Triple H Admits The Rock Went To A Different Level With WWE Return
The Rock’s performance at WrestleMania 40 impressed his former on-screen rival Triple H.
There was a lot of pressure on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at WrestleMania 40 as he competed in the main event of the Saturday night festivities in Philadelphia. The Rock teamed up with Roman Reigns against Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins in a main event filled with a lot of star power.
While The Rock is unquestionably one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time, the reality was that at 51 years old (at the time of the match), there likely was some concern about how Rock would do in the match. It was his first major WWE match in 11 years going back to WrestleMania 29 against John Cena. Fans may recall Rock had a “match” at WrestleMania 32 in 2016 when he beat Erick Rowan with one Rock Bottom, but that was done in under ten seconds.
Everything turned out to be okay since The Rock had a long training camp prior to WrestleMania with WWE NXT stars Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey & Wolfgang). The WrestleMania 40 Saturday match went over 45 minutes and ended with Rock beating Cody Rhodes clean with a People’s Elbow, which could lead to a WrestleMania 41 match between them. Most importantly, Rock got through it healthy.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque is a man who knows Rock well since they literally came up in WWE together in the late 1990s and would go on to main event many major shows together. In his current role as WWE’s Chief Content Officer, Triple H oversees everything in WWE, especially from a creative standpoint.
In an ESPN article covering The Rock’s return to the ring, Triple H had a lot of praise for the People’s Champion.
“It’s one thing to announce a comeback. It’s another to go through a full training camp. But to execute the way Rock did at WrestleMania is a different level.”
The Rock Also Receives Praise From Other WWE Executives
Nick Khan is the WWE President who has known The Rock since childhood and his involvement with WWE, along with Rock working with WWE owners Endeavor for decades, helped to facilitate Rock’s return. Khan spoke to ESPN about the expectations going into WrestleMania 40.
“We believed fan expectations for his return would be extremely high. What Rock was able to accomplish blew through those high expectations.”
“I’m certain Rock was already penciling out the next mountain to build with WWE should he have come out of WrestleMania 40 healthy, which, fortunately he did.”
Bruce Prichard is WWE’s Executive Director of the creative team who has worked with The Rock since he started in WWE in 1996. Bruce also praised The Rock’s performance.
“Father Time doesn’t do many jobs. I thought that Rock kind of kicked his ass.”
The Rock’s return to WWE this year has also given him a spot on TKO’s Board of Directors along with a nice payday. While there’s no specific known WWE return date for Rock, he’ll likely be a big part of WrestleMania 41 next April in Las Vegas.