WWE got people hyped for The Rock’s appearance on SmackDown ahead of time, and then right at the beginning of the show his appearance caused some ripples in the main event. Shortly before the third hour The Rock finally made his appearance, and The Final Boss looked like he had something on his mind. It turns out he had a lot on his mind, and his first big reveal was the location of WrestleMania 42, which will take place in New Orleans.
Then Rock called out Cody Rhodes to tell him that not only does Rock want Rhodes to be “his” Champion, but that the thing he wants more than anything isn’t a brother of the Championship, but Rhodes’ soul.It all started when Rock made the big announcement of WrestleMania 42 taking place in New Orleans in 2026. The crowd lost their minds, and it will once again be a two-night event.
After that (and Rock doing a pretty cool thing by picking up a fan’s phone off the ground that fell over the barricade), Rock introduced Rhodes rather glowingly, and the Champion then hit the ring.Rock was immensely complimentary throughout this segment of Rhodes, and at first, he did nothing but build up Rhodes’ job as Champion and how much the fans love him. Then Rock brought up that the two had become good friends after the events of WrestleMania 40, and when boos rang out at that Rock went at those pretty quickly.
Rock then brought up the last time they were all in a ring together, which was during the Raw on Netflix premiere, with Rock saying, “Yo.