Booking the Only Way a Rock Return at WWE SummerSlam 2025 Would Satisfy Fans
Forgive the poor pun and reference, but it sure smells like The Rock might make his way back to WWE programming soon.
Fitting, since Roman Reigns is getting back in the fray, Cody Rhodes and John Cena are getting back at it and the main-event scene seems to need a little help in the wake of the Seth Rollins injury…right around SummerSlam.
The one way it could work? Getting back to what has worked, by putting him in a Reigns-Bloodline-centric tale once more.
This would be an idea starting to gain some traction without the help of the pro wrestling rumor mill. And yet here it comes, too, offering up a report from Bodyslam.net (h/t Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats) that says Rock won’t, in fact, be back in WWE around SummerSlam or “in the near future” at all.
Nope, no chance of that, right? As pro wrestling fans know, those within promotions never, ever seed rumors out into the mill to influence things like fan reactions. Never. No sir and no mam.
This one from the mill just feels oddly specific and the timing feels suitably right. No matter how bad things were received when the man in question didn’t show up at WrestleMania, sending the now-hated Travis Scott in his place to mess with the main event, there’s simply too much meat on the proverbial bone for Rock to stay away.
Upon his return, Rock will need to deal with the whole taking souls thing. So in some fashion, he’ll probably need to interact with Rhodes and put that story to rest, which shouldn’t be a major issue, considering it feels like Rhodes is en route to a hiatus anyway.
There’s still compelling storyline stuff there, too. Rhodes going corporate heel, while possibly overcoming Cena and becoming a sort of stand-in for team TKO and the corporate board when Rock can’t make the weekly shows, would be fun.
But let’s be honest: Rock doesn’t have any problems showing up, nixing old storylines, complete with fourth-wall-breaking stuff and doing something else. That odd debut episode of Raw on Netflix is still a black eye that won’t fade, considering how he showed up and spoiled months of hard-earned storyline and character beats…just because.
Anyway, when it comes to storylines that still have something fans would like, that Rock-Reigns match getting the green light would see some positive reaction.
The last time WWE tried it, it felt hamfisted over other important stuff, chief among them the Rhodes’ ascent that still needed to happen. There’s nothing in the way this time.
But this time would get much better support from onlookers. At SummerSlam, Reigns will likely team with Jey Uso to take on Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed in a tag match. Underwhelming at face value, but not if it’s a vehicle to get some interesting Bloodline-related storyline stuff going.
Chief among the ways to do this is simple enough: Rock interferes in the tag match, causing Reigns to lose. Heck, it could boil down to even simpler by having a big entrance and staredown after the tag match to close the show.
Simple idea, simple goal: Start the slow, slow burn to a WrestleMania match. This way, there’s no ambushing fans with it just a few months before the big show. It would also signal the match won’t interfere with either of the top title scenes, which would keep those interesting, too.
Plus, frankly, the Bloodline stuff is a little missed on WWE programming right now. It was long-form pro wrestling stories at their peak and most everything else has paled in recent comparison. Looping in a little corporate Rock and leaning into Jey’s fan-favorite status while also building up someone like Jacob Fatu even more can work in the spotlight.
And again, if one had to choose, when the inevitable-feeling Rock return happens, this is probably one of the more universally agreeable ways to make it work.
Rock-Reigns with Tribal Chief-family related outcomes swinging in the balance still feels owed to fans. Now would be the time. Casual audiences are going to pop for Rock either way, but this is the one slant that hardcore fans tuned into the messiness of his recent involvements will find agreeable, too.
The fun wrinkle? If it works, the door would be open for the Rhodes/soul/corporate TKO lackey stuff later. But right now, Rock-Reigns should get an initial foundation at SummerSlam to build the thing right.
