The Final Boss watches on. Earlier this month at WWE Bad Blood, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made his first WWE appearance since the WWE Monday Night Raw after WWE WrestleMania 40 in April, closing the premium live event with an ominous “1, 2, 3” warning to WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns. While many initially interpreted the gesture as The Rock reminding Rhodes that he pinned him 1-2-3 the night before he won the WWE Championship, reports have since suggested that he could actually be teasing a triple threat match between himself, Rhodes, and Reigns for WWE WrestleMania 41 next year.
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The Rock Dismisses WrestleMania Rumor
The Rock still has his sights on the next Showcase of the Immortals.
Taking to Instagram, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shared a series of behind-the-scenes images from his WWE Bad Blood appearance. When one user questioned if he “was really not working” WWE WrestleMania 41 next year, The Rock bluntly shut down the rumor.
“Don’t believe any of that bulls–t,” The Rock replied.
The uncertainty surrounding The Rock’s WWE WrestleMania 41 status stemmed from a rumor shared by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter‘s Dave Meltzer, who claimed that The Rock had informed WWE that he would no longer be able to wrestle at next year’s Las Vegas-based event due to his schedule filling up. As of this writing, the only project on The Rock’s filming schedule is the live-action Moana, which is actively in production.
Contrary to the rumor, The Rock has given nothing but positive affirmation that he will be continuing his WWE storylines in the near future. At the Raw after ‘Mania in April, The Rock noted that he had to “go away for a little while” but declared he would return to wage war on Cody Rhodes at some point soon.
“Your story with Roman Reigns is over, and you did it,” The Rock told Rhodes. “But our story has just begun.”
Off screen, The Rock has emphasized his excitement of what’s to come in his WWE future.
“Now, my sights are set on the next WrestleMania,” The Rock teased in an Instagram Reel one week after his warning to Rhodes. “But that’s down the road, a conversation [for] down the road.”
Two months after that, The Rock added further fuel to that fire.
“We’re on the one-yard line to create the biggest WrestleMania of all time, and the biggest match of all time at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas,” The Rock said in June. “I’ll just leave it at that, Final Boss style.”
The Rock did not appear on either WWE Monday Night Raw or WWE SmackDown last week. It’s likely that his WWE Bad Blood appearance was akin to a post-credits scene, teasing his arrival for a premium live event in the distant months to come. That next appearance could come as soon as WWE Survivor Series in November, as The Rock has reason to get involved in the anticipated Bloodline Civil War, or possibly WWE Royal Rumble in February. Either way, look for The Rock to be in a marquee spot on the WWE WrestleMania 41 card in April 2024.
