Dwayne Johnson left professional wrestling in 2004 to focus on his thriving acting career, where he earns almost a whopping $100 million a year. The Rock briefly returned to wrestling in 2011 and 2019, before announcing his retirement. During his career, the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle actor headlined several tournaments, including the main event in WrestleMania XXVIII against John Cena, one of the most-watched episodes in WWE history.
The Fast X actor was in talks to appear in the WrestleMania 39 main event against the current WWE champion and his cousin, Roman Reigns. Johnson even met with WWE President Nick Khan and Executive Chairman Vince McMahon, but the plan ultimately fell through. Now, The Mummy Returns actor hints at the possibility of appearing in WrestleMania 40.
What’s Stopping Dwayne Johnson From Re-Entering WrestleMania?
Dwayne Johnson is a busy star in Hollywood with some major projects under his belt. However, the Red Notice actor’s busy schedule is not the reason why he’s delaying his WrestleMania appearance. Nor is he concerned about injuries that could potentially affect his film projects. The main issue for the Jungle Cruise actor is providing his fans with something unexpected and unique.
Johnson’s renewed interest in WrestleMania was revealed when he appeared on The Pat McAfee Show as a guest on September 15. The Black Adam actor wanted to create an unprecedented experience for his fans if he were to face Roman Reigns in another WrestleMania main event. Johnson told The Pat McAfee Show:
“Honestly brother, it’s not the injury that I’m concerned about because that’s just part of it. It’s just part of the game you sign up for. You get hurt, we all get hurt. That’s just the way it is. It’s not even the schedule because I can control the schedule, to a large degree. Me going back to WWE and wrestling a match, it always comes down to the reason why and what can we create that’s never been done before for the fans. So, that’s the idea.”
If the WWE scriptwriting team can come up with such a plot within The Bloodline storyline that surprises the audience, it’s possible that we might see the Rock return to the ring.
Dwayne Johnson In WrestleMania 39 Didn’t Happen Due To This Exact Reason
Dwayne Johnson revealed that a match with Roman Reigns was almost locked for WrestleMania 39. In early 2022, he sat down with Nick Khan and Vince McMahon in Los Angeles to discuss the plans. They were ready to move forward with the match, but only if they could produce something new and groundbreaking for the fans that would benefit the wrestling business as a whole.
The three came close to making it a reality but eventually had to drop the idea. However, Johnson disclosed that he was open to the possibility of WrestleMania 40 happening in Philadelphia. The Baywatch actor shared with Pat McAfee:
“There’s WrestleMania in Philadelphia… I’m saying that that’s a potential too so I’m open. But again, let’s figure out what that is because the fans deserve something just incredible and unprecedented and not only that, I always wanna deliver to the locker room and the boys and the girls back there that are working their asses off.”
WWE fans are excited to see if the Rock can deliver on his words and provide them with something amazing. After Dwayne Johnson’s 2022 plan didn’t go through, the main event of WrestleMania 39 was the fight between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes for the WWE Universal Championship, which Reigns defended by defeating Rhodes.
Source: The Pat McAfee Show
