WWE Rumors on The Rock, Bad Bunny, John Cena, Travis Scott, Randy Orton and Joe Hendry

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

How WWE Wrestlers Reportedly View The Rock's WrestleMania Absence

Some WWE Superstars were reportedly caught off guard by The Rock's decision to remove himself from the John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes storyline after being a central part of it at Elimination Chamber.

According to Fightful Select (h/t WrestlePurists), "confusion" was the main sentiment expressed by WWE talent over The Rock not appearing during the build to WrestleMania or at WrestleMania 41 itself.

One WWE wrestler told Fightful, "We all found it kind of weird that he didn't promote the show at all."

At Elimination Chamber, Cena shockingly turned heel and attacked Rhodes at The Rock's behest after Cody turned down the opportunity to sell his soul to The Rock.

Given The Final Boss' role in the turn, it seemed likely that he would appear leading up to and at WrestleMania, but he was completely absent from WWE programming.

Cena beat Rhodes at WrestleMania to become a record-breaking, 17-time world champion, but it was thanks to interference from Travis Scott rather than The Rock.

After not showing up at WrestleMania, much to the chagrin of many wrestling fans, The Rock appeared Tuesday on the Pat McAfee Show to explain his absence and give his thoughts on WrestleMania.

The Rock said he was the one who decided to not be part of the Cena vs. Rhodes feud after Elimination Chamber since he wanted the spotlight to be entirely on them rather than him:

He went on to say that while he could have shown up at WrestleMania and gotten involved, he didn't want to do so since he has projects coming up and wouldn't have been able to pay it off properly.

Instead, fans who were expecting The Rock were left disappointed, and the overall reaction to the finish of the WrestleMania 41 main event was that it fell flat.

While it wasn't the ideal start to Cena's 17th world title reign, things seemed to get back on track on Raw when Randy Orton hit him with an RKO to set up a potential match between them at Backlash.

WWE Reportedly Considering Bad Bunny, Travis Scott Tag Match

WWE has reportedly discussed a tag team match that would pit superstar musicians Bad Bunny and Travis Scott against each other.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestleTalk), if the match comes to fruition, it would likely see Scott teaming with Cena against Bad Bunny and a partner "of the level of Cena."

While Meltzer has no confirmation on who Bad Bunny's partner would be, he speculated that it could be Rhodes given his popularity and the built-in story he already has with both Cena and Scott.

When Cena turned heel on Rhodes at Elimination Chamber, Scott was part of the segment, and he even gave Cody a black eye by hitting him with a stiff strike to the face.

Scott showed up again at WrestleMania 41 to help Cena against Rhodes, and while Cody got some measure of revenge by hitting Scott with Cross Rhodes, Cena took advantage of the distraction and won.

After Elimination Chamber, Fightful Select (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News) reported that Scott had already been doing some pro wrestling training and discussions had taken place regarding future matches.

On Tuesday, The Rock said on the Pat McAfee Show (h/t Ringside News) that Scott is going to start training with WWE Hall of Famer Booker T soon.

Bad Bunny has already worked a few matches in WWE, as he debuted at WrestleMania 37, teaming with Damian Priest to beat The Miz and John Morrison.

He also went on to face Priest in a highly regarded street fight in his home country of Puerto Rico at Backlash 2023.

WWE has a long history of involving celebrities and putting them in matches in order to garner mainstream attention, and a tag team match involving Bad Bunny, Scott and even Cena would unquestionably accomplish that goal.

Orton Reportedly Chose Hendry as WrestleMania Opponent

TNA world champion Joe Hendry's selection as Randy Orton's surprise opponent at WrestleMania 41 reportedly occurred due to input from The Viper himself.

According to Meltzer (h/t WrestleTalk), Orton was given a list of potential opponents to choose from, and Hendry was his call.

Orton was originally supposed to face Kevin Owens in a grudge match after Owens put him on the shelf with a piledriver and Orton returned to get some revenge at Elimination Chamber.

However, a few weeks before WrestleMania, Owens announced that he was dealing with a neck injury that would prevent him from competing on the Grandest Stage of Them All.

SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis initially told Orton that meant he would not be on the WrestleMania card either, but Orton hit Aldis with an RKO and insisted on being given a match.

It was later revealed that Orton would have an open challenge, meaning fans would not know his opponent until they made their entrance.

Hendry arrived at WrestleMania 41 to a huge reaction, and although the match ended up being a relatively quick victory for Orton, Hendry and TNA benefited from being featured on WWE's biggest show.

Additionally, Orton got the win he was obviously always supposed to get, as he parlayed it into an attack on new WWE champion John Cena on Raw, likely setting up a title match between them next month at Backlash in Orton's hometown of St. Louis.

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