Posted on: February 14, 2024, 11:04h.
Last updated on: February 14, 2024, 12:19h.
What Super Bowl? Fans of the WWE traveled to Las Vegas last week exclusively for the WrestleMania press conference on Thursday.
At the event, fans got to see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, 51, announce his surprise return to SmackDown by slapping fellow wrestler Cody Rhodes.
Rock n’ Role
The Rock announced that Rhodes had disrespected both his and wrestler Roman Reigns’ families. This is what’s known in wrestling as a “heel turn” — meaning that The Rock has opted to become pro wrestling’s equivalent of a Batman villain.
The beauty of The Rock’s return to WWE is that he needn’t give up acting to do it.
The goal with me coming back to WWE, there were a few components to it,” The Rock told E! News. “Number one and most importantly, what can we create for fans that is going to be interesting, and then, can we possibly create the biggest WrestleMania event of all time?”
The press conference served to announce WrestleMania 40, or for you Romans out there, XL. The Rock is expected, though not yet confirmed, to make his return to the ring at the WWE event, scheduled for April 6-7 in Philadelphia.
According to Casino.org’s own Vital Vegas blogger Scott Roeben: “The reality is, The Rock doesn’t need to wrestle anymore. But he is not going to waste all that time in the gym on Fast and Furious retreads.”
We love Vital Vegas.
Vegas Rematch?
Also accomplished at the presser was the launch of an unconfirmed but now wildly spreading social media rumor that WrestleMania will return to Las Vegas in 2025. It would be there for the first time since 1993’s WrestleMania 9 (IX).
“Announcement anticipated soon,” Roeben tweeted, to which responses varied from “Hot damn! A sporting event I’d actually travel to Vegas for!” to “Have they written the script yet and are the writers members of WGA?”
According to Forbes, as of last year, Wrestlemania 41 was Minneapolis-bound. However, that was back when WWE founder Vince McMahon was still overseeing content development for the entertainment company.
McMahon resigned in January following sexual assault allegations.
