How Last Minute Was The Rock's WWE SmackDown Segment?

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson make his first WWE appearance in nearly four years this past week on WWE SmackDown. In the first show of the Endeavor era, former WWE commentator and occasional in-ring competitor Pat McAfee opened the blue brand's show before being interrupted by Austin Theory. Theory proceeded to run down McAfee by emphasizing that he still had beef with him following their match against one another at WWE WrestleMania 38. After declaring that WWE SmackDown was his show, Theory was interrupted by a familiar "IF YA SMELL" and was greeted by The Rock. The Great One proceeded to lay the smacketh down both verbally and physically, hitting Theory with a People's Elbow before celebrating with the Denver crowd.

How Last-Minute Was The Rock's WWE Segment?

Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show, Pat McAfee revealed that he arrived to the Ball Arena for WWE SmackDown just 25 minutes before the show went live on FOX.

"'Hey, you want to go on SmackDown, open the show, and then be in the ring with The Rock whenever he does his thing?' Uh, yeah! Got there 5:34 local time," McAfee recalled. "Traffic from Boulder to Denver was not great. Show starts 6:00 local time. A lot a people talk about, 'How long did everything come together?' It's like real quick. Absolute honor to be back there. Great to see everybody. I thank them mightily for the opportunity to do that."

Following a couple of People's Elbows from Rock and McAfee, the two returned backstage for a quick segment with John Cena.

"This was literally on our way out. They're like, 'Can we get a shot of you guys walking out?' Then obviously, we'll have Cena in there as well," McAfee continued. "I was like, 'You don't need to have me in here. Listen, I understand the game here. There is no reason for me to be here. I appreciate it.' They're like, 'No, need you there.' Then I'm standing there, just like everybody else, watching these two. I'm like, 'Are these two about to set up for a WrestleMania run right now?' I didn't know if it was about to be a work or not. Then obviously, 'I see you smiling,' the whole thing. It was electrifying."

This appearance materialized thanks to both Rock and McAfee being in the Colorado area for CU Boulder's college football game against Colorado State. During a live episode of The Pat McAfee Show from the University of Colorado campus, Rock mentioned how close he was to main-eventing WWE WrestleMania 39 against Roman Reigns. That quote alongside his WWE SmackDown appearance has led to speculation that Rock vs. Roman could be in store for WWE WrestleMania 40 next year.