The Rock Open To WWE WrestleMania 40 Match

The Great One is reportedly keeping the door open for a match at next year's WrestleMania.

By Andrew Pollard / January 31, 2023

WWE

While it continues to look increasingly unlikely that the Rock will be lacing up his boots to compete at WrestleMania 39, the Great One has reportedly "left the door open" for WrestleMania 40.

Speaking on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio (as per WrestlingNews.co), Dave Meltzer discussed how, much like 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, the Rock is now not expected to wrestle at this year's Showcase of the Immortals. However, the Observer founder did stress that Dwayne Johnson could return to the ring for the 2024 edition of WWE's famed Grandaddy of Them All.

"The same goes for Dwayne. Dwayne could be there in some way or fashion. There are people going, 'Oh, don't you think it's a swerve they keep saying it's not a swerve?'. It's not a swerve. I've been told this for a while. There's always the 'Maybe it's a secret', like the Pat McAfee thing, right? Only a few people know. We're past that point. Cody Rhodes won the Royal Rumble. He's getting the Championship match. It ain't Dwayne anymore. Dwayne's not wrestling anybody else unless it's a three-second match. He did not feel that he had the time to get in the shape that he needed to be in to do a WrestleMania-calibre main event, and he left the door open for next year."

Despite reports dating back to before WrestleMania 38 that the Rock would be competing at 'Mania 39, recent stories suggested that this will no longer be the case. Added to that, Paul 'Triple H' Levesque went to great lengths in the post-Royal Rumble press conference to stress how busy the Rock is and how the Game currently doesn't see a Rock appearance at WrestleMania 38 as being on the cards.

Previously, the belief was that the People's Champion was destined for a face-off with Roman Reigns at this year's Show of Shows. Instead, the Tribal Chief is now on course to defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Title against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 38 during the weekend of 1 and 2 April.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 31st Jan 2023

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The Rock WWE WrestleMania 39 WWE WrestleMania 40