The Rock Reportedly Not Currently Scheduled to Wrestle at WWE WrestleMania 41

As noted before, this past Saturday’s WWE Bad Blood 2024 event in Atlanta, Georgia featured Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson making his surprise return to WWE.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the ending to WWE’s Bad Blood 2024 made it appear that WWE officials were teasing a future match involving The Rock against Cody Rhodes or a triple threat match against Rhodes and Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Championship at next year’s WrestleMania 41 event. Meltzer reported that The Rock posting a video of him backstage walking past a production truck with John Cena’s face on it and saying “eat some fruity pebbles” and Cena responding on social media with a photo of Fruity Pebbles led to online speculation of those two having a match at next year’s match instead.

Meltzer reported that his sources stated that WWE officials currently do not have The Rock scheduled for next year’s event due to issues related to his current work schedule. Meltzer also reported that several people with old school mentalities did not like the idea that he stole the show in regards to his appearance at Bad Blood and its not building to a match.

The Rock reportedly had already given his word that he wouldn’t be able to do a match with Reigns and Rhodes for WrestleMania 41 when asked by WWE officials. Meltzer reported that no specific reason was given but different reasons were given to different people. Those spoken to reportedly stated “the story is simply his schedule got too heavy, he couldn’t commit to doing it right.”

Meltzer reported that The Rock could end up changing his mind due to it currently only being October and he likely would have until just before next year’s Royal Rumble event to make an actual decision.

Meltzer also reported that should The Rock change his mind, he would ultimately get to decide who he wants to face at WrestleMania 41 and the only real pushback would be if he wanted to win the WWE title.

One high-level person spoken to reportedly stated that they currently had no idea about anything regarding The Rock’s status and plans for next year’s event. Meltzer reported that this would be something that is typically kept a secret from WWE talent ahead of time.