The road to WWE WrestleMania 41 has already begun. This past weekend at WWE Bad Blood, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made his first televised appearance for WWE since the WWE Monday Night Raw after WWE WrestleMania 40 in April. At that show six months prior, The Rock gave a chilling warning to new WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, declaring that he would return from his imminent sabbatical in due time and when that time comes, The Rock would be coming after him. This led many to believe that Rock vs. Rhodes will be The Final Boss’s next in-ring contest, whether that be at WWE WrestleMania 41 or sooner. When he emerged from the WWE Bad Blood entranceway, The Rock stared down both Rhodes and WWE WrestleMania 40 tag partner Roman Reigns, holding up a “1, 2, 3” before mimicking a throat slice and exiting the stage.
Rhodes vs. Rock vs. Reigns Rumored For WM41
The Showcase of the Immortals’ triple threat tradition may continue, just one year off.
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As reported by insider account @WrestleVotes, The Rock’s “1, 2, 3” tease from WWE Bad Blood signifies that a triple threat match between himself, Roman Reigns, and WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is “on the table” for WWE WrestleMania 41. There is doubt that the match has been finalized in any capacity but “that idea has been floated” backstage.
“We’re on the 1-yard line to create the biggest WrestleMania of all time and the biggest match of all time at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas,” Rock teased in April. “I’ll just leave it at that, Final Boss style.”
“WrestleMania 41, I am looking to do what I’ve done three times now and enter the main event,” Rhodes said earlier this month. “But I think it will be something that perhaps is bigger than anyone anticipated.”
Triple threat matches headlining WWE WrestleMania is nothing new, and they actually tend to follow a pattern. WWE WrestleMania XX saw Chris Benoit defeat Shawn Michaels and Triple H to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Ten years later, WWE WrestleMania XXX saw Daniel Bryan defeat Randy Orton and Batista to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This began an unofficial tradition of every tenth edition of WWE WrestleMania hosting a triple threat match in its main event slot. The two nights of WWE WrestleMania XL neglected to have a three-man match, but the framework was there to make it happen.
When The Rock returned to programming in January, he appeared to play disruptor to Cody Rhodes’s WrestleMania dreams, not unlike fellow Hollywood star Dave Bautista’s abrupt 2014 comeback that set Daniel Bryan’s Grandest Stage hopes back. In both 2014 and 2024, WWE ultimately agreed to listen to its audience. 2014 saw Bryan get inserted into the scheduled main event of Batista vs. Orton while 2024 had WWE pivot back into its original plan of Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns just six days after Rhodes was forced to give his WWE WrestleMania XL spot to The Rock. The backup plan for The Final Boss was to run a tag match the night prior to the weekend’s main event rather than include him in Rhodes vs. Reigns.
Now, one year later, that triple threat may materialize after all. The Rock appears to be back in the WWE fold for the long game, as he is anticipated to work programs with The Bloodline, Rhodes, and Reigns over the next couple of years. The Rock’s Bloodline ties were teased at the end of WWE Bad Blood when Solo Sikoa whispered to Jacob Fatu that his return was “part of the plan.”
WWE WrestleMania 41 goes down on Saturday, April 19th and Sunday, April 20th.