The Rock Teases WrestleMania Match Against Roman Reigns

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has not wrestled a match since WrestleMania 29 in 2013, but a return to the ring continues to live in the imagination of WWE fans.

Roman Reigns’ work as Universal champion and leader of the “Bloodline” seemed to be the perfect story and opportunity for Johnson to come back. Reigns proclaimed himself as the “Head of the Table” of the Anoa’i family, and it seemed befitting for two real-life family members to main event WrestleMania, which almost was a possibility.

“The Rock headlining WrestleMania with Roman Reigns, SoFi stadium, that was locked,” Johnson told Pat McAfee on the “Pat McAfee Show” on Friday. “We were doing it. … In the beginning of 2022, Nick Khan, a very good friend for years. He’s the man, and he was very instrumental in bringing Vince and I together.

“We all flew to LA, we met, we sat. … 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.’ 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 do something great. Let’s do something unprecedented.’

“And it was in, what can we create for the fans that has never been done before? A match? Great. Roman, incredible athlete. He’s going to 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 in this business that we love, where WrestleMania isn’t the end of something, it’s actually the beginning of something bigger.”

Johnson reportedly was worried about his in-ring shape, which played a factor in why he did not come back for WrestleMania 39. Instead, Cody Rhodes faced Reigns, and the latter continued his dominance with Rhodes’ journey of “finishing the story” continuing.

Since then, the Bloodline was dissolved in the summer, and The Usos are split across “RAW” and “SmackDown.” Reigns took a break with the exception of appearances on the major premium live events, but the allure of a Rock-Reigns match still is alive.

“We got really, really close, but we couldn’t actually nail what that thing was,” Johnson said. “We decided to put our pencils down, and then when we agreed, ‘Hey, listen, there is a merger coming up. Eventually, that will happen. There’s WrestleMania in Philadelphia.'”

“What are you saying?” McAfee asked.

“I’m saying that’s a potential, too,” Rock said. “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 but I also want to deliver to the locker room and the boys and the girls back there working their asses off. What can we do to put them in a position where they’re part of something that is a new change? An era in this world of pro wrestling. And again, Vince (McMahon) is a big-picture thinker, as you know, and this is why we’ve gotten along for years just trying to think big picture.”

WWE and UFC’s parent company Endeavor merged Tuesday to form the TKO Group Holding. McMahon is the executive chairman of the new company, but it’s up in the air about what the future of WWE is after the merger.

But what Johnson said shouldn’t be surprising to fans. He’s a perfectionist and fully commits to everything he does. The last thing fans want to see is a sad version of The Rock wrestle a terrible match.

Time is of the essence, though. Johnson will be 52 next year, and Reigns will be 39. Also, signs do seem to point toward Rhodes taking on Reigns at WrestleMania 40 at Lincoln Financial Field, but it wouldn’t be the first time WWE switched up plans on short notice.