The Rock Explains Why He Didn't Appear At WWE WrestleMania 41

The Rock was heavily involved in the build to WrestleMania 41, bringing about John Cena's heel turn on Cody Rhodes at Elimination Chamber after Cody turned down selling his soul to 'The Final Boss.'

While he hadn't been announced for WrestleMania and was hardly mentioned following Elimination Chamber, the expectation amongst fans was The Rock would make an appearance during the main event of WrestleMania 41 to help Cena defeat Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Title. People within WWE even thought it was likely Dwayne Johnson would be involved at WrestleMania in some capacity.

That isn't what happened, though, and Travis Scott instead helped Cena beat Rhodes to become a 17-time world champion, with Dwayne Johnson nowhere to be seen.

Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show, Dwayne Johnson revealed how his Elimination Chamber appearance came together following a call from TKO CEO Ari Emanuel.

"I got a call about a month before Elimination Chamber. I got a call from Ari Emanuel….He said, 'We need help at Elimination Chamber. Ticket sales are a little slow. But beyond that, what we are finding is with Elimination Chamber, it's become the pay-per-view that has become interesting, fans have had fun, but it's also the conduit to WrestleMania, and how do we create a Elimination Chamber that people must tune in to see? How do we create that? Right now, we don't have that. Will The Final Boss show up?'" Rock said.

After speaking with Ari Emanuel, Nick Khan, and Triple H, they created 'The Final Boss wants your soul' angle to plant the seeds for an eventual Cody Rhodes heel turn. 

"My thought at the time, it was a litmus test to find out, in my opinion, how will fans respond if Cody sold his soul to The Final Boss. Let's get a temperature check on this. Let's establish it, let's anchor it in. And you come to find out there were a lot of fans who were saying, 'Sell your soul. This sh*t is gonna be crazy. Whatever it is, it's compelling, it's gonna be great, let's do it, sell your soul.' So I was an advocate of that. Not turning Cody heel soon, but eventually down the line, I like the idea of that because Cody's a smart guy, he's an intelligent guy, he's a ring general. And I think you give him a reason to turn, way down the road, by the way. You give him a reason to turn not based on titles, not based on this, but it's his soul and what that means. That affects generations, that's transcendent beyond pro wrestling and fans were loving it," Johnson continued.

As Elimination Chamber approached, Triple H pitched turning John Cena heel. The Rock loved it, and so did Cena. After the angle, however, The Rock decided it would be best if he wasn't involved at WrestleMania as he wanted the spotlight to be solely on John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes.

"So when we're moving forward with John and this idea of him getting crowned at WrestleMania and being a heel champion, I knew then the best thing for The Final Boss, we've established this idea of Cody's soul, we can always come back to it. I did feel, and I made the call, I don't wanna be involved in that, step back, let The Final Boss step back into the shadows. Let all the spotlight go to John, let it go to Cody. Let's not make it about Cody's soul eventually or John's soul. Let's let them do what they do. I called John after Elimination Chamber, spoke to him. I called Cody and I said, 'I think The Final Boss's work is done. We've established it. We just pulled off the greatest angle in the history of professional wrestling other than Hulk Hogan turning heel.' I said, 'This is amazing, we have six weeks. Now, let's build. You guys go and crush it, and I'll be right there with you. And I'm always here if you need me. But I think it's best for The Final Boss not to be involved in that finish.'

"They had six weeks to plan for that. I loved the finish, finish of the match. I would have finessed things a little differently on how they got there. But that's just me creatively. There's a lot of minds in the room, that's my thought. But still, ultimately, the bottom line, I love John getting 17. I never had a concern about John pulling this off. My thoughts were always to Cody because of what we've established with him and his story and the kind of babyface he is. So if done right and finessed right and if nuanced right, down the road, that guy not only has an incredible babyface run again as champion but also an unheard run as a heel down the road."

The Rock claimed that he didn't know about Travis Scott being involved in the finish of the main event of WrestleMania. McAfee then asked about whether people within WWE wanted The Rock to be at WrestleMania.

"No, they don't have to say anything like that to me...We can insert Final Boss in the end of this finish, but then where do we go? There's other commitments that I have and I want to also be careful we're not overstepping and leading over our skis too much here. [I] can get involved in the finish, and I said but why get involved in that finish when the spotlight should just be on John, 17, heel champion. What does 2025 look like if this man is saying he's going to ruin professional wrestling? That to me is the anchoring storyline. It's not soul right now, right now it's not. By the way, we'll go back to it."

The Rock didn't go into detail about his other commitments beyond that his upcoming Martin Scorsese movie will begin filming in 2026.

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