Backstage News On The Rock's Next WWE Appearance, Why Tag Match Main Evented Bad Blood

Reports have emerged pertaining to WWE's WrestleMania 41 plans surrounding The Rock. "The Final Boss" made a surprise cameo at the end of the Bad Blood event in Atlanta earlier this month, staring down both Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, both of which he had shared the ring with in his first fully-fledged match in 11 years at WrestleMania 40. While he has yet to follow up with an appearance on TV, he made sure to rebut the suggestion that he wouldn't be at WrestleMania 41 next year when asked on social media.

Fightful Select has since reported that WWE higher-ups made it clear "The Final Boss" was a part of "the family" and will appear when he's able to. Sources at the Intuit Dome were reportedly hopeful that he would be present for the first "WWE Raw" on Netflix in January, and there's said to be buzz about that possibility within WWE. Fightful's sources in WWE were also confused about the rumor that Rock wouldn't be working next year's WrestleMania, as they had not heard either way whether he would be appearing. 

It was also noted that it's hard to make predictions as to what Dwayne Johnson will be doing so far ahead of time, since he will effectively do what he wants from a career and appearance perspective, with it being added by a source in production that if Rock decides he is appearing at a show, then he will. His appearance at WWE Bad Blood wasn't said to have been something that had a lot of heavy planning going into it, only becoming a reality in the weeks prior. In fact, that's reportedly what led to the main event in Atlanta being made the tag match featuring Reigns and Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu, as opposed to the Hell in a Cell match between CM Punk and Drew McIntyre.