- The Rock made his first WWE appearance in over two months.
- Rock fans confused with love for Cody Rhodes have bad blood last year
- Roman Reigns won the battle to be named Tribal Chief, which took out The Rock
The Rock returned to WWE for his Netflix debut, but many fans were left confused by his actions on the show.
The 52-year-old was last seen in early October last year for a brief cameo at the end of the Bad Blood pay-per-view. His last real performance in front of a microphone came the night after WrestleMania last April, where he was the ultimate villain.
The Rock started the night by giving up his entire Final Boss attitude and returning to the baby face he has always enjoyed in front of the WWE crowd.
New eyeballs could be the reason, but The Great One essentially made the corporate speech that many expected Triple H to make at greater length.
He managed to utter the first curse words of the 'Netflix era' to the delight of some, calling his own attempt to manipulate his catchphrase from 'finally, The Rock is back in (insert city)' to 'Finally, WWE is back' as 'nonsense'. to Netflix, which makes no sense in a debut, but here we go!
He greeted Cody Rhodes and hugged his main rival from 2024, to the perplexity of many WWE fans.
He also took the time to acknowledge Roman Reigns, who insisted he was the original tribal chief and said he would be closely watching the battle for the coveted Samoan ula fala necklace. And boy was he right.
Many fans expected The Brahma Bull to get involved in the clash between Reigns and Solo Sikoa, and despite nearly every other superstar doing so, The Rock did not, at least not until the outcome was settled.
Rock slowly made his way down to the ring to meet his WrestleMania 40 tag team partner. He pulled out Heyman's ula fala and, after a tense look before and after, placed them over Reigns' neck.
Roman Reigns and The Rock with Paul Heyman in the middle) share a tense look
They hugged and The Rock visibly told Reigns that he loved him. He then stepped back as the Tribal Chief celebrated with the fans and the camera was firmly fixed on The Rock waiting for him to attack Reigns.
It didn't happen. His niceties earlier in the night with Rhodes suggest he's not aiming for WrestleMania either, so is The Rock missing out on WrestleMania?
He turns 53 in May and can't afford to say “we'll do it next year” for much longer. One has to think that staring at Reigns leads to WrestleMania, but those hoping for the Final Boss tonight didn't get it.