The Rock Explains Why He Made WWE Return
The Rock is back in the mix at WWE and the People’s Champ has explained why he has returned to a business he has loved his entire life.
It was on January 23rd when World Wrestling Entertainment announced that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was on the TKO Board of Directors. A spot on the board also came with a healthy $30 million payday while also giving Rock a key spot at the table to build WWE for the future.
After The Rock had a staredown with Roman Reigns at the end of the February 2nd edition of Smackdown, it was assumed by many people that WWE was going with Rock against his cousin Reigns at WrestleMania 40.
However, at the WrestleMania 40 Kickoff event in Las Vegas, it was made clear that Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes would be the man to challenge Reigns at WrestleMania 40. As Cody said, it was his choice, not Reigns or The Rock’s choice. During that exchange, Reigns and ROck made it clear they wanted to face each other. It was a heel version of The Rock likely due to how much the fans love Cody Rhodes right now.
In addition to that, Rock slapped Cody Rhodes in the face and Rock left with Reigns to show that the cousins are on the same page.
While speaking to Entertainment Tonight before the WrestleMania Kickoff event, Rock explained that his love of pro wrestling is why he is back in WWE.
“I love it. I love what I do, I love this world of wrestling, I love pro wrestling, I was born into pro wrestling, I will always be a pro wrestler at heart and in attitude too.”
The Rock Was Emotional After Seeing A Family Picture
As he continued, The Rock spoke about how seeing a picture of his father Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas winning Tag Team Championships at WWE Headquarters recently made him feel emotional. The Rock’s father passed away a few years ago.
“I have never seen that picture before and I was so choked up… I was really moved. In that moment, I thought, ‘Man, they were wrestling in what was a fieldhouse back then and wrestling has changed!’ My dad just made history and the bumps and the bruises and the sacrifices that he made and that all those guys made. Now we’re talking about the biggest WrestleMania of all time and the company signs a $5 billion deal with Netflix. It’s just incredible.
“I’m so grateful for the work that he put in and the ground that he laid, [with] my grandfather and all the other wrestlers,” Johnson said. “But also, I’m so grateful to come back in this capacity that I could come back and give to this business and give to the men and women in that locker room, and try and do my little part to do this with everything and create greater opportunities for all of them.”
It’s not known when The Rock will appear on WWE television again due to his busy schedule in Hollywood as well as other things in his life, but as we continue on the Road to WrestleMania, the People’s Champ should be back soon.