Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made his surprise return to WWE on the latest Friday Night SmackDown, mere hours after he confirmed that he and the WWE had been in talks about him facing Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39 this past April. While those plans never fully materialized, speculation that Johnson would be challenging “The Tribal Chief” at WrestleMania XL next April in Philadelphia (and by extension scrapping the previous reports of a Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes rematch) has skyrocketed among wrestling fans over the past few days.ย
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Dave Meltzer offered the latest update on Johnson competing at WrestleMania XL on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio. He noted that nothing is set in stone, though Johnson does have a lighter schedule right now thanks to the ongoing Actors’ Strike.
Could The Rock Wrestle at WrestleMania XL?
“I remember last year when he pulled out, he absolutely talked about the possibility of Philadelphia the next year,” Meltzer said (h/t WrestleTalk) “Him wrestling Roman Reigns has been talked about for years, and he wasn’t gonna do it during the pandemic. So 2020 and 2021 were out. Dallas (WrestleMania 38) was a possibility, but they had LA (WrestleMania 39) scheduled and he decided that LA was gonna be the one he was gonna do it in because SoFi Stadium and 100,000 people and all that, which they didn’t come close to, but he wasn’t on the show either, so whatever. He basically felt that he didn’t have time to get into ring shape, he had his other projects, he had the XFL starting, which he was the face of the company and co-owner. And talked about maybe this year.
“And this year there’s a strike so there’s not a lot of work for him. There’s still the XFL, and if the strike ends, things can change. But it’s his for the taking, and it’s always been,” he continued. “Every year it’s been like that. If he wants it, any year he wants to do it, it’s his. Just a question of, it’s all up to him, whatever he wants to do. A couple of years back, there was some talk of him working with Levesque (Triple H) in one last match, and his schedule didn’t allow it that year either. He’s got a busy schedule. But right now, he doesn’t have a busy schedule. He’s probably got the least busy schedule that he’s probably had since he started in WWE as a rookie in 1996, because of the strike. We’ll see. There’s a lot of variables so there’s no real answer. I’ve asked around and there’s no answer. Either he’s gonna do it, but the ball’s always in his court on that.”
