Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Hints at Potential WWE Return

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has hinted at a potential WWE return in the future. Following his big Smackdown cameo in Denver, Colorado, Johnson tells sports commentator Pat McAfee that he has had discussions with WWE boss Vince McMahon about coming back to the ring. "There's WrestleMania in Philadelphia, I'm saying that that's a potential too, so I'm open," Johnson said, also noting that he'd hoped to return for WrestleMania 39 earlier this year, but the plans just did not come together.

"But again, let's figure out what that is because the fans deserve something just incredible and unprecedented," Johnson went on to say, per ET Canada. "And not only that, I always want to deliver to the locker room, and the boys and the girls back there that are working their a—es off. What can we do that can put them in position to be a part of something that is a new change and era in this world of pro wrestling?" He also addressed questions about injury concerns, saying, "Honestly brother, it's not the injury that I'm concerned about because that's just part of it."

"It's just part of the game you sign up for," Johnson went on to say. "You get hurt, we all get hurt. That's just the way it is. It's not even the schedule, because I can control the schedule to a large degree." He added, "Me going back to WWE and wrestling a match, it always comes down to the reason why and what can we create that's never been done before for the fans."

Johnson rose to superstardom as The Rock in WWE, but left the company in 2004 to formally launch his movie career. He later returned in 2011 and regularly appeared on WWE programs for the next few years. Over the past decade, he has made occasional appearances but has never returned to WWE in a full-time capacity, which is understandable due to his busy and lucrative film career.

Notably, one of Johson's longest wrestling rivals/friends, John Cena, has been hoping The Rock would come back. "He's earned the right not to be pressured into that choice. I can say he is a fan of the WWE. He is the most electrifying man in sports entertainment," Cena previously told Entertainment Tonight  "So as a fan, do I want to see one of the greatest performers of all time step back in the WWE ring? Yeah. But in no way am I gonna call him and if I'm gonna talk to him about something, it's not gonna try to be to get him back in the WWE ring."