Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has more or less confirmed that he won’t be wrestling at WWE WrestleMania 39 in April, but that does not mean he won’t be present at the mega event. This news comes from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, who said that the former WWE Champion “may show up” at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, for a non-wrestling role.
It’s probably for the best he didn’t come back this year. There’s already a lot going on with The Bloodline not to mention Cody Rhodes and adding The Rock to the mix right now would complicate things. Save it for WM40 https://t.co/8UrEeGqF0V
— Public Enemies Podcast (@TheEnemiesPE3) January 31, 2023
It had been speculated in all quarters for months that The Rock would face his real-life cousin, Roman Reigns, in the main event of WrestleMania 39 as it is taking place close to Hollywood, where the former Rock has become a household name all over the world over the past decade. However, nothing was ever confirmed, and with the megastar revealing he was not in any shape to take to the ring, it looks like the opportunity has passed this year.
Meltzer (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News) did give fans some hope by stating that The Rock might still do an angle at WrestleMania 39 that involves an impromptu “three-second match” where he doesn’t have to do much. A clash with Reigns remains a highly sought-after dream match today, and fans can only hope it comes to fruition before The People’s Champ decides to hang up his boots for good.
Cody Rhodes was always the choice if The Rock was not able to work
There was a lot of speculation that the Rock could headline WrestleMania 39 against Roman Reigns. Though WWE had put in a lot of effort to get the Rock for the mega event, the plan did not materialize due to the Hollywood star’s busy schedule and movie commitments.
However, there was also speculation about Cody Rhodes winning the Royal Rumble. And it did happen as the American Nightmare entered at the number 30 spot to script the historic win. Speaking on the Wrestling Observer, Dave Meltzer explained that WWE had always thought of Cody Rhodes to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39 if they could not get the Rock. There was a belief that Sami Zayn could also be headlining WrestleMania but it was ruled out.
“That is the plan or at least was the plan as of Wednesday or Thursday … whether they will change it or not … even when we were talking about I already knew it was not Roman and Sami at WrestleMania which is probably why they didn’t talk about it so much last week … guess we’ll find out I haven’t heard anything tonight you know one way or the other … and if it is going to change, it wouldn’t be tonight anyway … it would probably be before TV on Monday if they were going to make a change in direction, and they may not because once you have that kind of Rumble win … kinda like the rule thumb is that the guy is got to get the shot … I mean that was the long-term decision they went with you know … they wanted Dwayne and, obviously there was the Austin talk, but it was … Cody was always in the mix, I mean, I was always told if it’s not Dwayne, It’s going to be Cody … you know, for the match with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.”
