The Rock Open To WWE WrestleMania 40 Match

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.