Cody Rhodes Wants Stone Cold at WWE WrestleMania 41, Addresses The Rock Rumors

With WrestleMania 41 now less than five months away, WWE champion Cody Rhodes gave his take this week on legends "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock potentially being involved with the show.

Speaking to Adrian Hernandez at ComplexCon in Las Vegas (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), Rhodes expressed hope that Austin will be part of WrestleMania 41 in some way so that the Hall of Famer can get an up-close look at how much the company is thriving:

"Yeah, so the invitation's there. He's also not far—I mean, we could helicopter him three hours away, Great American Bash style. I think 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin being, you know, we're talking inside here, but this babyface individual, and we're back in this unbelievable era where there are good guys in the business again. Here was the ultimate babyface who had the company on his back. I just would like him to be around to see how we're doing. I want him to know, like, 'Hey, we're doing this Friday, we're doing this Saturday,' and I hope he's proud of all of us because he really has set the table for us, him and The Rock, in a way that we can eat so fruitfully. So I'd love for Steve to do anything."

Back in August, Austin spoke to Hernandez about potentially being present for WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas since it isn't too far away from his home in Reno, Nevada:

Austin divulged that he was in talks to appear at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia earlier this year and that it was "close" to happening, before adding: "My wife and I had some things going on that I didn't need to go to Philly at that time."

Although the WrestleMania 40 appearance did not ultimately come together, Austin said "I hope to be" at WrestleMania 41.

While The Rock was a huge part of WrestleMania 40, teaming with Roman Reigns to beat Rhodes and Seth Rollins in the main event of Night 1, his availability for WrestleMania 41 is less clear.

Last month, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlePurists) reported that The Rock had told people within WWE that he would not be able to take part in WrestleMania 41.

However, when The Rock was asked about that rumor on Instagram (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), he responded: "Don't believe any of that bulls--t."

Hernandez (h/t Mukherjee) asked Rhodes about The Rock's WrestleMania involvement, and while The American Nightmare didn't indicate one way or the other if The Rock will be wrestling, he suggested The Final Boss' fingerprints will be all over WrestleMania regardless:

"Well, I mean this, and I don't mean this in a smart-aleck-type way, but Rock is the director of the board, the man that is the final boss. Dwayne Johnson is different from the final boss. His outside-the-box thinking with [WWE president] Nick Khan and [head of creative] Triple H is part of WWE's record era, part of this WWE Netflix era. So whether he's in the ring or not, he is very much still involved with what happens at 41. I know when he comes back, I know who he'll come looking for, and I know what to expect. But what I can say about WrestleMania 41 is: keep the rumors going, keep them churning, enjoy the discourse, but I think what you will get will surprise you. All there is."

The Rock returned to the fold early this year after the Royal Rumble, and while it initially looked like he was going to challenge Reigns for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, he instead turned heel and sided with Reigns against Rhodes and Rollins.

The night after WrestleMania 40, The Rock confronted Rhodes on Raw and suggested he would be coming after him and the title in the future.

At Bad Blood last month, The Rock made a surprise return after Reigns and Rhodes beat Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu in a tag team match. While The Rock didn't say anything, he made a throat-slashing motion.

It remains unclear what The Rock's motivations are, but given the gravity of his return, it is pretty difficult to envision him not doing something of significance at WrestleMania 41.

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