The Rock is still open to a WWE WrestleMania match

Even though Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson didn’t appear at WWE’s Royal Rumble event, he is still open to a WrestleMania match.

WWE is hosting WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. on Saturday, Apr. 1 and Sunday, Apr. 2. With WrestleMania “going Hollywood,” fans speculated that it could set the stage for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to make his in-ring return. Not to mention that there were reports months ago that the plan was for The Rock to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. However, there were reports indicating that The Rock would not be in ring shape for WWE’s biggest show of the year.

Even though fans were holding out hope that he would show up at the 2023 Royal Rumble event on Saturday, Jan. 28, he wasn’t there. He didn’t appear in either the Royal Rumble match, or in the main event to confront Reigns.

But is he open to a WrestleMania match?

During an appearance on Wrestling Observer Radio (F4WOnline.com), Dave Meltzer said that while The Rock will not compete at WrestleMania 39, he did leave the door open for a match at WrestleMania 40.

The Rock leaves door open for future WrestleMania match

"“The same goes for Dwayne [The Rock]. Dwayne could be there in some way or fashion. There are people going, ‘Oh, don’t you think it’s a swerve they keep saying,’ it’s not a swerve. I’ve been told this for a while. There’s always the maybe it’s a secret like the Pat McAfee thing right? (Royal Rumble surprise return). Only a few people know. We’re past that point, Cody Rhodes won the Royal Rumble. He’s getting the championship match. It ain’t’ Dwayne anymore. Dwayne’s not wrestling anybody else unless it’s a three-second match….He did not feel that he had the time to get in the shape that he needed to be in to do a WrestleMania-caliber main event and he left the door open for next year,” h/t WrestlingNews.co."

Fans will once again be on the look out next year to see if The Rock will have a match at the “Showcase of the Immortals.” WrestleMania 40 takes place at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA.

During a press conference at the Royal Rumble, WWE chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque said that he doesn’t see The Rock making an appearance at WrestleMania this year in Hollywood.

"“I know for him, and I know his family, his background and everything, there’s a part of him that if he could be here for this, if he could be here for this WrestleMania in Hollywood, he would turn over every stone and walk through fire to be able to do it if he could,” said Levesque. “I just don’t think it’s in the cards, but then again you don’t know and I don’t know.”"

The last time that The Rock had a match was at WrestleMania 32 back in 2016, where he defeated Erick Rowan in six seconds. Prior to that, he competed in the main event of WrestleMania 29, where he lost his WWE Championship to John Cena.

At the Royal Rumble event, Cody Rhodes won the men’s Royal Rumble in his first match since recovering from a torn pectoral muscle. With that, he has earned an Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match against Reigns at WrestleMania. That match has since been confirmed by WWE during the Jan. 30 episode of Monday Night Raw.

The Rock having a match at WrestleMania doesn’t seem like it will be happening this year. As for next year, it sounds like it could be a possibility. We will find out as we approach closer to the 2024 edition of WrestleMania.