Massive WWE legend winning the Men's Royal Rumble is possible; the idea was discussed, says Dave Meltzer
Veteran journalist Dave Meltzer recently addressed the possibility of a massive WWE legend returning to win the 2025 Men's Royal Rumble. He claimed the same idea was presented to him by people in the company earlier.
The Rock initially returned earlier this year to have a match against his cousin, Roman Reigns, at WrestleMania 40. However, the plans changed due to the backlash the company received from Cody Rhodes' fans. Instead, The Final Boss joined The Bloodline and feuded with The American Nightmare. He even pinned the current Undisputed WWE Champion on Night One of this year's Show of Shows. While the 52-year-old legend is rumored to challenge Rhodes for the championship at WrestleMania 41, Meltzer discussed whether he could earn the title shot by winning the Royal Rumble.
Speaking on the Keepin' It 100 podcast, Meltzer pointed out that he believes Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will square off against Rhodes if the latter remains champion until WrestleMania 41. Meanwhile, he stated that The Final Boss winning the Royal Rumble would be a way to get to that match. The veteran journalist disclosed that WWE employees previously discussed the idea of The Rock winning the Royal Rumble when the latter first returned to fight Reigns:
"I think if Cody's champion, he's gonna defend against Dwayne. Then that's out unless they have Dwayne win the Rumble, which you know is as weird as that sounds, it's not a non-viable situation. It would actually be gigantic if that happened. I mean, I remember when he was gonna come back and wrestle Reigns, it actually was discussed with me from people there."
Meanwhile, Meltzer explained that the final decision remains in The Rock's hands, stating that if The Final Boss wants to win the Royal Rumble, he would:
"Like, the ultimate idea is Dwayne comes in and wins the Rumble and earns his title shot, you know. I mean, that was like, but does he want to do that? So, that's up to Dwayne. If Dwayne wants to win the Rumble, he's gonna win the Rumble. So, I guess that's an answer is if Dwayne wants to it will be him a 100%." [From 01:08 to 01:53]
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The Rock responded to rumors suggesting he could miss WWE WrestleMania 41
Following The Rock's return at Bad Blood, Dave Meltzer reported on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that The Final Boss might miss WrestleMania 41 due to his heavy schedule. The Final Boss later responded to these rumors, asking fans not to believe them.
On the Behind The Turnbuckle podcast, former WWE employee Tommy Carlucci predicted that the TKO board member was the one who started that rumor about himself:
"I think Rock is behind the whole thing. I think he had somebody put that out there, all those little dirtsheet guys caught on to it, somebody put, 'Oh, Rock's not gonna be at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas, oh my God!' And then you have The Rock react to it and say, 'Oh, that's bullsh*t.' And now it's left in the air. And now all these people are gonna be waiting, what's Rock gonna do?" Carlucci said.
It would be interesting to see if The Rock will compete at next year's Show of Shows and whether WWE will book him to win the 2025 Royal Rumble match.
Please credit Keepin' It 100 and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling if you use any quotes from the first half of this report.