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The Rock & Roman Reigns Take Last-Minute Shots at Their WrestleMania Opponents
The Rock and Roman Reigns make one final stop to talk smack ahead of WrestleMania weekend!
With WrestleMania weekend only hours away, most of your favorite WWE Superstars are preparing for arguably the most important night of their careers.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Roman Reigns are not doing any of that.
Instead of mentally and physically getting ready for the absolutely explosive WrestleMania Night One main event that will see The Bloodline take on Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, The Rock and Roman Reigns took time out of their busy schedules to make an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on April 3. Before long, it was clear what their intentions were – The Final Boss and The Tribal Chief wanted to get the last words in on their WrestleMania opponents. Here is their appearance in all its glory:
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(Yes, we're just as shocked as you are that this Jimmy Fallon segment didn't end up with Cody Rhodes showing up and getting whipped by The Rock with a weightlifting belt like the last few episodes of Monday Night Raw.)
The Rock and Roman Reigns' Final Words Ahead of WrestleMania 40
After a few minutes of The Rock plugging his upstart football league, the UFL, the duo wasted no time putting down their WrestleMania Night One opponents. When Jimmy Fallon showed a photo of The Shield – the WWE faction Reigns was once a part of – at WrestleMania 29 to the live audience, Roman Reigns helpfully pointed out who the WWE Superstar in the picture was.
"That's Seth Rollins, he was a former 'chosen' family member, but you know how that goes," Reigns said.
Ouch.
Like any good late-night host would do, Jimmy Fallon asked the reigning Undisputed WWE Universal Champion to explain what Cody Rhodes' 'finish the story' talk was all about. Reigns was quick to give his WrestleMania Night Two challenger a pointed message.
"I think Cody's reading the wrong book at this point, because we don't care about his story," Reigns sneered, much to the delight of the pro-Roman Reigns fans in attendance.
Interestingly, Reigns acknowledged that in today's modern WWE, the competition is more intense than ever in the locker room, as every WWE Superstar feels they're worthy of holding gold.
(That still doesn't explain why Reigns has a grand total of only THREE Undisputed WWE Universal Championship title defenses since defeating Cody Rhodes at last year's WrestleMania, but that's a story for another day.)
Nevertheless, Reigns seemed almost exasperated that The American Nightmare is still tugging at his proverbial cape, especially after already beating him at WrestleMania 39.
"In the wrestling business, there's no call sheet," he explained. "There's no like, you know, 'He's number one, he's number two,' so everybody on our roster believes they're number one, so it's just a shark tank. [Cody Rhodes] has been chasing me for two years now. I've beaten him; we've crossed this bridge already. So this is where we close the book completely on this guy, Cody Rhodes, and we display what the most powerful family in pro wrestling is all about."
The nonstop twists and turns of The Bloodline vs. Cody Rhodes storyline went into overdrive over the past few months thanks to the full-time WWE return of The Rock. The Great One will undoubtedly be the wild card in Saturday's tag team main event. After all, if The Rock and Roman Reigns win, the next night's main event will be contested under Bloodline Rules, which is the best-case scenario for Roman Reigns and pretty much the worst thing that could happen to Cody Rhodes.
Still, there seems to be at least a tiny sliver of respect from The Rock to his WrestleMania adversaries.
"I liken Cody Rhodes to Luke Skywalker and I liken Seth Rollins to The Joker," The Rock confessed. "But at the end of the day, there can only be one. And when there is only one, you've got The Tribal Chief and you have The Final Boss – and I have the pleasure of getting back into the ring."
The Rock Will Wrestle in WWE For the First Time Since 2016
It's been eight years since The Rock officially wrestled in a WWE ring – but many in the WWE Universe don't consider his WrestleMania 32 impromptu, eight-second-long match against the Wyatt Family's Erick Rowan to be an actual match. Fair enough – The Rock didn't even break a sweat.
Many fans consider The Rock's 2013 main event against John Cena at WrestleMania 29 his last true legitimate match. So, in many people's minds, The Rock hasn't competed at a high level in the ring for eleven long years. (Time flies, doesn't it?) Still, The Rock told Jimmy Fallon that his involvement is ultimately for the benefit of the WWE Universe, who deserve an event that's never been seen before.
"The whole idea, by the way, to bring us all together like this – Roman and I together like this – was, 'What can we do to create a main event for WrestleMania that we could say was the biggest WrestleMania of all time?' And so here we are."
Here we are, indeed, Rock.
WWE has arguably never been hotter than it is today, and The Rock's involvement is only bringing more attention to what fans have known for years: there's nothing like WWE in all of sports and entertainment.
Although the road to Philadelphia has been littered with cheap shots, beatdowns, and plenty of bloodshed, we can't argue with The Rock's assessment of WrestleMania 40 – it will undoubtedly be the biggest WrestleMania ever.
Luckily for the WWE Universe (and any curious wrestling fan), there's only one thing left to do:
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
You can tune in to Peacock to watch WrestleMania on April 6 and 7. In the meantime, catch up on all things WWE Universe on Peacock.
