Highlights
- "Young Rock" prioritizes politics over pro wrestling, as the show focuses more on a potential political career for Dwayne Johnson rather than showcasing the wrestling world that made him famous.
- The show portrays the wrestling industry through rose-tinted glasses, presenting a romanticized version of the business that fails to accurately capture its gritty reality and history.
- "Young Rock" caters to The Rock's ego, presenting him as a flawless and humble character with no flaws, which alienates wrestling fans who are familiar with his habit of inflating his importance and misconstruing stories.
Professional wrestling has been the inspiration for countless movies and television shows, with very mixed success. Movies like Ready to Rumble and No Holds Barred are notoriously bad movies that star professional wrestlers and center around the sport. On the other hand, shows like GLOW and Heels were well-received by their audience and even helped showcase pro wrestling to people unfamiliar with the sport.
RELATED: 10 Best Moments Of Young Rock Season 3, RankedNBC’s Young Rock falls somewhere in the middle. The comedy series premiered in 2021 and has a total of three seasons (it will not be returning for a fourth season, as revealed this past June). While some audiences enjoyed the show’s nostalgic atmosphere and light-hearted tone, it failed to capture the attention of a vital demographic: wrestling fans. This was for a variety of reasons, ranging from the show’s inaccurate portrayal of pro wrestling to the fact that the entire show was made to boost The Rock’s ego.
'Young Rock' Was More Politics Than Pro Wrestling
Despite the fact that Dwayne Johnson is one of the most successful pro wrestlers in history, pro wrestling takes a back seat in this biopic. Instead, much of the show feels like a pseudo-advertisement for a potential political career.
The show is split up into four timelines. Three of them show different “young Rocks” at various stages in Johnson’s life. The last one takes place in the future, specifically in the year 2032. In this timeline, the Rock is running for president. If you’re thinking that sounds ridiculous and cringe-inducing, you’re not alone.
What makes this even worse is that it’s played off completely seriously. This could have been an opportunity for Johnson to poke fun at rumors he would be running for president, but instead, he only fuels these rumors by writing dialogue that legitimately sounds like a campaign pitch. It’s incredibly bizarre to watch, and it only takes away from the more interesting parts of the show.
'Young Rock' Showed The Wrestling Ring Through Rose-Tinted Glasses
Obviously, in a family show, they’re not going to be completely honest about how the wrestling world operated when Dwayne Johnson was growing up. But Young Rock portrays the wrestling business so positively it feels like romanticization. One of the clearest examples of this romanticization is the show’s portrayal of Vince McMahon, who’s depicted as a suave, yet kindhearted businessman who wants the best for his performers. Isn’t that laughable?
RELATED: Wrestling Fans Poke Fun At Young Rock's Hollywood Hulk HoganAgain, I understand that this is a comedy meant to be viewed by families, but this is about the show’s failure to attract wrestling fans. People familiar with the wrestling business, especially how it operated in the 80s, are too smartened to fall for this flowery, overly upbeat portrayal of a business that has a truckload of skeletons in its closet. And if wrestling fans aren’t being shown an interesting perspective of the wrestling business, why would they bother to tune in?
'Young Rock' Is About The Rock’s Insatiable Ego
Obviously, a show titled Young Rock wasn’t going to be a hit piece on the Rock and his family. But it goes so far in the other direction that it feels a bit ridiculous. The show is very self-indulgent in its portrayal of the Rock, from him as an upcoming wrestler to a presidential candidate. He isn’t allowed to have any flaws besides his childlike naïveté. The show insists that he is the ideal man, who’s very down to earth and very, very humble.
RELATED: John Cena Reveals The Conversation He Had With The Rock Following SmackDownWrestling fans have been familiar with stars’ habit of lying for no reason. Hulk Hogan is especially notorious for it, and The Rock has also been shown to inflate or misconstrue stories in order to make himself seem like a greater, more altruistic person.
Unfortunately for The Rock, mainstream audiences are smart to his incredibly inflated ego now, too. The biggest catalyst for this was the drama surrounding the DCEU film, Black Adam. The Rock took a character that is, in all honesty, a C-List comic book character, and inflated his importance to match his own ego.
Johnson also refused to have his portrayal of Black Adam fight Black Adam’s comic book adversary, the heroic Shazam (also known as Captain Marvel, and ot Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel). Instead, The Rock wanted to book himself to fight Superman. It was an incredibly messy and embarrassing situation for DC Comics, which could’ve been avoided entirely if The Rock cast his own enormous ego aside for just one second. All in all, Young Rock is just like all of Dwayne Johnson’s other projects; a shallow, self-indulgent ego project.
