WWE has a WrestleMania 40 Kickoff press conference scheduled for later today in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will feature a face-off between Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Roman Reigns. Cody Rhodes will also be in attendance, and more will be known at the event.
However, up until now, it’s been reported that The Rock vs. Roman Reigns is a lock for WrestleMania XL.
During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” earlier today, The Rock confirmed he will be wrestling at WrestleMania 40, and that he is in the midst of a training camp preparing for his in-ring return.
You can check out the highlights from the podcast below:
On the reaction to his return: “I feel it. I sense it. I feel it every day. I’d like to think, we try to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s going on, whether you’re in entertainment or not, just the stuff that’s going on around you. There’s been a lot of big developments, a lot of cool stuff that I’ve been lucky enough to experience these past couple of weeks. Member of the board of TKO complete full ownership of the name The Rock, which is a big, as you guys know, a big deal. And of course asking the question, now if The Rock goes out to eat, does he sit in a booth? No! Does he sit at the bar? No! Or does The Rock sit at the head of the table? The place went crazy. It went nuts. So yeah, there’s a lot going on. And yes, of course as what you’re talking about, in our world of professional wrestling, which we all love and enjoy in our world of WWE, that’s one of the best parts about it, is when you can anchor in to the passion of the fans. Yeah, today we got a press conference. 4 PM local, 7 PM Eastern. It’s gonna be at T-Mobile Arena, free to the public. It’s free to the public. Super Bowl weekend. Here we go, and history is going to be announced that history is going to be made. Cody Rhodes is going to make his decision on who he’s going to face in WrestleMania, even though we all have a feeling of the direction that is going. I cannot wait.”
On training for his in-ring return at WrestleMania 40: “So you, you talk about getting in shape and ring shape as you guys know, football players, like man, it’s whatever it is, the sport that you do it, you love it, you leave it. It’s tough to come back to it, right? If you guys had to put the pads back on, lace the cleats up, put the helmet back on, and roll, it’s tough to do. In a world of pro wrestling, I haven’t done that in a very long time. When I do go back to the ring at Wrestlemania, the most important thing is a training camp, which has already started. I have multiple rings set up over in Hawaii. I have a ring set up on the west coast, and we’re full on in camp. How do you feel? Hurting. Somebody’s hurting because it’s hard. It’s hard to adjust back. But in a way, it’s like riding a bike. Like I was very lucky in my career that I was somewhat of a ring general and knowing the ring and where to go and where to be at certain times when I needed to, but the training camp part of it is hard because you could work out on the wage. You could do all the stuff that you know you want to do. But until you go back in the ring And you take those falls, those slams, those suplexes, things like that. There’s nothing like it.”
On why he’s returning to wrestle: “By the way, to answer your question, it’s an important one, on why? Yeah. Why? Dude, I love it. And that’s why. I don’t have to go back. I’ve been lucky enough to get this point, get to this point in my career. I love what I do, I love getting in there, and I love pro wrestling. It’s who I am, it’s what I was born to do, and I was born in this business. But also, from the second that Roman Reigns years ago said, I’m the head of the table and I’m the head of this bloodline. Graceful time. That’s when our story began. It’s converging now, it’s converging to WrestleMania. I understand the passion which we are gonna address and we’ll get to today.”
On anticipating the fan reaction in support of Cody Rhodes: “Yes, I expected it We expected it because it’s right there again. You go back and again, you’d like to think hey, I got my finger on the pulse We all try to keep the finger on the pulse ultimately what the fans want and what they’re saying and Sometimes oftentimes as you guys know in sports and entertainment and anywhere what regardless of the vertical of business you’re in There’s a wave of noise that happens right out of the gate a minute that you want to just pause for a second. Let’s not make any rash decisions. Let’s wait and see how it all shakes out and see what happens from there. So it was just a matter of waiting. So now I was not surprised at it. I did expect it. But here’s the fun part about this is you have. And I’ve, by the way, I’ve known Cody for a long time. He’s a buddy of mine. The American Dream, Dusty Rhodes, and my old man, soul man, Rocky Johnson, they were boys. They tag teamed together down in Florida. We used to go over to the Rhodes house a lot, all the time, when I was growing up. And we’re tight in that way. I love Cody.”
