The Rock is already putting out teases for his next match at WrestleMania 41.
WWE and Hollywood megastar The Rock recently spoke with ESPN. When asked about his long-awaited return to the ring at WrestleMania 40, The Rock spoke about the intense training camp he went through leading up to his tag match with Roman Reigns against Cody Rhodes and Seth “Freakin” Rollins.
“Leading up into WrestleMania, the training camp, the pressure, the expectation, the deliverable, everything, that quote kept coming back to my mind, which was, ‘I just want to go the distance,'” The Rock said. “And going the distance meant I knew that we had almost an hour planned, which, as you know, is a long f—ing time.
“I also had something to prove to myself. … It’s always you vs. you. So that’s something to prove to myself that I can do it and put in the work and put in the training camp and rely on my dance partners in the ring in Cody and Seth and Roman, as we all relied on each other. But yeah, I just want to go the distance.
“The training camp, as intense as it was, as hard as it was, as physical as it was, we still couldn’t go 100%, couldn’t even go 75%. At times, I would go 50%, and 50% is better than nothing. However, when you go 100% in that world of pro wrestling, especially when you have 45 minutes of match that requires you to fight inside the ring and then outside the ring and then into the crowd, there’s nothing that could replicate that.”
The Rock had nerves and anxiety before WrestleMania 40
When asked if he had any nerves about returning to the ring for the first time in almost a decade, The Rock admitted he was very nervous about it but knew he had to go out there and perform.
“I was very nervous about it, and the anxiety level was at a nice clip going in,” The Rock said. “And usually if you have anxiety, you have nerves with something big like that, that you poured your heart and soul into, that you have to go out and you have to perform and you get one shot, one take, that’s it.
“If you have a pulse, you’re going to have those nerves, and you’re going to have your anxiety. Even in the world of fictionalized professional wrestling, you still have 75,000 people out there, and you still got to perform for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, sometimes an hour. I got out there, and it was the same thing.”
Regarding a potential return to the ring next year at WrestleMania 41, The Rock teased that they’re “on the 1-yard line” when it comes to negotiations on next year’s event.
“We’re on the 1-yard line to create the biggest WrestleMania of all time and the biggest match of all time at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas,” The Rock said. “I’ll just leave it at that, Final Boss style.”
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What do you make of The Rock’s comments? Are you excited to see him return to the ring next year at WrestleMania 41? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
