Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has said he’ll be gone from WWE for a while but has set his sights on returning to challenge new champ Cody Rhodes.
The People’s Champion was forced to watch on at WrestleMania XL as cousin, Roman Reigns, was toppled by Rhodes to end a title run that stretched back more than 1,300 days.
He was duly interrupted by The Great One, who strode to the ring and just about offered tepid congratulations to the newly crowned champ.
The new WWE Undisputed Champion addressed a lively crowd on the Raw after Mania – one of the most hotly anticipated nights in the professional wrestling crowd.
Afte the two jousted in the ring for a while, The Rock admitted he’d be ‘going away’ for a while, much to the delight fans in the arena who serenaded him accordingly.
But he confirmed that his latest run-in wrestling – which included a first match in over a decade on Saturday night – is far from over just yet.
Instead, it seems fans will be seeing The Rock again soon enough, and he’ll be gunning for Rhodes once he’s back, pointing out it Rock who pinned him in the tag team main event that preceded his title win.
He told the American Nightmare: “At the biggest WrestleMania of all time, you beat Roman Reigns right in the middle of the ring, one, two, three.
“However, less than 24 hours before that, The Rock beat you in the middle of the ring, one, two, three.
“So, your story with Roman Reigns is over, you did it. But our story has just begun.”
Curiously, Rock then took something from his pocket and placed it into the hands of Rhodes, unsighted by cameras and fans, warning him: “You don’t need to open your hand to know what it is,” and “don’t you ever break my heart again.”
The stand-off between Rhodes and Rock came as Raw capped a memorable WrestleMania weekend for WWE that boasted a total attendance of over 200,000.
The company also say viewership of WrestleMania was up 41 percent on last year’s event, contributing to it becoming the most successful and highest grossing event in company history.
The Philadelphia spectacle was also the most socially viewed Mania ever, with over 660 million views across the two days, while Sunday’s WrestleMania accumulated 67 million views to WWE’s YouTube channel in just 24 hours.
The action continued on Raw, with Jey Uso emerging as challenge to Damian Priest’s newly won World Heavyweight Champion.
Priest defeated Scotland’s Drew McIntyre with a Money in the Bank cash-in, ending McIntyre’s reign as champ at less than six minutes following his victory over Seth Rollins.
Elsewhere, legend John Cena wrestled in a landmark match, and NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov made a surprise Raw debut in defeating Shinsuke Nakamura.
News Summary:
- The Rock issues update on WWE future after records tumble over historic WrestleMania weekend
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