The Rock on post-WrestleMania WWE role: ‘I will always be a part of this’

The Rock says he’s not leaving WWE after WrestleMania 40.

Rock and Brian Gewirtz spoke with ESPN recently about what will come next for him following this weekend’s events in Philadelphia. According to The Rock, he will always be part of the company. 

“I’m not off the board after WrestleMania,” Rock said to Gewirtz during the interview. “I’m still on the board, and I will always be a part of this. And we are in it now. This is our thing and will forever be our thing.”

However, Gewirtz clarified that this doesn’t necessarily mean Rock will be a consistent fixture on WWE programming after Mania. 

“But I do think there’s gonna be a Rock presence in WWE going forward until whenever he doesn’t want to…,” Gewirtz said. “I could definitely say that this isn’t [over a] day after WrestleMania and I’m gonna go off into the sunset now.”

“This whole run has really kind of rejuvenated him,” Gerwitz continued. “He is not physically and mentally capable of ever being on autopilot. But there was kind of like this safe zone in the babyface space that is fun and fan-pleasing, but isn’t the edgiest of things you can do in a ring with a microphone. Not to the point of bloodying up the No. 1 babyface in WWE and threatening his mother and dog.”

“It’s like he’s never been bigger than he is now,” he added. “He’s part of the board. He just kind of carries a certain weight as opposed to when he came back earlier when he was at a great level, but not this. That’s why the Final Boss feels so organic, because it not only is the TKO literal final boss, but just the weight of Dwayne Johnson in 2024. It just feels important.”

WWE sent rings to Rock’s homes in Los Angeles and Hawaii to help him prepare for his in-ring return on Saturday. In Los Angeles, he’s been training with members of NXT’s Gallus, Wolfgang and the Coffey brothers. Michael Hayes, Bobby Roode, and Chad Patton have also been supervising training sessions where Rock runs through in-ring sequences and works on his timing.

In Hawaii, Rock trains alone, running himself through speed, mobility, and timing drills. He told ESPN that getting back in the ring has been just like “riding a bike.”

“Suplexes, a launch off the top rope, a catch, like bodies hitting bodies,” Rock said. “It’s things like that that you have to do and have to prepare for. And you’re getting bruised up, you’re hitting the ropes. It comes back fairly quick. … It’s like riding a bike.”

“Fortunately for me, very lucky in that I became somewhat of a ring general where I see the circumference of the ring and where I need to be usually timing wise,” Rock continued. “Because timing is really important in our business of wrestling. So, just putting in the work, training, the diet begins, which always sucks. And taking the falls and just getting my ass kicked every day. So, we’ll see how it goes.”