The Rock appeared on the Pat McAfee Show today, where he discussed a possible match with Roman Reigns, why he hasn’t wrestled since 2013, how he defeated John Cena at WrestleMania 29, and more.
As PWMania.com previously reported, WWE wanted to do Reigns vs. The Rock at WrestleMania 39 this year, but The Rock felt he couldn’t get in shape in time for a WrestleMania main event.
The Rock stated in this appearance that he tore his abdomen during his match with Cena, but that isn’t why he hasn’t wrestled since. He also stated that it is not on his schedule because it comes down to what they can do for the fans.
He stated that the match was set for WrestleMania 39 and that they were doing it. He confirmed he made a handshake agreement to do it after meeting with WWE in Los Angeles. He stated that he is open to a match with Reigns at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia next year.
Why he hasn’t wrestled:
“Honestly, brother, it’s not 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 it, you get hurt. We all get hurt. That’s just the way it is. It’s not even the schedule because I could control the schedule to a large degree. It always comes to me going back to WWE and wrestling a match always comes down to the reason why and what we can create that’s never been done before for the fans. So that’s that. That’s the idea.”
How close he came to the Reigns match:
“All right, so The Rock headlining WrestleMania with Roman Reigns. Sofi Stadium, that was locked [in]. What we were doing, the way we were doing it, we knew we were doing it. We were doing it. But let me just tell you, so about in the beginning of 2022, Nick Khan, who we know…..He’s the man. He was very instrumental in bringing Vince and I together. We all flew to LA, we met, we sat. This is the beginning in 2022, and we broke out the Teramana. We toasted life, 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 So Fi and we shook hands and we hugged right there, all three of us at the table and said, Let’s do this. And so the North Star, though. 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 in what we can create for the fans that has never been done before. A match. Great. Roman is, an incredible athlete. He’s going to be on Mount Rushmore. Good dude, my cousin’s 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 that will where WrestleMania isn’t the end of something, it’s actually the beginning of something bigger.”
Rock continued, “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 then we agreed, ‘Hey, listen, there’s a merger coming up. Eventually, that will happen. There’s WrestleMania in Philadelphia.’
I’m saying that’s a potential, too. 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 who are 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 in era in this world of pro wrestling? Again, Vince is a big-picture thinker, as you know. And this is why we’ve gotten along for years. Just trying to think big picture.”
"The Rock headlining WrestleMania with Roman Reigns at SoFi Stadium was locked in..
We got really really close but there's WrestleMania in Philadelphia coming up" ?@TheRock #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/fyKjL1j0jE
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 15, 2023
