The Rock Breaks Silence on WrestleMania 41 Absence – After a lengthy absence from WWE programming, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson finally addressed his involvement—or lack thereof—at WrestleMania 41 during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. Speaking candidly, The Rock detailed his creative input leading into the Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania, revealing why “The Final Boss” stepped away before the biggest show of the year.
“I got a call about a month before Elimination Chamber. I get a call from Ari Emanuel, who owns TKO. He said, ‘We need help at Elimination Chamber. Ticket sales a little slow, but beyond that, what we are finding is, it’s become the pay-per-view that is interesting, fans have had fun, but it’s also the conduit to WrestleMania. How do we create an Elimination Chamber that people must tune in to see. How do we create that? Right now, we don’t have that. Will the Final Boss show up?’ I said, ‘Let me give it some thought and I’ll get back to you.’ I gave it some thought, I got back to Ari, Triple H, Nick [Khan], and we had a call. I said, ‘I have an idea. The most important thing to the Final Boss isn’t money, titles, fame, been there done that, and grateful for that. The Final Boss wants your soul. What does that mean? That doesn’t mean the Final Boss wants you to act like this or be like this at his becking call or treat you like crap or make you do all these things that are unbecoming or embarrassing. That’s not how the Final Boss flies. What that means is whatever dreams Cody Rhodes has, whatever ambitions, even if they’re dark, amazing, full of light, scary, whatever they are, you tell the Final Boss, and he makes it all happen. When it comes to giving the Final Boss your soul, that is what you want, not what the Final Boss wants. What does the Final Boss get out of that? Your soul for life.’ Now, we go into Elimination Chamber with this idea of will Cody Rhodes sell his soul to the Final Boss? My thought at the time was, it was a litmus test to find out how fans will respond if Cody sold his soul to the Final Boss. Let’s get a temperature check on this. Establish it, anchor it in, and you come to find out that there were a lot of fans saying, ‘Sell your soul.’ I was an advocate of that. Not turning heel soon, but eventually, down the line, I like the idea of that because Cody is a smart and intelligent guy, a ring general, and this idea that you give him a reason to turn, way down the road, you give him a reason to turn not based on titles, but it’s his soul and what that means, that affects generations. It’s transcendent beyond pro wrestling. Fans were loving it.
“As we got closer to Elimination Chamber, we were kicking ideas around, myself and Triple H, Nick, my team. Triple H said, ‘What about John turning?’ I said, ‘I love it.’ The next question is talking to John and see how he feels about it. John loved the idea of turning heel, but he said there is an anchor that he was going to root it in, which was a real thing he’s experienced over the past 25 years. When we were moving forward with John and this idea that we would crown him at 17 and being a heel champion, I knew then, the best thing for the Final Boss, we’ve established this idea of Cody’s soul, we can always come back to it. I did feel, and I made the call, ‘I don’t want to be involved in that. Let the Final Boss step back into the shadows. Let all the spotlight go to John and Cody. Let’s not make it about Cody’s soul or John’s soul. Let’s let them do what they do.’ I called John after Elimination Chamber, called Cody, and I said, ‘I think the Final Boss’ work is done. We’ve established it. We just pulled off the greatest angle i the history of professional wrestling,’ other than Hulk Hogan turning heel. We have six weeks, now let’s build. You guys go and crush it. I’ll be right there with you and I’m always here if you need me, but I think it’s best for the Final Boss not to be involved in that finish.
“They had six weeks to plan for that. I loved the finish of the match. I would have finessed things a little differently on how they got there, but that’s just me creatively. Ultimately, the bottom line is, I love John getting 17. I never had a concern about John pulling this off. My thoughts were always to Cody and what we’ve established with him and his story, and the kind of babyface that he is. If done right, finessed right, and nuanced right, down the road, that guy not only has an incredible run, against, as babyface champion, but also an unheard of run as a heel down the road.”
McAfee then asked if there was ever a conversation about him appearing during the build or match, saying that fans and WWE would always welcome The Rock being around.
“No, they don’t have to say anything like that to me. They know, when I come to them and lay this out, ‘Here’s how I feel it should go. We can insert Final Boss into the end of this finish, but then where do we go?’ There are other commitments that I have and I want to be careful that we’re not overstepping. I can get involved in the finish, but why get involved in the finish when the spotlight should just be on John, 17, heel champion? What does 2025 look like if this man is saying he’s going to ruin pro wrestling? That, to me, is the anchoring storyline. It’s not soul….right now it’s not, but we’ll go back to it. I was surprised to see Travis Scott as well, and the moment I saw Travis, it immediately amplified, ‘Here comes the Final Boss.’ They were waiting. I love John Cena, heel champion, the GOAT says he’s going to ruin wrestling. Some parts of it, I would have just adjusted,” said Rock.
It is unknown if or when The Rock will return to WWE television.
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The Rock Breaks Silence on WrestleMania 41 Absence
