The Rock tells all about the plans to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.
Boulder, Colorado played host to the 9/15 edition of The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN. Guest appearing on the program was Dwayne ‘The Rock Johnson.
As their conversation rolled on, McAfee asked Johnson if the reason he has not returned to in-ring competition is to avoid getting hurt so his other projects do not get stalled. He stated that the schedule is not an issue because it is something he can manage to a large degree. He added that it’s about what can he create that’s never been done before for the fans.
Honestly brother, it’s not the injury that I’m concerned about because that’s just part of it. It’s just part of the game you sign up for. You get hurt, we all get hurt. That’s just the way it is. It’s not even the schedule because I can control the schedule, to a large degree. Me going back to WWE and wrestling a match, it always comes down to the reason why and what can we create that’s never been done before for the fans. So, that’s the idea.
Following up on that, The Bloodline storyline in WWE was brought up. Johnson told McAfee that he was supposed to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39. He met with WWE President Nick Khan and Executive Chairman Vince McMahon in early 2022 to discuss the idea of headlining the next year’s WrestleMania.
The plan could not be nailed down. Johnson mentioned WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and said he’s available.
Alright, so The Rock headlining WrestleMania with Roman Reigns, SoFi Stadium, that was locked. We were doing it. We were doing it but let me just tell you so, in the beginning of 2022, Nick Khan, who we know, shout out to Nick, a very good friend for years, he’s the man. He was very instrumental in bringing Vince (McMahon) and I together and we all flew to LA. We met, we sat. This is the beginning of 2022 and we broke out the Teremana, we toasted life, we toasted the business we love and about an hour later, we started talking about the potential of what this match could be between myself and Roman Reigns headlining WrestleMania at SoFi and we shook hands and we hugged right there, all three of us at the table and said, ‘Let’s do this…’ So then we had a year to really think about this. So the north star thought was, okay, let’s not do something good, let’s not do something great, let’s do something unprecedented and it was what can we create for the fans that has never been done before? Imagine… Roman, incredible athlete. He’s gonna be on Mount Rushmore. Super handsome, good dude, my cousin, family, amazing. We can have the match but, the bigger thought was what can we do for the fans and this business that we love that will — where WrestleMania isn’t the end of something. It’s actually the beginning of something bigger… So, we got really, really close but we couldn’t actually nail what that thing was so we decided to put our pencils down and we agreed, ‘Hey, listen, there’s a merger coming up. Eventually that will happen.’ There’s WrestleMania in Philadelphia… I’m saying that that’s a potential too so I’m open. But again, let’s figure out what that is because the fans deserve something just incredible and unprecedented and not only that, I always wanna deliver to the locker room and the boys and the girls back there that are working their asses off. What can we do that can put them in position to be a part of something that is a new change and era in this world of pro wrestling? Again, Vince is a big picture thinker as you (Pat McAfee) know and this is why we’ve gotten along for years. Just try to think big picture so…
WrestleMania 39 night two was headlined by Roman Reigns versus Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
The 9/15 Friday Night SmackDown is taking place in Denver, Colorado. POST Wrestling is going to be reviewing the show after it airs.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit The Pat McAfee Show with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
