The Rock is without a doubt one of the biggest WWE stars of all time and earlier this year he got the fans talking when he appeared at Elimination Chamber and played a big role in John Cena’s heel turn. He has not appeared on WWE programming since then, and it doesn’t appear that he’ll be returning in the near future.
Bodyslam.net is reporting that there’s no internal indication The Rock is set to return to WWE programming anytime soon. The belief is that The Final Boss will likely miss SummerSlam.
The Rock’s involvement with WWE has been heavily criticized throughout the year as many fans felt that he failed to follow up on the seeds that were planted when John Cena turned heel at Elimination Chamber. Following WrestleMania 41, The Rock appeared on the Pat McAfee Show and stated that he felt The Final Boss was no longer needed in the storyline.
“As we got closer to Elimination Chamber, we were kicking ideas around, myself and Triple H, Nick, my team. Triple H said, ‘What about John turning?’ I said, ‘I love it.’ The next question is talking to John and see how he feels about it. John loved the idea of turning heel, but he said there is an anchor that he was going to root it in, which was a real thing he’s experienced over the past 25 years. When we were moving forward with John and this idea that we would crown him at 17 and being a heel champion, I knew then, the best thing for the Final Boss, we’ve established this idea of Cody’s soul, we can always come back to it. I did feel, and I made the call, ‘I don’t want to be involved in that. Let the Final Boss step back into the shadows. Let all the spotlight go to John and Cody. Let’s not make it about Cody’s soul or John’s soul. Let’s let them do what they do.’ I called John after Elimination Chamber, called Cody, and I said, ‘I think the Final Boss’ work is done. We’ve established it. We just pulled off the greatest angle i the history of professional wrestling,’ other than Hulk Hogan turning heel. We have six weeks, now let’s build. You guys go and crush it. I’ll be right there with you and I’m always here if you need me, but I think it’s best for the Final Boss not to be involved in that finish,” Rock said.
Currently John Cena is set to defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against Cody Rhodes in a street fight at SummerSlam. Stay tuned for updates.