The wrestling world is no stranger to wild speculation and unexpected comebacks, but even by WWE’s lofty standards, this recent piece of gossip is something special. The topic on everyone’s lips? The potential return of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to the WWE universe, but what’s the truth behind these captivating claims?
The story begins with WWE NXT Superstar Roxanne Perez. Appearing on the Sportskeeda WrestleBinge podcast ahead of the NXT Great American Bash event, Perez let slip her expectations for The Rock’s comeback. I thought so, I thought this past WrestleMania, but that didn’t happen, but who knows, maybe next year, I don’t know,” shared Perez, hinting at a high-profile showdown between The Rock and the reigning Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns.
Perez, who trained under WWE Hall of Famer Booker T and became the NXT Women’s Champion from December to April, isn’t a stranger to wrestling. Despite her own championship title defense against Blair Davenport in a weapons match at the Great American Bash, she isn’t too preoccupied to ponder about the big league’s storylines.
The rumors surrounding The Rock’s return to the ring initially gained momentum last year and finally died off once Roman Reigns pinned Cody Rhodes to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
The word on the grapevine is that the WWE was cooking a storyline feud between The Rock and Roman Reigns, but only if The Great One had time for it. Unfortunately, this never materialized as the Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment didn’t have enough time to get into ring shape, although this was a claim that was later disputed.
Even though the much-anticipated clash didn’t come to fruition, Reigns has had no issues asserting his dominance in the WWE as he’s now a little over half a year closer to beating Bruno Sammartino’s second championship reign.
While the talks of The Rocks’ return to the WWE died down for a couple of months, there’s been plenty of speculation in recent weeks that he could be making an appearance soon. Things further intensified after one of WWE’s most recent NXT call-ups, Grayson Waller, took it upon himself to call out the WWE legend earlier this month. Waller has since issued an “open invitation” for The Rock to appear on The Grayson Waller Effect, to which the People’s Champion has yet to issue an official response.
Further fueling the rumors is Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, who suggested that if The Rock were to return, it would be for a packed crowd at Detroit’s Ford Field for SummerSlam. After all, Waller has made it a point to disrespect The Rock at every opportunity, attempting to mimic The Rock’s signature People’s Elbow move and calling him out on Twitter.
If there’s one thing that The Rock loves to do, it’s putting jabronis in their place, and he could certainly do that to Waller at SummerSlam in August.
WWE’s history shows that it is not afraid to pull out big surprises at SummerSlam. In 2020, we saw the return of Reigns as a heel, and a year later, Brock Lesnar appeared to confront The Tribal Chief. If history is anything to go by, we might see a few more surprises at this year’s SummerSlam. From Bray Wyatt to Randy Orton, The Undertaker and maybe even John Cena, there’s a long list of both active and inactive WWE superstars who could drop by in Detroit to say what’s up to the thousands of WWE fans all over the world.
Interestingly, The Rock’s storyline is not just confined to Reigns. In fact, there are whispers about a confrontation with The Bloodline. With the heavy emphasis on the Anoa’i family throughout the storyline, The Great One’s absence has stood out.
It’s not hard to envision a promo where The Rock would call out Reigns for breaking up The Bloodline, which wouldn’t be too unlike what The Rock did to Farooq and the Nation of Domination.
While a full-blown Rock run might be off the table for now, a one-off passing-of-the-torch moment between him, Reigns, or Uso at SummerSlam could be a tantalizing prospect. As the wrestling world gears up for one of its biggest events, the excitement surrounding The Rock’s potential return is palpable. Only time will tell if the People’s Champ will electrify the WWE universe once again.
