- ‘The Final Boss’ showed up to stare down Roman Reigns and WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at the event in Atlanta, tonight
- The Rock hasn’t been seen on WWE television sinc the night after WrestleMania, in April
- The People’s Champion is expected to work another main event match at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas, next year
The Rock wasn’t about to let his younger cousin and one of his most recent rivals enjoy all the glory in Atlanta, tonight. Instead, The People’s Champ made his eagerly anticipated return to WWE screens in typically dramatic fashion, after WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns had seen off The Bloodline of Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu in the main event of the Bad Blood Premium Live Event.
Throughout the early months of this year, The Rock had stood alongside Reigns and his fellow Anoa’i family members as they sought to keep Reigns’ WWE Title out of Cody Rhodes’ grasp. While The Rock, Reigns and The Bloodline were ultimately unsuccessful in that mission, when the 10-time World Champion departed the night after on Raw, following another electric promo with newly minted champion Rhodes, it was expected a return would not be too far away as there was unfinished business to attend to.
Six months down the line and Rhodes and Reigns are now tag teaming together to take on a new look Bloodline, helmed by new ‘Tribal Chief’ Solo Sikoa, who reshaped the faction in his own image in the absence of Reigns, who also took time off after his WrestleMania title loss.
With Reigns returning at SummerSlam in July to help Rhodes retain the WWE Title in his defence against Solo, the long-term rivals became unlikely partners and, after Reigns once again saved Rhodes from a post-match Bloodline beatdown tonight, alongside newly returned Jimmy Uso, The Great one made his presence felt, entering State Farm Arena to a molten reaction from the 16,000 fans in attendance.
While The Rock didn’t do much in terms of physicality in the final seconds of the show, he wasted no time hopping on Instagram Live to stream his reaction to the events of tonight and the last six months, labeling it all as a “bunch of bulls**t”, indicating that he is far from happy with how events have transpired in his absence.
The Final Boss, as The Rock came to be known in his most recent run with the company, where he know sits on the board as an executive, is widely expected to have another main event match at next year’s WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas. The 52-year-old headlined the first night of this year’s ‘Mania, teaming with Reigns to overcome Rhodes and Seth Rollins in a tag team match. The following night, however, The People’s Champ was powerless to stop Reigns losing the title he’d held for almost four years, as Rhodes eventually finished his story and became WWE Champion for the first time in his career.
What The Rock does between now and WrestleMania is anybody’s guess. Matches against Reigns and Rhodes are expected, but fitting them both in may be problematic with both bouts most suitable for a ‘Mania main event slot. But while The Rock may not be too pleased about the ‘bulls**t’ that’s been wafting around The Bloodline and Rhodes over the last six months, he can at least take solace that his infamous parking lot beatdown of Rhodes in Chicago earlier this year was replicated by Kevin Owens, tonight. The former NXT and WWE Universal Champion was caught on camera by fans brutalising Rhodes in front of his tour bus.
So seeing as Cody now once more has his hands full with Kevin Owens, The Rock may be laser focused on slapping his own family into shape over the coming months, before he returns his eyebrow raising glare towards The American Nightmare.
