The Rock reveals pre-match anxiety and nerves; what he said to himself in WrestleMania 40 match
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson made his long-awaited WWE in-ring return at WrestleMania XL. The main event of 'Mania Saturday saw him and Roman Reigns defeat Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. The People's Champion interfered during Rhodes vs. Reigns on Night 2 and has continued a rivalry with Cody.
The Rock has revealed to ESPN that he was a bit unsure of himself and nervous as he prepared for WrestleMania XL. He kept telling himself he wanted to go the distance and had to prove something to himself.
He recalled finally finding peace when Samantha Irvin began his introduction, and this was when he remembered who he was.
"All the nerves left my body, and all I could do was just close my eyes and breathe in the mana right in the corner, and that's what I did and it all went away. [Rocky chants began after the intro] I was very nervous about it, and the anxiety level was at a nice clip going in, and usually if you have anxiety, you have nerves with something big like that, that you poured your heart and soul into, that you have to go out and you have to perform and you get one shot, one take, that's it," The Rock said.
Rock continued:
"If you have a pulse, you're going to have those nerves and you're going to have your anxiety. Even in the world of fictionalized professional wrestling, you still have 75,000 people out there and you still got to perform for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, sometimes an hour. I got out there and it was the same thing," The Rock said. [H/T ESPN]
The Great One was supposed to go to the center of the ring to face the hard camera during introductions, but he forgot due to nerves, fear, and being in the zone. However, Rock now thinks he and his three colleagues executed everything "phenomenally well" overall.
The match's success exceeded all expectations, and WWE officials just this week revealed how they were surprised by The Final Boss.
The Rock reveals inner thoughts during WWE return match
The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment has disclosed to Mike Coppinger of ESPN Boxing Insider that he knew all their hard work had paid off when he took the Cody Cutter from a People's Elbow attempt.
However, the eight-time WWE Champion said he already had a good idea that the match would be a success when Roman Reigns made the first tag, long before The Bloodline members defeated Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins.
Rock continued and revealed what he said to himself when it was time to turn things up:
"Both guys smooth, in control. [After few moments of action and crowd reactions, Rock knew he had plenty to give] That's probably at about the 5-to-10-minute mark. I knew my conditioning was under control, and I remember saying to myself out there with him, 'We can go an hour tonight. I'm ready to go,'" The Rock said.
The main event of WrestleMania XL on Saturday was 44 minutes and 35 seconds long. After taking a Spear from Reigns, Rhodes was hit with a Rock Bottom and a People's Elbow for the pin. The Final Boss was set up for a return to the WWE storylines in the near future.