much news is here. WWE needs get started with what feud they are gonna build goin' into the Rumble. Of course we still gotta deal with Punk/Ryback in a couple weeks for the belt.

To me the fact that he is appearing on Smackdown is the biggest news. He was always going to appear on RAW soon to build for the Rumble but if I remember right I don't think he even appeared on Smackdown during his feud with Cena last year. This would be the first time in many years that he has appeared on Smackdown in person.

 

[Kahuna]

If Rock is coming back to the title off the longest reigning and one of the most impacting WWE Champions in the past 25 years, he better show up as much as he possibly can. Frankly I think it would be stupid to give this guy the title then have him cut promos via satellite with the strap while other guys have nothing to do. Id be amazed if Punk won, but I just hope for all things appropriate that Rock (if he wins) makes an appearance every week, at least once, whether its on RAW or Smackdown, just show more commitment from both WWE and Rock than they did the Cena feud.

 

[SAIYANS]

Most impacting?

 

[Kahuna]

Most impacting?

As in performance, effectiveness as champion and deliverance of importance to the title.

 

[SAIYANS]

But he hasn been that impactful in terms of shaking things up besides reign length. In fact he's been the after thought of Raw to HHH TAker Rock Brock Cena Ace Show and so on. He wasn even the main event regularly. It's a long run, good to great matches, but he hasn't even been the top act of his brand most the reign because he isn't that good

 

[Kahuna]

But he hasn been that impactful in terms of shaking things up besides reign length. In fact he's been the after thought of Raw to HHH TAker Rock Brock Cena Ace Show and so on. He wasn even the main event regularly. It's a long run, good to great matches, but he hasn't even been the top act of his brand most the reign because he isn't that good

I dont think he is the best, but hes the only guy aside from Cena (even though I didnt agree with how he was portrayed) who has made the title seem relevant in the past few years. Playing hot potato with the title and having abysmal reigns or repetitive feuds can only go on for so long. As for him being "an afterthought" that might be opinion on your part, because the guy is still popular and way over. You cant really consider him to be an afterthought because "he isnt that good", you have to blame booking and the writers for constantly fucking up their priorities as a wrestling company. Rock vs Cena easily trumped the WWE title picture if its not involving those two, same way Hogan vs Rock trumped Triple H vs Y2J for the WWF title ten years ago. Its name value over pushing the future; I get it, its smart in that sense but WWE has been pushing things they deem more important over the WWE Champion for months at a time this past year, its not Punks fault if WWE is putting other things that need not be over the WWE Champion.

10 years ago the champion was the main focus, and if he wasnt he was half the focus or at least part of it; now a days it doesnt matter who has the strap, its usually the same old routine getting the spotlight. I was actually laughing when they thought pushing Kane vs Cena leading into the first couple months of 2012 was more important than pushing Punk vs Jericho leading up toward Mania.

Simply put he hasnt been put up at the top act of brand for the majority of time because WWE doesnt know wtf they are doing for the most part.