Since January, when he joined the board of TKO, WWE’s parent company, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has taken his return to professional wrestling very seriously. The wrestler-turned-actor says he’s doing it all for the love of the game. While at this year’s WrestleMania XL in April, Roman Reigns has been confirmed to fight against Cody Rhodes, Johnson and Reigns have also been dropping hints that they will square off in the ring sometime soon. But why has Johnson decided to return to the promotion full-time and invest in so many feuds?

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson returns to the WWE ring to face his champion cousin

Johnson made his first return to the WWE ring in over a decade at Friday Night Smackdown in September 2023. Since his fight with John Cena in 2013, Johnson hasn’t been in a WWE match. That was before both of them became movie stars.

Now it looks like Johnson joined the WWE again, specifically to challenge his cousin Roman Reigns in a match. Reigns had been the WWE Universal Champion for more than 1200 days and this seemed to threaten Johnson. The two competitors are cousins and are from the same famous Anoa’i wrestling family.

Read more: From Roman Reigns to Dwayne Johnson, Here Are All the WWE World Champions From The Bloodline, the Anoa’i Family

However, while this goes on, there has been speculation about why exactly Johnson has decided to rejoin WWE in a full-time capacity so suddenly. While Dwayne Johnson had rejoined WWE part-time during the writer’s strikes last year, it may seem that he has caught the wrestling bug. But this might not entirely be true. Considering his achievements in the ring and outside of it, as well as his involvement as a board member of TKO, Johnson may soon be inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame.

With this in mind, it makes sense that Johnson would be more involved with the promotion and more hands-on with his wrestling. In addition to this, with him hinting at a match with Roman Reigns, which has been a huge fan dream match, speculation has it that Johnson might be leading up to retiring with The Rock vs Roman Reigns match as his final match altogether. With a potential Hall of Fame induction as well as fulfilling the fans’ dreams, this could give Johnson the big bang exit that his nearly 30-year wrestling career deserves.

However, things don’t seem to be going to plan, with the amount of flak Johnson had received. But this seems to have turned around as well, as he turned heel. On social media, people have different feelings about the much-talked-about event. Some fans didn’t like the idea of Johnson’s return, while others were excited about it.

The Rock talks about his kids’ excitement about his return to WWE

A few days ago, The Rock talked about his return to WWE. He said that his girls are excited to see him battle again. 

“My oldest daughter, who’s actually a wrestler for WWE [Ava], she’s not too surprised when she sees [me return], because she grew up seeing me wrestle. Now my little ones, their mouths are on the floor when they see me come out, my music hits and everyone’s going crazy. This is an indication I think of their DNA, because they’re not — they don’t cry, they don’t [go] like, ‘Oh I don’t want to see it!’ They’re like, ‘I need to see you do this live.’ So they can’t wait” he said of his kids’ reaction to his return.

When do you guys think the fabled “The Rock vs Roman Reigns” match will occur if not at WrestleMania XL? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.  

Watch This Story: MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS FOR ROMAN REIGNS AT WRESTLEMANIA