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The Rock Comments On WWE Releases

By John Canton • Published 22nd September 2023
the rock wwe just bring it

The Rock has reacted to the WWE releases while giving his extended thoughts on one particular superstar.

It was last Friday on WWE SmackDown in Denver when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made a surprising, unannounced appearance on the show. The Rock and Pat McAfee were in nearby Boulder, Colorado earlier in the day and on Saturday to support Colorado’s college football team, so they made their way to SmackDown as well.

After Pat McAfee did a promo that was interrupted by former US Champion Austin Theory, The Rock made an appearance to a thunderous ovation. Days later, Johnson posted that he was “blown away” by the crowd reaction.

That return of The Rock led to a ratings surge for SmackDown that likely would have been even bigger if WWE promoted that he was on the show. Obviously, the surprise factor worked very well too.

On Thursday, WWE released several superstars ranging from veterans to NXT stars to developmental wrestlers that hadn’t been on TV yet. On Twitter/X, The Rock gave a special shoutout to the tremendous career of Dolph Ziggler, who spent nearly 20 years in WWE and accomplished a lot as seen in a graphic that The Rock included in his tweet.

Just seeing all these releases now. These days so f’n tough for the ones who gave their all to our crazy world of pro wrestling. Like @HEELZiggler. What a decorated @WWE career and I’ll always be a supporter and fan. Can’t wait to see what he (and everyone) does next… #onward

The Rock is “open” to wrestling at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia

As for The Rock’s pro wrestling future, the 51-year-old future WWE Hall of Famer was on the Pat McAfee Show last Friday when he made it clear he was “open” to the possibility of wrestling in Philadelphia next April.

“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 The Rock does wrestle in WWE again, it’s likely that the match will be against the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, who is Johnson’s cousin. As has been the case for the last decade, it’s up to Johnson if he wants to do it.