The Rock is one of the greatest WWE Superstars of all time, so it was quite surprising to see him booed by fans even before his heel turn ahead of WrestleMania 40. However, Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley has explained the reason behind it.
Before The Rock turned on Cody Rhodes ahead of The Showcase of the Immortals, many fans were not pleased with how the latter was seemingly planning on giving away his title shot at Roman Reigns to The Great One. Eventually, the storyline panned out to have The Rock and Roman pitted against Cody and Seth Rollins on Night One of 'Mania.
Speaking in an interview with Bill Apter of Sportskeeda Wrestling, D-Von Dudley explained that a majority of today's fans may not connect with The Rock owing to the generation gap.
"You have some that are booing him, some that are cheering him. You know again, different time different era. The fans of today were not there when The Rock was at his, the peak of his career. And he was the most beloved wrestler in pro-wrestling at the time. And you know, that happens. When a generation is not there to see the stardom of someone who was a star before they were even born... they don't get how strong that person was during his time in his era. Again, it's a different era. You know, things change, you just gotta go with the flow." [2:47 onwards]
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The WWE legend thinks that The Rock is more "mature" in his latest appearances
D-Von Dudley also spoke about how The Rock's performances today are different from his previous ones, claiming that he is on a different level of confidence now.
In the same interview with Bill Apter of Sportskeeda, the WWE Hall of Famer explained that The Brahma Bull was having more fun with his new role than before due to certain reasons.
"A lot more mature. 10-times mature. Knows his craft and you can tell the confidence. Not that he didn't have confidence before, but it's just naturally coming out. It's not from a script, he is not being told what to do. He's just having fun, going out there doing his thing and that's what it is supposed to be," said D-Von. [2:18 onwards]
While The Rock is currently not active in WWE, he could potentially be back before WrestleMania 41. It remains to be seen what is next for him down the line.
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