The Rock Goes Into Detail About His Return to WWE, Why He Thinks Now Was The Right Time

In a new interview with ESPN, The Rock went into detail about his return to WWE and why he felt now was the right time for his comeback to wrestling. Rock hasn’t had an actual match since 2013, when he lost to John Cena at Wrestlemania 29.

The article notes that Rock created a training camp for his Wrestlemania 40 match, which included a ring in Los Angeles and one in Hawaii. The training sessions were supervised by Michael Hayes and Bobby Roode, while Chad Patton officiated. Rock worked with NXT’s Gallus to get into ring shape.

Here are highlights:

On what he’s been doing in training: “Suplexes, a launch off the top rope, a catch, like bodies hitting bodies. 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.”

On working hard for the Wrestlemania match: “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. 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.”

On why he came back now: “I was excited to work with [Nick], Ari and Mark Shapiro to help expand the WWE/TKO business to new heights. That relationship that I have with Nick has certainly helped propel a lot of this forward. Even though things didn’t work out philosophically for us to get the deal done for WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium, that allowed this incredible opportunity for Cody Rhodes to come in. And as we are feeling and sensing and hearing from his passionate fans … what an incredible opportunity for him.”

On his future in WWE: “I’m not off the board after WrestleMania. 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.”