Report: The Rock Arrived "Three Hours Late" Ahead of WWE WrestleMania 40 Main Event

The Rock teamed with Roman Reigns to battle Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins on Night 1.

By Liam Crowley

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is back in WWE. The People's Champion returned in a recurring capacity this past January, setting his sights on his long-awaited dream match against Roman Reigns. After pushback from fans, The Rock pivoted, turning heel for the first time in over 20 years and aligning himself with Reigns to take the fight to Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. Rock would become essentially a weekly staple throughout the first quarter of 2024, regularly appearing on WWE SmackDown and occasionally taking his talents to WWE Monday Night Raw. After the events of WWE WrestleMania 40 played out, Rock declared that he will be hunting down Rhodes upon his return and confirmed his intention to compete at WWE WrestleMania 41 next spring.

Report: The Rock's Tardiness Bleeds Into WWE

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(Photo: WWE)

While things turned out smoothly on screen, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's WWE return might have had some behind-the-scenes stumbles.

According to TheWrap, The Rock arrived "three hours late" to WWE WrestleMania 40 Night 1, the half of the show that included his main event match. This report was pushed back on by WWE Executive Vice President for Talent Relations and Head of Communications Chris Legentil.

"Dwayne was not only on time for WrestleMania, he was hours early to help with rehearsal — and a pleasure to work with throughout the entire run," Lenegentil told TheWrap.

The report also includes that The Rock was late to his appearance at WWE World at WrestleMania, the week-long fan event that featured superstar panels and interactive elements. This was confirmed during the week of WWE WrestleMania 40 itself as The Rock did end up fulfilling his scheduled appearance but arrived two hours late. The Rock's tardiness to WWE World was reportedly due to his other WWE commitments as well as Philadelphia traffic.

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These WWE examples are just a fraction of an extensive report that details The Rock's history of arriving late to film sets. The report also alleges that The Rock's tardiness has been prevalent on productions like the Fast & Furious franchise and HBO's Ballers. These late arrivals have reportedly resulted in budgets getting ballooned and at least one "huge fight" breaking out.

The Rock is scheduled to film A24's The Smashing Machine over the next four months and is currently doing voice work for Moana 2. He is expected to return to WWE at some point before WWE WrestleMania 41.

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