While appearing on The Pat McAfee Show, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson addressed his absence from WWE WrestleMania 41, where many expected him to be involved in the highly anticipated Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena match. Rock explained that his decision to stay away was intentional, stating he wanted both Cena and Rhodes to have the "spotlight" at WrestleMania without any distractions.

However, former WWE announcer Jonathan Coachman, who has worked closely with The Rock in the past, expressed his doubts and frustration over the explanation. In a video shared to social media, Coachman offered a passionate and critical take on the situation, questioning the true motivations behind The Rock's absence.

“All right, emergency take time, and I will not take long, but I was waiting for Pat McAfee today,” Coachman began. “The Rock, who was not advertised at all, all of a sudden, late last night, he is advertised to be on Pat McAfee. It screams several things. A: TKO called The Rock to say, ‘You got to do damage control. We are getting absolutely shredded across the board.’ There has never been a finish to any night, especially the main night on Pennsylvania, that has been universally panned like this one. Worst ending of all time.”

Coachman went on to say that it was painful for him to criticize The Rock, especially given their shared history. “This hurts me to say because I love him so much. For people who do not know, he was the person I was on TV with first in my WWE career,” he continued. “For him to go on Pat McAfee and say, ‘I did not want the spotlight on me. I wanted it on John Cena.’ What??? You had to know. He is so smart. He had to know that by not showing up, by not tweeting, by not posting, by not saying anything, now all of the focus is on you.”

Coachman emphasized the inevitable speculation that followed The Rock’s absence. “The questions are, why? What happened? Are you fighting with Triple H? Are you fighting with somebody else? Those are all the questions everybody is asking today. It is not, ‘Hey, congratulations to John Cena on number 17.’ We are not that stupid.”

He also raised concerns about The Rock’s backstage influence, especially considering his corporate role. “There is something going on behind the scenes. The Rock is on the board of directors. The Rock got 30 million and then another big payment to come back and be a major part of what the WWE is doing,” Coachman said. “He was out there January 6th on the debut of Netflix. He was out there when John Cena turned heel because he asked for his soul. He was the one.”

Coachman highlighted the inconsistency in The Rock’s engagement with fans. “For two and a half months, not a post, not a peep, not a video—when a year ago, he used social media to his advantage. We are supposed to believe that? I do not know what is going on, but something is going on.”

He concluded by asserting there is tension behind the scenes and suggesting The Rock’s recent appearance was a strategic move rather than a genuine explanation. “I have been around enough backstage to know when creatively, you do not get along… they are not getting along. The Rock somehow wanted to make a statement. Well, statement made loud and clear. Now they are doing cleanup, and that was not it.”

Emergency wrestling take: I LOVE the Rock. But please don’t feed us this again. It’s just getting worse. Agree or disagree. 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/2N4T39BuNa

— The Coach (@Thecoachrules) April 22, 2025