In an interview on Live with Kelly & Ryan, The Rock revealed that he quietly retired from wrestling, noting that he “was lucky enough to have just a really wonderful career and accomplish what I wanted to accomplish.” The Rock finally made the announcement after over 6 years of not stepping back in the ring. While it was assumed, it was something that was never really confirmed. Up until now, it was just assumed that the insurance company that covers him won’t allow him to wrestle anymore after the disastrous aftermath of WrestleMania 29.
In case you’re not aware – what happened at WrestleMania 29 was that The Rock tore his abdomen around the 15-minute mark and decided to continue with the match anyway. Just as a side note, he was filming for Hercules around the time, which meant that he had to get even more buff than he already was. That perhaps resulted in the injury, but we can’t be sure of that. What we do know about the situation is that it cost the insurance company either hundreds of thousands or over a million dollars.
Not only Hercules, but multiple other projects of his had to be delayed. Ever since then, we’ve only rarely seen The Rock make appearances time and again. However, his appearances for WWE over the recent years have decreased and it’s clear that he is committed to his Hollywood career and isn’t planning on looking back.
With that being said, we must commend The Rock for not distancing himself from wrestling. There was a period of time when he wasn’t finding as much success in Hollywood and he tried to distance himself completely from the name “The Rock”. However, he realized with experience that it was very much a part of him and who he was and he decided to embrace it instead, brilliantly marketing it on social media and various other platforms.
Now, he always proudly acknowledges his past with WWE and credits it for making it who he is today. More often than not, he has even stated that out of all the characters he’s played over the years, nothing holds a candle to “The Rock”. It is the reason he is who he is today.
But the bigger question is this: Is The Rock’s retirement a good thing for WWE or did they have multiple missed opportunities with him? We know for a fact that they did try to bring him back for a few WrestleMania matches. The Rock himself stated that there were plans for him to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX while the idea for WrestleMania 32 was to have him main event the show against The King of Kings Triple H.
Both instances didn’t work out and it’s likely due to his insurance company. However, there is a positive side to it as well. The Rock has generally been selfless and he hasn’t been the one who was occupying the top spots on the card that left younger talent off the billing. Moreover, if you really think about it – not every wrestler needs to have that grand retirement match.
While The Rock certainly can say that he had a fitting retirement in front of 80,000+ people by putting over his successor John Cena, it wasn’t technically a match with a retirement stipulation – and that’s perfectly ok. Sometimes, it’s better to quietly ride off into the sunset and there is absolutely nothing The Rock has to do to prove himself to the WWE Universe anymore. He knows that if anything, WWE needs him more than he needs them.
We salute The Rock for his legendary career and hopefully, this means that we’ll see him get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame very soon.
