The Rock’s WrestleMania 43 situation just got a whole lot more serious. His Hollywood schedule was already creating major questions about whether Dwayne Johnson could get ready for another WWE match, but now WWE creative is apparently moving forward under the assumption that The Final Boss won’t be available for a major storyline at all.
During WrestleVotes Radio, Joey Votes revealed that a source tied directly into WWE creative says the team is currently planning the WrestleMania 43 season without expecting substantial involvement from The Rock. There is still plenty of time for things to change, but as of right now, WWE apparently isn’t sitting around waiting for Johnson to become available. Joey laid out exactly where things stand internally.
“TC, in speaking with a source tied into creative, we’ve learned that the creative team is currently operating under the assumption that The Rock will be unavailable for any substantial storyline participation during the upcoming WrestleMania 43 season and buildup. A source indicated, as history has shown, that these things can change in an instant. But as of right now, the company is moving forward with the expectation that Dwayne will not be involved in a major storyline heading into WrestleMania at this time.”
That update comes at a very interesting time. Ringside News previously covered how The Rock’s WrestleMania 43 chances took a major hit after Vin Diesel revealed “Fast Forever” is expected to begin filming in December, which could put Johnson on a movie set throughout a huge chunk of WrestleMania season. Joey also walked through WWE’s long history of trying to make Rock vs. Roman Reigns happen, including the plans surrounding WrestleMania 38, WrestleMania 39 and the chaos that eventually led WWE back to Cody Rhodes for WrestleMania 40.
“So, TC, go back to WrestleMania 38. They wanted to do Rock and Roman — stupendous. Hang on, we’ll do it next year in Hollywood. That sounds great. Rock said, ‘I gotta do a movie. We’ll do it next year.’ WrestleMania 40 comes around, we’re gonna do it. The crowd, the audience, people behind the scenes, Cody Rhodes himself says, ‘Not so fast, my friend.’”
TC joked about the “Cody Crybabies,” before Joey made it clear that another WrestleMania could now come and go without WWE getting The Rock into the ring.
“We get to 41, everything with John Cena. We get to 42, he’s nowhere to be found. We’re at WrestleMania 43. Obviously everybody knows, at this time — and we’ll get to that in a little bit — scheduled for Saudi Arabia. They’re gonna pony up. Seems to still not matter. The Rock, as the creative team has been told and we’ve learned, isn’t anywhere to be seen in the future plans for WrestleMania.”
TC admitted he had been expecting WWE’s current Bloodline story to eventually lead back to The Final Boss facing Roman Reigns. Ringside News previously noted that WWE expects the Bloodline storyline to continue through WrestleMania 43, but Rock’s involvement in that story has never been guaranteed. TC explained why the new information changes how he sees the road to WrestleMania.
“The way the Bloodline story has been playing out had been telling me that we’re going to go into a showdown between Final Boss and Tribal Chief. And here we are with those hopes and dreams and expectations dashed.”
He also made it clear that nobody knows exactly why Rock currently isn’t expected to participate. His movie schedule is an obvious possibility, especially with “Fast Forever” looming, but TC stopped short of claiming that was definitely the reason.
“For whatever reason — and we’re not sure exactly why, if it’s scheduling, we don’t know if it’s personal, other things going on. Scheduling, I mean, for movies and things like that, or if there’s other personal schedules going on…”
Joey then made one distinction that matters: this apparently isn’t WWE creative deciding that it doesn’t want The Rock. Quite the opposite, he believes WWE would happily use Johnson if he became available.
“I don’t think it’s a creative thing. I think they would absolutely take him.”
TC agreed and said the issue appears to be on Rock’s side, with creative being told to plan as though he isn’t coming. That leaves WWE roughly six months from WrestleMania with major events like Money in the Bank, Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble all potentially shaping whatever direction the company ultimately chooses.
“Of course. I’m saying this is on The Rock’s side of things, that they’ve been told, ‘Hey, this is not going to happen.’ So I think it really changes the course of where you start booking things.”
That conversation quickly turned toward Roman Reigns, because removing The Rock leaves a massive hole opposite the Tribal Chief. TC brought up Oba Femi as someone who could potentially fill that spot.
“So it is a big blow. I think that’s the match that they wanted to have. I think that’s the match that we kind of needed to have. The way Roman’s been built up back again and the way he’s been handling the Bloodline, who do you put in his place? I mean, I think the biggest guy might be Oba Femi.”
TC’s Oba Femi comments were his own speculation, but they aren’t coming completely out of nowhere. Ringside News recently covered the belief that WWE is building toward Roman Reigns vs. Oba Femi as a WrestleMania 43 main event, and the match has been discussed before as a direction WWE could use if Rock doesn’t wrestle. There’s another wrinkle here too. Joey pointed out that Johnson looks dramatically different physically than he did during his Final Boss run, noting that Rock is down around 50 pounds.
“Anyway, I think it’s worth noting that Rock is also down about 50 pounds since the last time we’ve seen him on WWE TV. So that’s probably a telltale sign as well. A Final Boss not gonna come back looking like, you know, 2002 Rock…”
Johnson recently explained exactly why his body changed, revealing that he spent roughly a year losing nearly 50 pounds after getting as heavy as 282 pounds for his movie roles. Rock said he was down to around 235 pounds and feeling better physically, but getting ready for another WrestleMania match would still require an entirely different training process.
Nobody on WrestleVotes slammed the door completely. Joey and TC repeatedly stressed that The Rock is The Rock, and plans involving him have a habit of changing very quickly. Joey admitted he hopes they eventually have to take the entire update back.
“It’s too bad that another WrestleMania likely gonna come and go with no Rock involvement, but we’ll see. I hope…”
TC immediately agreed that this could look completely different within a few months.
“In a few weeks, few months, we have to amend this report.”
For now, though, WWE isn’t building WrestleMania 43 around The Final Boss showing up to save the day. Between “Fast Forever” starting production, the training required for another Rock match and WWE already having a possible Roman Reigns vs. Oba Femi direction sitting right there, the window for Johnson to make another massive WrestleMania run is getting tighter by the day.
Do you think The Rock eventually clears his schedule and forces WWE to change its WrestleMania 43 plans, or should the company move forward with Roman Reigns vs. Oba Femi? Let us know what you think and leave your feedback in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
