The pro wrestling world has been on fire ever since Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made his surprise return to WWE on the Day 1 edition of WWE Raw. In the time since, Johnson has received mixed reactions from the WWE universe. During an interview with E! News, Johnson had the following to say about why he returned to WWE for WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia.
“It’s just, it’s in here, it’s in my DNA,” he began. “WrestleMania every year, year over year, continues to get better and better and cooler and cooler and bigger and bigger. So, the goal was for me to come back to WWE. It was; there were a few components to it. Number one was, number one, and most importantly, what can we create for the fans? That’s going to be interesting.
“And then can we possibly create the biggest WrestleMania event of all time, the biggest match of all time between myself and Roman Reigns. Can we do that? And the best thing about always coming back to this world of pro wrestling that I was born into is I get to connect with the people and the fans in ways that I don’t have that opportunity to connect with them.”
It is not clear exactly when this interview was recorded, but the WWE WrestleMania XL logo can be seen behind Johnson in the video, which is embedded into the E! News site. As of now, Johnson is not scheduled to face Reigns at WWE WrestleMania XL, as that honor is going to 2024 WWE Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes. Johnson did tease a match against Reigns on the WWE Raw: Day 1 episode, but after the crowd rejected Rhodes giving up his shot for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on an episode of WWE SmackDown, plans may have changed.
Johnson has shared the following post on social media, featuring footage from his appearance at the WWE WrestleMania XL Kickoff event as well as a brief written message. It indicates that Johnson and Reigns are aligned, and not at odds, heading into the biggest WWE show of the year.
Hear the rumble
Hear the rumble
Run for dem life, when we step into the jungle
You fucked around and found out quick, didn’t you boy?
You, your little friends and all your crybabies have no idea what’s coming.
The world’s on notice.
~ People’s Champ + Tribal Chief
#KillersInTheJungle
#Bloodline
#WrestleMania
@wwe@tkogrp@romanreigns
As it stands, many believe Johnson will team with Reigns in a match against Rhodes and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freaking” Rollins, possibly on Night One. That has not been confirmed and is merely speculation built around what happened at the Kickoff event, how the four men are portrayed in the WWE WrestleMania XL trailer and other storyline elements.