{"id":131223,"date":"2025-02-21T22:14:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T03:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=131223"},"modified":"2025-02-21T22:22:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T03:22:53","slug":"the-rock-returns-wwe-smackdown-cody-rhodes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/02\/21\/the-rock-returns-wwe-smackdown-cody-rhodes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rock Returns to WWE SmackDown; Issues Cody Rhodes Offer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Everyone was stunned when The Rock announced that he would be on this week&#8217;s February 21, 2025, edition of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/02\/21\/wwe-smackdown-results-2-21-25\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">WWE SmackDown<\/a>. The final two times we saw The Rock in 2024 was when he confronted Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes on the Raw after WrestleMania XL, issuing a warning that he wants to come for the gold sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">You heard <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheRock?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheRock<\/a>! <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WrestleMania?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WrestleMania<\/a> 42 will be LIVE from the <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CaesarsDome?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CaesarsDome<\/a> in New Orleans, Louisiana!<br \/>\n<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SmackDown?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#SmackDown<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vo4ZHQcgB4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/vo4ZHQcgB4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 WWE (@WWE) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE\/status\/1893132703244902730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>On the same night, The Rock would hand Cody Rhodes a mysterious item that fans are still speculating about. Months would pass without a word from &#8220;The Great One.&#8221; That&#8217;s until he showed up on the October 5th PLE &#8220;Bad Blood,&#8221; staring down Rhodes and his cousin Roman Reigns after their win against Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu.<\/p>\n<p>In New Orleans, The Rock has come back, and he had a lot of things to say to a lot of people. First and foremost, he announced the location for 2026&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/02\/21\/the-rock-unveils-wwe-wrestlemania-42-host-city-for-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">WWE WrestleMania 42<\/a>. After that big announcement, The Rock got down to business. He wants Cody Rhodes to be &#8220;his champion,&#8221; promising he could make all his dreams come true.<\/p>\n<p>The Rock stated that he initially wanted the Undisputed WWE Championship and a WrestleMania main event match with his cousin Roman Reigns. But now, he wants Cody Rhodes and &#8220;his soul,&#8221; stating that he needs an answer by Elimination Chamber: Toronto.<\/p>\n<p>On March 1st in Canada, The Rock comes back to get his answer from Cody Rhodes.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8220;We&#8217;ve actually become good friends!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Things have certainly changed since last year&#8217;s <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WrestleMania?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WrestleMania<\/a>&#8230; \ud83d\udc40<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SmackDown?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#SmackDown<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xyqrGwDLC5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/xyqrGwDLC5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 WWE (@WWE) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE\/status\/1893134806323544529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><em>How will Cody Rhodes respond to the offer of The Rock at Elimination Chamber: Toronto?<\/em><\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8220;I want your soul.&#8221; \ud83d\ude33<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheRock?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheRock<\/a> will be expecting an answer from <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CodyRhodes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CodyRhodes<\/a> at <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WWEChamber?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WWEChamber<\/a>&#8230;<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SmackDown?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#SmackDown<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cN9f6cHzC7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/cN9f6cHzC7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 WWE (@WWE) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE\/status\/1893137674132746324?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on the WWE Elimination Chamber 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 WWE programming on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/81788927\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Netflix<\/a>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usanetwork.com\/wwe-friday-night-smackdown\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">USA Network<\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cwtv.com\/shows\/wwe-nxt\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The CW<\/a>\u00a0(NXT), and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peacock<\/a>\u00a0(archives and premium live event streaming). You can follow WWE on social media and relive top moments on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@WWE\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">YouTube<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everyone was stunned when The Rock announced that he would be on this week&#8217;s February 21, 2025, edition of WWE SmackDown. The final two times we saw The Rock in 2024 was when he confronted Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes on the Raw after WrestleMania XL, issuing a warning that he wants to come for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3735,"featured_media":131245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2192,26,4],"tags":[505,9193,550,396,8907,9179,9016],"class_list":["post-131223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wrestling","category-smackdown","category-wwe","tag-elimination-chamber","tag-elimination-chamber-toronto","tag-the-rock","tag-wrestlemania","tag-wrestlemania-41","tag-wwe-elimination-chamber-2025","tag-wwe-wrestlemania-41"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3735"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131223"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131249,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131223\/revisions\/131249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}