The Rock’s Possible WWE Return Being Discussed Along With Deadline For WrestleMania Involvement

It could be time to smell what The Rock is cooking in WWE again although a recent report suggests it’s up to the People’s Champion to decide.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is arguably the biggest movie star in the world and you could even say he’s one of the most well-known celebrities as well. It would be a huge thing for WWE to get him to come back to wrestling for at least one more match, or perhaps two of them.

Ever since it was announced that WrestleMania 39 would take place in Los Angeles, The Rock has been linked to it as a possible retirement match for the 50-year-old WWE legend. After all, it seems like the right place for the Hollywood star to call it a career in pro wrestling. The question is, does Rock have time for it?

As fans of The Rock know from following him on social media, he’s a very busy man whether he’s filming movies, producing TV shows like Young Rock or owning the XFL football league, which starts play in 2023 after recently holding a draft. The Rock is heavily involved in everything he does and there are always questions about if he has time or interest in wrestling again. Plus, he suffered multiple injuries during his last official WWE match with John Cena at WrestleMania 29 in 2013, which can lead to problems due to future projects he has. The Rock did have a “match” with Erick Rowan at WrestleMania 32 in 2016 as well, but that was just a surprise Rock Bottom to win an impromptu match.

In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (available via subscription) by Dave Meltzer, some insight was provided in terms of a potential Rock involvement.

“Really this started as a “What if?,” with the idea that if you could pick the perfect scenario for Mania season what would you do, and the obvious answer becomes Rock winning the Royal Rumble, either as an announced entrant or a surprise, as either works for different reasons, and then going on to face Roman Reigns for the title at WrestleMania. It keeps the tradition of the Rumble winner getting the title match alive, but obviously if Johnson can’t do Rumble but can do Mania they will do that match either way.”

“The idea was being talked about behind-the-scenes, but as best we can tell while rumors certainly exist within the company, as far as those who would be in a position to know, there is no real answer.”

While WWE would love to know if The Rock is able and willing to wrestle at WrestleMania, there is also a deadline for when WWE would like to know if he wants to do it.

“If Johnson wants to do it and can be sold on the idea, it would be the most perfect scenario for the company. The only thing we were told is that the close-to-finalized plans for the WrestleMania main event need to be locked in by mid-January and whatever involvement Johnson wishes to do and has time to do they would like to be finalized by that date. Originally the belief was that if his schedule allowed for it, Johnson would do likely his last match at Mania with Reigns, who is a family member.”

“This has been talked about for years and Johnson wanted it in Los Angeles if he could do it. There was talk of it regarding Dallas last year but Johnson was more interested in Los Angeles, so they went with Brock Lesnar.”

“The idea we heard regarding a discussion and nothing more, like I said, it’s been talked about as a pie-in-the-sky is a surprise No. 30 entrant and winning. It could be something only a few people know but as best we can tell there is nothing official to it right now past a rumor.”

Since the Royal Rumble is the next WWE main roster Premium Live Event, there should be plenty of rumors of Rock’s potential involvement between now and when the Rumble takes place on January 28th in San Antonio. However, as Meltzer noted above, The Rock could choose to wrestle Reigns at WrestleMania, but it’s not like he “needs” to win a Royal Rumble to get a shot at the Undisputed WWE Universal Title. It’s a match that sells itself especially since Reigns has been established as WWE’s unquestioned top guy for more than two years.

WrestleMania 39 takes place on Saturday, April 1st, 2023 and Sunday, April 2nd, 2023 with some other legends like Steve Austin and John Cena potentially being involved in matches as well.