After a long absence from WWE, superstar Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson made his much awaited return to the ring on an episode of SmackDown in Denver, Colorado.
Just hours after he appeared on the Pat McAfee Show – live on the campus of the University of Colorado – The Rock showed up at the wrestling promotion where he made his name.
McAfee, who is a commentator with WWE, was in the ring with 2022 United States Champion Austin Theory when The Rock made his sudden entrance.
Johnson has been absent from the ring since October of 2019 – when he appeared on the SmackDown 20th anniversary show.
The Rock was met with massive cheers from the crowd at Ball Arena – who were then treated to a small display of his wrestling capabilities.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson made his return to the WWE at a SmackDown show in Denver
Johnson brought out some of his old wrestling moves – like the ‘People’s Elbow – in the ring
Later on, he met back up with former WWE ‘rival’ John Cena, who welcomed The Rock ‘home’
With a brief skirmish between The Rock and Theory, Johnson was able to bring out two of his more famous finishing moves: a spine-buster and the infamous ‘People’s Elbow’.
Then, Johnson pointed to McAfee – who had remained in the ring – and instructed him to deliver his own version of the ‘elbow’, still billed as ‘The Most Electrifying Move in All of Sports Entertainment’.
Later on in the show, The Rock stood face-to-face with one of his old WWE ‘rivals’ John Cena – who was set to appear later in the show.
The pair stared each other down before cracking smiles – with Cena saying ‘Welcome home’.
It’s the first time that Johnson wrestled in any capacity since that October 2019 appearance, which came around the time that he announced his retirement from pro wrestling.
It isn’t clear if ‘Rocky’ will be making a return to the WWE or if this was a one-off appearance because he was already in the Centennial State.
But Johnson’s time in Colorado is not done just yet. He’ll be making an appearance on College GameDay live from the University of Colorado campus in Boulder – just half an hour north of Denver.
The Rock will be appearing on the show as a celebrity ‘guest picker’ to take a crack at selecting the winners of Saturday’s slate of American college football games.
