When Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson returned to WWE at the start of 2024, he did so under the guise of trying to create the biggest WrestleMania main event ever...that put him front and centre, of course.
Despite Cody Rhodes winning the Royal Rumble (which set the stage for a rematch with then-Undisputed WWE Champion Roman Reigns), Johnson felt that "The Rock vs. Roman Reigns" had a better ring to it and was a bigger draw. Fans disagreed, and they turned on the Brahma Bull, with #WeWantCody trending on social media for days.
Ultimately, The Rock and Reigns teamed up to battle Rhodes and Seth Rollins in the WrestleMania 40 Night 1 main event. Rhodes then finished his story by defeating the OTC the following night.
There's long been speculation that The Rock and Triple H clashed backstage over their different creative plans, and Cultaholic has now detailed issues between the Final Boss and WWE in the build-up to the Show of Shows.
Several wrestlers were enlisted to train with Johnson in Los Angeles, but things got off to a later-than-expected start. According to former NXT star Wolfgang, The Rock believed that WWE would pick up in a private jet...however, it wasn't there waiting for him.
"There's a whole backstory that we arrived on Monday night. Tuesday was supposed to be day one and then Wednesday was day two and Thursday if we needed it. We got there on the Monday, on the Tuesday I don't know what happened and I don't want to start any rumours here, but there was a bit of a falling out about, 'You come pick me up in your private plane. No, no no, you come pick me up. I'll be here, you come get me.'"
"So Tuesday was scrapped. They just couldn't get off the runway, they said there was a problem with the plane. And then myself, Mark and Joe just got a free day in Los Angeles where we just got to go be tourists. Hit the gym, went down the pier. It was a fantastic day. To be honest, I think it was just someone big leaguing the other one. I think it was a case of, 'No, I don't drive to you. You collect me.' That's the way I like to think it was. But regardless, the boys and I got a free day in LA."
Gallus oversaw The Rock's training, with Wolfgang playing the role of Roman Reigns and the Coffey brothers standing in for Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes.
The Rock no-showed this year's WrestleMania and isn't expected to work next year's event either. While his WWE return looked to be an attempt to fix his image after several Hollywood flops, he's now focused on starring in Oscar-bait fare, putting pro wrestling on the back burner yet again.