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Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Returns To WWE SmackDown Alongside Pat McAfee [VIDEO]

By Sondra Ruth • Published 15th September 2023
dwayne johnson the rock wwe usa

Finally, The Rock has come back to WWE, and he didn’t come alone!

The fans in Denver, CO were in for a huge surprise on the September 15th episode of Smackdown when Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Pat McAfee both made their returns to the company.

Earlier in the day, Johnson was a guest on The Pat McAfee Show, held nearby the site of SmackDown in Denver. Shortly before the show, Fightful Select reported that both men were planned to be at the event.

Sure enough, McAfee delighted the audience by opening the show, but he was soon confronted by his WrestleMania 38 opponent Austin Theory. Never sFinhort on bravado, Theory got in McAfee’s face, and McAfee called him disrespectful to the wrestling business as a whole as well as to the fans in the audience.

After declaring SmackDown as “the people’s show,” the crowd in Denver gave a thunderous ovation as none other than The Rock made his way into the arena. After greeting his fans, Rock was interrupted by Theory, who emulated The Great One’s catchphrases and even had the audacity to say “it doesn’t matter what The Rock says.”

Rock made it clear that it does very much matter, and it also matters what the people have to say. He then asked the crowd if they wanted to see him “beat this jabroni’s a**,” something the crowd very much loved.

In the end, Theory received People’s Elbows from not only Rock but McAfee as well. Video of the returns can be seen below.

The Rock Teased Major WrestleMania 40 Match With Roman Reigns

The Hollywood megastar’s return to WWE comes just hours after dropping a major hint for WrestleMania 40. During his Pat McAfee Show appearance, Rock revealed that a match between himself and Bloodline leader Roman Reigns had been “locked in” for WrestleMania 39 before creative plans didn’t come to fruition. He then raised eyebrows (including his own) with a huge tease:

“So we got really really close, but we couldn’t actually nail what that thing was, so we decided to put our pencils down, and then we agreed, hey listen. There’s a merger coming up, eventually that will happen. There’s WrestleMania in Philadelphia… [crowd reacts as Rock raises his eyebrow]”

McAfee asked Rock what he was saying, and the Hollywood megastar said he’s “open” to competing on the Grandest Stage of Them All in 2024.

“I’m saying that’s a potential too. I’m open, I’m open, but again, let’s figure out what that is because the fans deserve something just incredible, unprecedented, and not only that, but I also want to deliver to the locker room, to the boys and the girls back there working their a**es off. What can we do to put them in a position where they’re part of something that is a new change, a new era in this world of pro wrestling.”

If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit the original source and link back to this article with a h/t to TJR Wrestling.