The “Final Boss” has fully emerged after an explosive ending to WWE Monday Night Raw. April is this run’s start, not its end, so the time is right for predicting every PLE for The Rock from WrestleMania 40 to WrestleMania 41. Dwayne Johnson has joined the TKO Board of Directors. That means it isn’t pure fantasy for The Rock to be a semi-regular presence on WWE television.
His new corporate incentives should be a revelation for fans. As of today, The Rock has been a phenomenal addition to the Road to WrestleMania.
It might change the trajectory of the next 12 months, but the WWE creative team has tentatively earned the right to the benefit of the doubt, with just a couple of notable exceptions. Keeping the momentum of the past few months will be challenging, even with The Rock. However, if anyone can keep the electricity crackling under the surface on WWE programming, it is the most electrifying man in all sports entertainment.
WrestleMania 40: The Bloodline Runs Dry
Predicting every PLE for The Rock from WrestleMania 40 is easy. His match is already announced, and it seems clear he will also factor into the main event of night two. The prediction here is how he will factor into that match and whether Rock’s return to the ring will result in his winning.
He has been instrumental in building this show-up, and fans are as invested in his return as anything else on the card. He will be the talk of night one and arguably the most crucial figure of the weekend and the year to come.
On night one, Rock is going to win in his in-ring return. Night Two, however, is more up in the air. Ultimately, WWE has been telling us for three years that Cody Rhodes is back to finish his story and win the WWE title. That has to be the intelligent bet of this match as of right now. They haven’t told us if Rock will utilize The Bloodline rules match or who else might jump into the fight.
In a massive match that would have fit right in during the peak years of WWE, Rock will come face to face with Cody. Meeting him in the ring will be a team of his former rivals. He may come out on top, besting his former foes, but not quickly enough to step in as Roman Reigns reaches his crossroads, courtesy of the American Nightmare.
WrestleMania Backlash: First Day in The Office
WrestleMania Backlash in France has nothing going for it. Shows like Money in the Bank have the titular gimmick match. A show like then Bash in Berlin has hometown stars like Gunther. He will probably have an outsized selling capacity and ability to draw fans in. WrestleMania Backlash doesn’t have any of that, so it needs The Rock and Roman Reigns.
Assuming that Rock beats Cody, but Roman does not at WrestleMania, Roman will get one more shot. If he fails at taking out Rhodes, Rock will go for a second, which is a much more hostile wrestling takeover. Upon failing to recapture the title that he clung to for longer than anyone else since WWE “got the F out,” Rock will give the people of Paris an ending angle they won’t forget.
Roman gets laid out by Solo Sikoa and The Rock, as Jimmy Uso and Paul Heyman look on conflicted. Ultimately, they all toss up the one’s gesture, and Roman is left lying in a heap under the weight of The Bloodline he created.
Final Boss goes from a fun moniker to a job description as the WWE makes it clear that the massive dragon has been slayed in Reigns, but a terrifying beast is stalking in the tall grass. With all the power, Rock could even bring in new talent before or during this show to solidify the group as his own.
SummerSlam: The Rock vs Jey Uso (Bloodline Rules Match)
SummerSlam is the other massive stop in predicting every PLE for The Rock from WrestleMania 40. At one point, SummerSlam would have been the spot for a match with a top-tier WWE superstar or returning legend. The second biggest wrestling show in the company’s pantheon of events needs a big-time draw.
Luckily, WWE hasn’t had this many certified stars in a long time. Jey Uso will have come off a win against The Bloodline at WrestleMania and will probably be involved in the main event. That means Jey will have found himself on the wrong side of Rock’s Bloodline.
Jey Uso had the city of Detroit on its feet at SummerSlam last year, and seeing that energy mix with The Rock’s aura would be incredible. Just working a match with Rocky will do wonders for his other cousin’s singles career. The gimmick will save face for both guys. Rock will get the opportunity to be vicious and avoid working a long technical match.
Jey will have a chance to perform some cool spots to help him get over. Rock can defeat Jey Uso and put him out of The Bloodline story for good, either to find his way as a singles star or reunite with Jimmy and Solo in the wreckage of their former family dynasty.
Survivor Series: The Rock vs CM Punk World Heavyweight Championship Match
Keeping The Rock stuck in the boundaries of The Bloodline would be a waste of predicting every PLE for The Rock from WrestleMania 40. So many other talented wrestlers want a crack at The Final Boss.
Fans will want to see some of those superstars get a shot. It can’t be just a random rest, though; it needs to make The Rock feel like the new head of the table in a way he hasn’t yet. The best way to give fans another dream match while servicing his larger narrative is a title feud with CM Punk.
CM Punk: it's simple business – The Rock is the main event at Wrestlemania cause it draws more money in one night, then u will in lifetime.
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) June 29, 2011
One year after Punk’s monumental return, His first Survivor Series back can be a call back to the beef that both men last time WWE brought the Rock in for a two-year story. While it likely won’t be the best-worked match in WWE history, the Survivor Series annual War Games stipulation gives fans the in-ring action they would expect from a Big Five show.
It will upset some fans, but Punk should win the World title from Seth Rollins or Drew McIntyre this summer. It will upset the rest to hear that Rocky should take the title off CM Punk. One of The Rock’s first transgressions against the highly invested wrestling fandom was ruining CM Punk’s WrestleMania. While November is a little early, the parallels will be undeniable.
Royal Rumble: Roman Reigns Returns
Roman Reigns has received a lot of flack online recently. He is routinely described as the least exciting person in what will likely be the end of his already historic WWE title run. The Rock has taken all of the energy that fans once felt when Reigns walked down the ramp. Now, Cody is more focused on beating Rocky than on beating Reigns.
WWE can fix that if they make Roman a surprise return and put him instantly in a position to be a problem for Rock and the remnants of The Bloodline. There is no bigger surprise in WWE than a Royal Rumble return. Rock face-to-face with Roman Reigns is the most appealing option regarding early Royal Rumble predictions.
The Rock won’t need to defend his world title on a Royal Rumble card. Instead, he can spend his time working to get Solo Sikoa a WrestleMania match for the WWE Championship by winning the Royal Rumble. He can even get Solo a late entrance at 29 while giving Jimmy or other members early draws to soften the field. He is on the board of directors, after all.
From ringside, he can laugh and talk trash with his buddy Pat McAfee as the plan works to near perfection. Then Reigns returns to finish the match and has an opportunity at a title of his choosing, spearing The Rock for good measure to close out the show. Rock’s Royal Rumble won’t be physical, but it could be one of the more explosive moments he’s had since returning.
WrestleMania 41: World Heavyweight Championship Match The Rock vs Cody Rhodes
A month ago, this spot seemed reserved for The Rock and Roman Reigns engaging in Tribal Combat. A few months ago, it felt like WWE was scuttling many potential stars to get to that match. In predicting every PLE for The Rock from WrestleMania 40 to WrestleMania 41, fans online would have pointed to the dream match scenario of Rock vs his cousin Roman.
Anyone who has watched WWE the past month knows it is no longer the big money match; that isn’t the true dream match. Rock taking on Roman isn’t the generational passing of the torch. It isn’t this era’s Rock vs. Hulk Hogan. That could have been 3 to 5 years ago, but no longer. This era’s Rock/Hulk Hogan is Rock vs. Cody Rhodes one-on-one, with the stakes at an all-time high.
"You were a mistake!"#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/eKiD7QQxj3
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) March 9, 2024
The Rock’s presence has already engulfed Roman Reigns. With any luck, a year of solid storytelling will make Reigns more interesting when he returns. However, his run with the Bloodline is ending, and the Cody Rhodes feud with Rocky has already captured the hearts and minds of the WWE Universe.
Rock doesn’t need to be World Champion for the match to work; the bout doesn’t even need a title. But Rock, as a world champion after SummerSlam, gives just a bit more intrigue to everything else. When eras collide, it makes for big moments, and there is no bigger stage for that moment than WrestleMania.
Hollywood Commitments Ruin Predicting Every PLE for The Rock From WrestleMania 40
After WrestleMania 41, maybe Rock and Roman Reigns will finally meet for Tribal Combat. Losing that will send The Rock out of the company’s limelight and make Reigns the new high chief.
From there, Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes became a dynamic duo at the top of the “story era.” A light and a dark presence. A hero and an anti-hero, both destined to feud with and beside one another as new challengers emerge.
As for those new challengers, an array of other superstars, past and present, will get into feuds with people who were supercharged by their involvement with The Rock in his year-long run with WWE. Every Seth Rollins or CM Punk match will have that added context for today’s fans. They will have seen several dream scenarios and next year’s internationally heavy PLE slate.
WWE hasn’t been this hot in decades. The Rock has the opportunity to bring his new business partners to heights, even he hadn’t seen in the wrestling industry.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Header photo – WWE – Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the WWE Network and Peacock.
