Steve Carrier on February 4, 2025
The Rock isn’t wrestling at WrestleMania 41—but he’s not happy about how the news got out.
Reports surfaced months ago claiming WWE had plans for The Rock vs. Cody Rhodes, but that match is officially off the table. While many assumed his schedule was the issue, it turns out The Rock was livid that his status was being reported at all.
After news broke that he wouldn’t be competing, The Rock fired back in an Instagram comment, telling fans: “Don’t believe any of that bull.” However, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE knew right after Bad Blood in October that The Rock wouldn’t be available.
“The chronology… if you remember, at Bad Blood, he came out at the end of the show,” Meltzer explained. “And I was pretty much told right after Bad Blood… someone brought up to me, in a very negative term, what he did. And they go, ‘Why negative?’ You know? It’s like, ‘He’s gonna wrestle Cody at WrestleMania.’ And it’s like, well, guess what? He ain’t gonna wrestle Cody at WrestleMania. He ain’t gonna wrestle at WrestleMania.’“
Meltzer added that The Rock and his agent Brad Slater told WWE he wasn’t doing the match—so his appearance at Bad Blood left some WWE sources frustrated.
“So why do you do this run-in? And it was basically, the people who know this are not happy that you know, he went in there and stole the end of the show just to do that,” Meltzer said. “Dwayne gets to do what Dwayne wants to do, and everyone has to live with that.”
Even with all the backstage drama, there was still hope The Rock could change his mind. But January came and went without any decision, meaning WWE had to move forward with other plans for WrestleMania.
“There were things that were said… I reported the thing first back in, I guess October,” Meltzer said. “Then November, December, all of a sudden, everybody started reporting it. And I kind of heard, ‘Oh my god, Dwayne’s mad that everyone’s reporting it. He doesn’t want this out.’”
One person even suggested The Rock could end up doing the show out of spite, saying, “I bet he does the show now, just because he’s so mad that everyone’s reporting it.”
At this point, it doesn’t look like The Rock is stepping in the ring, but that doesn’t mean he won’t appear at WrestleMania 41 in some capacity. The biggest question is: will he address all the speculation, or just ignore it?
What do you think about The Rock’s reaction to the reports? Should he have been upfront about his status, or does he owe WWE nothing? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
February 4, 2025 7:37 am
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