"He's not even here" - Plans for The Rock's return to WWE could not be finalized until minutes before he appeared, says top star
A top WWE Superstar recently shared a story about The Rock's return last September 2023 in Denver, Colorado in an episode of SmackDown. Austin Theory worked in a segment with The Great One and shared how the plans for it were not finalized until the last minute.
The Rock has been making part-time appearances in WWE over the past year. His return in Colorado to work in a segment with Theory and Pat McAfee went viral back then. It ended with The People's Champion hitting The People's Elbow on A-Town Down.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, the former United States Champion explained that the Hollywood star wasn't even in the build an hour before the show started.
"We had an hour before the show, I get a call, and I end up going to Triple H's office. He basically gives me the rundown of, 'Hey, Pat McAfee's coming back. We're thinking, you go out there, you cut a promo, and then kind of get on him, and then we'll have The Rock come out.' I'm just like, 'For real? Alright!' So then they're sitting there, and then the head writer, he's like, 'Hey, there's not a lot of time left now.' There's like 40 minutes, 30 minutes left. He's like, 'Just go figure out what you want to say to Pat and then we'll figure out the rest. We'll tell you what you're doing with Rock when he gets here.' So I'm like, 'Well, he's not even here, this is crazy,'" Theory said. [H/T: chrisvanvliet.com]
Following The Rock's return, he became part of the WrestleMania 40 build-up and turned into The Final Boss. It was considered one of the biggest moments of the year and it will be interesting to see if the character will be back for WrestleMania 41 season.
The Rock returned at WWE Bad Blood
In the main event of WWE Bad Blood, Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes teamed up to beat Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu of The Bloodline. Reigns and Rhodes finished the show on top before The Rock returned to stare at them and Jimmy Uso.
It's unclear what WWE has planned for The Final Boss, with reports claiming that he might not even be available for WrestleMania. There are also rumors of a potential match against Cody Rhodes, as well as a triple threat match involving Roman Reigns.
