The Rock Confirms A Match Was In Place Against Roman Reigns

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson appeared in Pat McAfee on Friday and spoke about the WrestleMania 39 match against Roman Reigns that ultimately didn't happen. Johnson commented that the two sides were close to hammering out an agreement and that he wanted to something unprecedented that they couldn't decide on. Below are highlights:

"The Rock headlining WrestleMania with Roman Reigns, SoFi Stadium, that was locked. We were doing it. In the beginning of 2022, Nick Khan - who we know, very good friend for years, he's the man - he was very instrumental in bringing Vince and I together. We all flew to LA, we met, we sat."

"We started talking about the potential of what this match could be between myself and Roman Reigns headlining WrestleMania at SoFi and we shook hands and we hugged right there, all three of us at the table and said, 'Let's do this.'"

"So, then we had a year to really think about this. The North Star thought was, 'Okay, let's not do something good, let's not do something great, let's do something unprecedented.' We can have the match but the bigger thought was what can we do for the fans of this business that we love where WrestleMania isn't the end of something, it's actually the beginning of something bigger?"

"We got really, really close but we couldn't actually nail what that thing was. So, we decided to put our pencils down. Then we agreed, 'Hey listen, there's a merger coming up, eventually, that will happen, there's WrestleMania in Philadelphia...' I'm saying that's a potential too, I'm open. But again, let's figure out what that is because the fans deserve something just incredible and unprecedented, and not only that, but I also want to deliver to the locker room and the boys and the girls back there who are working their asses off. What can we do to put them in a position where they are part of something that is a new change, an era in this world of pro-wrestling?"

"The Rock headlining WrestleMania with Roman Reigns at SoFi Stadium was locked in..

We got really really close but there's WrestleMania in Philadelphia coming up" 👀@TheRock #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/fyKjL1j0jE

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 15, 2023