Inside The Rock’s sensational return to the WWE: From a spot on the board of directors to X-rated rants on live TV, how Dwayne Johnson is set to headline WrestleMania again

It’s been 20 years and some change since The Rock was a full-time WWE superstar. For a whole generation, Dwayne Johnson is a Hollywood box office attraction with a nickname from something he used to do.

The highest grossing actor in the world during multiple calendar years. Head honcho of his own production company, Seven Bucks. A man with a net worth reportedly in the region of £630m. The most followed man on social media in the world and thus, arguably the most famous man on the planet.

That’s who The Rock has been and, to many, who The Rock is. But at the turn of the millennium, he was the poster boy for the golden age in professional wrestling.

Now, at 51-years-old, The Great One has returned to WWE and is primed for his first match in 11 years (he had one that lasted six seconds eight years ago, we’re not going to count that).

He returned before, back in 2011. Two matches over two years with John Cena – complete with his 10th world title run – gave fans of the Attitude Era the piece of The Rock they’d been missing, but this time his return is different. He’s not just a wrestler on nostalgia trip or looking for a payday – he’s a boss.

So how did one of Hollywood’s leading men not only return to his wresting roots, but lay new foundations altogether as a member of the TKO board?

The most famous man in the world

The Rock has 397 million followers on Instagram.  WWE themselves only have 31.7 million. Someone might dare cry ‘no one man is bigger than the company’, but by this metric, Johnson is a shade over 10-times bigger.

Has The Rock made a bunch of action films that are dangerously similar? Yes. Did the vast majority of them all become smash hits at the box office? Also yes. Johnson has grossed £9.9 billion for his films, which puts him just outside the top 10 highest grossing actors ever. Drink that in for a second.

 The Rock was 30-years-old when he had his WrestleMania match with Hulk Hogan in 2002. From that point onwards, he’d take sporadic sabbaticals to film different movies until it became clear he needed to dedicate himself to Hollywood full-time.

In May 2003, he did that. With the exception of a few special guest appearances, he did not reappear in WWE properly until his part-time run between 2011 and 2012. Then, save for a few surprise promos as has become tradition, The Rock didn’t return until the first show of 2024.

The Rock was in a bracket with Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin and now John Cena and Roman Reigns when he first left the business. An all-time pro wrestler. A Mount Rushmore wrestler, a man who had pushed business forward, drawn record pay-per-view numbers and TV ratings and already had a Hall of Fame spot waiting for him.

When he returned, he was something greater than a performer. His fame and fortune had reached such a level that he was able to get a seat at the highest table.

On the board

In late January earlier this year, Johnson, was appointed to the board of TKO, the conglomerate created by WWE and UFC’s parent company, Endeavor, to unify the entities.  

As part of the deal, the WWE legend was granted rare full ownership of “The Rock” trademark, which had been owned by WWE. And Johnson has signed a new services and merchandising agreement with WWE “that provides for his promotional, licensing, and other services,” per a company release. 

It was a few days ago to the year that WWE and UFC agreed to a merge to form a new publicly-listed company to be controlled by Endeavor Group.

Endeavor – who have owned UFC since 2016 – hold a 51 per cent stake in the combined company, while WWE shareholders hold 49 per cent. Former WWE chairman is one of those shareholders, but that’s all he is now after he was forced to resign from the company following sex trafficking allegations and a subsequent investigation.

The deal valued TKO at more than $21.4bn (£17.3bn) according to the companies, with UFC valued at $12.1bn (£9.8bn) and WWE at $9.3bn (£7.5bn). The Rock was given around £23.7m in stock when joining the board.

Why bring The Rock on the board and why did he join it with his movie career still thriving? Number one, The Rock was born into the wrestling business.

‘My grandfather, “High Chief” Peter Maivia, and my dad, Rocky “Soulman” Johnson, would’ve never thought this day would come,” Johnson said in a statement when his appointment was announced. “Which is why I’m very humbled to have a seat at the table that has decades of history and family legacy for me. A table that my family helped to build.” 

As a third generation superstar and a talent that has drawn money at a level precious few have, that alone would make great sense for the TKO to take advantage of, but he’s proven himself a hugely successful businessman and entrepreneur, too. His general influence and fame brings more to the table than anything else.

More than a wrestler, more than an actor

The Rock has more interests and successes than silver screens and wrestling mats.

Since his time in WWE, he’s been busy, whether it be with his TV and film studio Seven Bucks Productions or Teremana Tequila or Zoa Energy or Project Rock, the Under Armour apparel line that has a deal with the UFC for fighters’ fight-week footwear. Johnson is also a partner in the recently merged United Football League, a union he made after buying the XFL from McMahon for £11.85m.

While The Rock’s share in Teremana is unclear, the company is estimated to worth around £2.8b. Zoa Energy struck a deal with Costo in late 2023 and had a valuation of £9m, which will surely grow with that distribution deal. 

He signed an Under Armour deal for £19.8m back in 2016. His production company, Seven Bucks, is responsible for £3.7b of his jaw dropping all-time haul (and imagine if Black Adam had been a smash!). It’s fair to say, he’s doing OK.

Despite all of his ventures, Johnson has stayed connected to TKO’s properties. He will star as MMA legend and UFC veteran Mark Kerr in a movie slated for 2025, ‘The Smashing Machine’. He is a longtime and vocal fan of the UFC. He presented Jorge Masvidal with the original BMF (bad motherf***er) belt.

Both WWE president Nick Khan and Endeavor head Ari Emmanuel found fame and fortune as super agents in Hollywood. Ari Gold, the character in the hit TV show Entourage, was based on Emmanuel. Rock has been no stranger to either of them over the past 20 years, long before they saddled up with WWE.

Nahnatchka Khan, Nick’s sister, was the creator and executive producer of Johnson’s show “Young Rock.” The ties were there long ago and deeper than most people imagine.

Training

Johnson is a gargantuan man, far more imposing than the lean, 250lb athlete who wrestled until 30. (he was billed 275lbs then, but wrestling weights and heights are often exagerrated). Now, he looks every bit the 6’5″, 300lb monster he has become.

He’s worked out religiously to achieve his enviable frame. Often rising at 3am while working on films to make sure he works out for two hours before getting ready to head to the set. There’s no excuses for The Rock; he packs up an 18-wheel trailer worth of gym equipment and sets up a gym called The Iron Paradise wherever he is in the world. 

That’s the price he paid to become the most lucrative action star in the history of cinema. However, despite looking larger than life, that doesn’t necessarily translate to a great in-ring package.

The last time he returned, fans lamented how The Rock looked out of breath at many points during his matches and needed ‘rest holds’ -meaning submissions – to keep up. He also suffered a serious injury during his second match with John Cena; he tore his abdomen & adductor muscles off the bone which caused delays to filming Hercules.

This time, The Brahma Bull is leaving no stone unturned. Johnson started his training in the first week of February and WWE accommodated him with two rings, one in Los Angeles and one in Hawaii where he has a family home. 

As he knew he was preparing for a tag team match, WWE sent Scottish trio Gallus – Wolfgang, Mark and Joe Coffey – to help him prepare in LA. Johnson prepared alone in Hawaii, according to ESPN.

The 12-week camp hasn’t been much about weights – his daily routine has that covered anyway. He hasn’t done much strength and conditioning either, despite the criticism of his last run.

What he has done is adapt his diet so he’s cut and ripped for WrestleMania, but also because he will go into filming the aforementioned MMA film ‘The Smashing Machine’ right after the event. While inside the squared circle, he’s focused on his timing and reacting to various scenarios.

Stunning return

The Rock versus real-life cousin Roman Reigns had long been rumoured. COVID seemingly put paid to the original idea of battling in Hollywood at WrestleMania 37 and when the show finally did arrive in the film capital of the world two years later, the match didn’t come with it.

 Johnson has teased it was in the works for LA in 2023, but never revealed why it didn’t happen outside of some esoteric notions of wanting to do something ‘big’.

 So when he finally arrived to confront Reigns – a man who has been champion for three-and-a-half years at this point – their was initial excitement. It didn’t last.

WWE has itself hit its greatest boom period since The Rock’s prime of the Attitude Era. Premier live events (which is what WWE call pay-per-views for some reason), have been doing record numbers ever single week and for the first time in years, WWE are consistently selling out TV shows, live events and PLEs.

The RAW before WrestleMania this week was the 13th complete sellout of the company’ flagship show in a row. It’s the highest grossing RAW since the show’s inception back in 1993. Prior to the pandemic, the company was lucky to get 3,000 in the building most nights and had to tarp off chunks of the arenas.

 Some of that is down to Triple H taking over the creative direction of the company and Vince McMahon heading for the door. None of it, was down to The Rock.

 And yet, here he came. Swanning back and inserting himself against the biggest name in the business today at the expense of Cody Rhodes, a babyface (wrestling term for ‘good guy’) who seemed on the cusp of finally finishing his lifelong story – winning the WWE world title his legendary father, Dusty Rhodes, never did.

The fans didn’t like it. The Rock and co. were forced to pivot and instead of facing his cousin, he is now teaming with him on night one of WrestleMania 40 and has become a bad guy for the first time since 2003. As evidenced by the record-setting RAW this past week, he’s somehow helping push the show to yet another level.

Whilst WWE is not the wild west like the Attitude Era, the company has gotten a little edgier over the past year or so and undoubtedly will loosen the reigns further when they head to Netflix in 2025.

 Still, even in 2000, nobody was saying f*** and s***. Johnson has used social media to record long, insulting promos towards his adversaries with gratuitous use of profanity, something WWE have explicitly forbid stars from doing in the past. That’s carried over onto live TV where WWE haven’t always been quick enough to bleep him when he’s in the zone.

Since turning into a bad guy, The Rock is throwing those words around for fun, so much so, that other superstars are wondering why he can and they can’t!

Because he’s the most famous man on earth. Because he’s on the board. Because he’s The Rock.