It's June 17th, 2002, and the WWE's biggest weekly show Monday Night Raw is in Oakland,

California, and The Rock has come back to the WWE, the updated name of the WWF.

The crowd can't believe he's actually here, but sure enough, The Rock bursts into the arena.

The Rock wasn't supposed to be here tonight.

Dwayne The Rock Johnson has been on the road for two months promoting his first starring movie role

in The Scorpion King, but he's here now jumping around the ring as the crowd wildly embraces their

returning hero.

The plan was for The Rock to be gone for another month, but last week, an exhausted and fed up

Steve Austin stormed off and quit the company after a dispute with the man who runs it all, Vince McMahon.

The two aren't seeing eye to eye on the creative direction for Steve's in-ring character, Stone Cold.

Wrestling fans don't know what to make of the story. This is professional wrestling, after all,

this all could be part of a bit, but it's not. It's very real. Steve Austin is gone, and now there's

a giant void at the top of the WWE. So Vince McMahon needs a top guy, and now, in his eyes,

there's only one option. The Rock. So Vince has asked Dwayne to say some harsh words about Steve as The Rock.

Dwayne respects Steve Austin. Hell, he understands having issues with the creative direction of a character.

He's been through a few real-life frustrations with Vince McMahon himself, but Dwayne just can't

let this slide. In Dwayne's mind, Steve Austin left everyone high and dry. The WWE, the wrestlers

in the locker room and the fans, which is what bugs Dwayne the most. The fans deserve better from

Steve Austin, but he quit on them. Dwayne Johnson's seeing how much fans came around to him during his

transformation vows to never turn his back on them. And that is why he's back in the ring right

now as The Rock, ready to electrify the crowd.

Until next month. But considering what happened last week, The Rock will be damned if he didn't come

...