Tommy Dreamer & Bully Ray Talk The Rock's In-Ring Shape Before WWE WrestleMania 40
The Rock is slated to return to the ring at WrestleMania 40 for his first official match since a rather forgettable six-second scuffle in 2016 with Erick Rowan. To find his last prolonged match, you have to go back even further, to WrestleMania 29 in 2013. So the question becomes, what kind of shape will Rock be in? Obviously he passes the eye test, keeping himself looking great for his flourishing Hollywood career. But as any wrestler will tell you, being in physical shape is a lot different than being in ring shape.
On "Busted Open Radio," Tommy Dreamer and Bully Ray speculated on whether Rock will be able to properly ready himself for his main event bout on Night 1 of WrestleMania 40. "The Rock is carrying a lot more mass than the last time he wrestled," Dreamer said. "When you think about the last time he actually wrestled wrestled, he got severely hurt at WrestleMania."
Dreamer was referring to the aforementioned 2013 match against John Cena, in which Rock notably tore his ab muscle about 10 minutes into the contest. Luckily, he was able to push through the pain and finish the match.
Will The Rock 'Blow Up' at WrestleMania?
Bully added that aside from general ring rust, Rock's biggest challenge could be getting swept up in the moment and overexerting himself. "Being in a wrestling school with four cold walls is completely different than being in front of 60,000-65,000 people," Bully said. "You almost try to out-perform yourself, because you know what's at stake — main event, Night One ... when you haven't done it for awhile and all of a sudden you gotta go from zero to 100, you can't control it. You're gonna get blown up."
It's not as if Rock has experienced zero in-ring action since his 11-year-old match with Cena. He has gotten physical in sporadic WWE appearances, most recently on the January 1 "WWE Raw" after interrupting Jinder Mahal. He was on the receiving end of some boots in the corner before delivering a spinebuster and his signature People's Elbow.
Considering Rock's upcoming WrestleMania appearance is a tag team match, it remains to be seen how much actual in-ring action he'll see. Rock and Roman Reigns will face Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins on Night One of WrestleMania 40 on Saturday, April 6.