The Rock: When Ari Emanuel Told Me He Was Buying WWE, That’s The Moment I Knew It Was Time To Return

The Rock gives more insight into his return. 

In January, The Rock joined the TKO Board of Directors and kicked off a nearly full-time return to the company as part of the road to WrestleMania. While plans may have changed from The Rock vs. Roman Reigns to The Rock & Roman Reigns, Ari Emanuel’s involvement helped spearhead The Rock’s return. 

Speaking at the WrestleMania XL press conference, Rock was asked if there was a moment where he knew he wanted to return.

“Yes, there was. When Ari Emanuel called and said, ‘I’m going to buy the company.’ ‘Okay, what does that strategy look like.’ We discussed that. There was talks almost two years ago about me returning to WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles. We thought everything was going to dovetail nicely into that, great story. That didn’t shake out in the way we had anticipated, and that’s okay. I had said back then to the people we were negotiating with, ‘Maybe it’s time to put the pencils down and we’ll revisit when it feels right.’ Between putting the pencils down a year and a half, two years ago, regarding WrestleMania 39, the actuality of the selling of the company, that became impetus to look holistically at doing WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia. A lot of things had to come together. The agreement, the deal, I’m not worried about that, especially when the negotiations are between myself, Ari Emanuel, and Nick Khan. I wasn’t concerned about the agreement. My number one priority was, can I comeback and have real value this time around and not coming back for hot shots or one night. It’s fun, it’s fun for the fans, but I wanted something a lot more substantial, but something we could really build upon. These past two or three months, we’ve been laying ground work nicely and not only building for WrestleMania this weekend, but I think beyond that and the future,” he said. 

A deal between WWE and Endeavor was first reported following WrestleMania 39. The deal became official in September and Rock returned to WWE television on the September 15 episode of WWE SmackDown. 

Fans can find Rock’s comments regarding his WWE future by clicking here. 

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