Sporting KC’s Tim Melia suspended for Wednesday’s game, but ‘The Rock’ noticed his move

Sporting Kansas City will be without starting goalkeeper Tim Melia for Wednesday evening’s game against the L.A. Galaxy after being handed a one-match league suspension for his pro wrestling-style takedown of a Seattle Sounders player last Saturday.

The suspension comes after Major League Soccer found Melia guilty of violent conduct during Sporting KC’s 2-1 win at Seattle. Melia slammed Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan to the turf in a goal-mouth scramble.

The incident caught the attention of WWE superstar-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. In a Twitter post this week, Johnson identified Melia’s takedown of Roldan as a “Rock Bottom” — a move that Johnson made famous during his wrestling career.

this is called delivering a devastating, “Rock Bottom”
+ I assume player in green got up and fought his ass off, unless he got his bell rung.
+ I also assume there was a card delivered in the red color palette https://t.co/anvlN9Sx5T

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 23, 2021

Backup goalkeepers John Pulskamp and Kendall McIntosh were the two players most likely to replace Melia in Wednesday night’s SKC lineup. Pulskamp featured in five games for Sporting KC at the start of the season as Melia worked his way back from an injury, posting a 2-2-1 record with a 1.4 goals-against average.

With a win Wednesday, Sporting KC would assume the the top spot in the Western Conference based on goal differential with a game in hand over Seattle.