The Rock: We Put The Pencils Down With Vince McMahon Before WrestleMania 39, Not Nick Khan

The Rock discusses how WrestleMania 40 plans came together. 

The Rock returned to WWE programming at WWE Raw Day One, laying out Jinder Mahal and asking if he should sit at the Head of the Table. The Rock was seemingly setting up a program with Roman Reigns, and looked to be on track for the match after Cody Rhodes stepped aside, but plans changed thanks to the “We Want Cody” movement. 

Triple H admitted that the company pivoted, and The Rock went from “The People’s Champion” to “The Final Boss.”

Speaking to Joe Tessitore of ESPN, The Rock discussed the evolution of his character. 

“I would categorize the evolution into Final Boss as when opportunity meets the willingness to listen, truly listen. You can hear fans, but there is a difference between hearing and listening. There is also a difference between hearing, listening, and action. In this case, when the idea of Rock vs. Roman Reigns was the main event idea that was going to happen at last year’s WrestleMania, it was converging nicely, we were having discussions, myself and Nick Khan. That was coming together, and that wasn’t meant to be. We decided to put the pencils down. Not with Nick Khan, but with Vince McMahon. I suggested to Vince, let’s put the pencils down for now and maybe we can return to this at another time. As I started to come back and structured a new deal and agreement with Ari [Ari Emanuel], the goal was then, ‘Let’s put on the biggest WrestleMania of all time between the Rock and Roman Reigns. Let’s do that.’ As we started to put that on its feet, the fans started to voice their concern, which is one of the best parts about our business.

“When the fans voice their concerns, whether it’s five, five thousand, or five million. You can listen, you can choose to truck through it, or you can choose to take action and serve them properly. As we started to put the whole thing on its feet, a moment came, I felt like it was a critical moment, I remember calling Nick and Ari. ‘I have this idea, I don’t think we should truck through this. The thing that bothers me most is that there are a group of fans who are upset. I don’t know what the answer is, but how about this as an idea. Why don’t we go with this incredible storyline between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns. This idea of finishing his story is one the fans have invested in, we as a company have invested in that too. Rock and Roman can wait. However, what if The Rock turned heel? What if The Rock not only turned heel, but I was able to present a version of The Rock that was 10.0.'”

The Rock previously revealed that a match with Roman Reigns was “locked” for WrestleMania 39. 

McMahon resigned from his position as TKO Executive Chairman on January 26 after former employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit against him and WWE alleging sexual abuse.

The Rock will team with Roman Reigns to take on Seth Rollins & Cody Rhodes in the main event of night one of WrestleMania 40. 

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