Will The Rock appear at WrestleMania 41?

WWE’s biggest show of the year is here, with The Rock, John Cena and CM Punk due to be involved in various ways

WWE’s biggest event of the year always features the company’s biggest stars, which begs the question: will Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson be at WrestleMania 41?

This weekend, WrestleMania will take place at Las Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium across two nights, with John Cena and Cody Rhodes already confirmed for a main-event clash. Meanwhile, CM Punk and Roman Reigns will square off against each other and Seth Rollins in a triple threat.

• WrestleMania 41 LIVE: Follow the build-up, updates and results from Las Vegas

But what of The Rock? The WWE star-turned actor has repeatedly returned to the professional-wrestling company over the years, and he even competed at WrestleMania 40 – teaming with Reigns to beat Rhodes and Seth Rollins.

That bout, which headlined Night 1 last year, was The Rock’s first WWE match in eight years. And Johnson also appeared on Night 2, interfering in Reigns’s one-on-one clash with Rhodes.

This year, The Rock has been involved in the build-up to Rhodes vs Cena, and whether or not he competes, he is almost certain to appear at WrestleMania in some capacity. Here’s all you need to know.

When is WrestleMania 41 and how can I watch it?

WrestleMania became a two-night event in 2020, and this year it will take place on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 April at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. In the US, each evening of action will begin at 4pm PT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET. In the UK, that works out to 12am BST on Sunday and Monday morning.

WrestleMania 41 will stream live on Netflix in the UK and most territories worldwide, as part of subscribers’ existing plans (at no additional cost, in other words). In the US, however, the event will air live on Peacock pay-per-view.

In January, all of WWE’s shows began streaming live on Netflix in the UK and most territories worldwide; in the US, every show except SmackDown (which remains on the USA Network) also airs on Netflix.

Will The Rock compete?

The Rock in the build-up to WrestleMania 41 (WWE Admin)

Last year, The Rock competed in the Night 1 main event of WrestleMania 40, teaming with Roman Reigns to beat Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. He also interfered in the Night 2 main event: Reigns vs Rhodes. The 52-year-old is not advertised as competing this year, but expect him to feature in some capacity, given he has already been involved in the build-up to Rhodes vs Cena. Johnson, a real-life board member with TKO (WWE’s ownership group), plays an on-screen authority figure who recently ‘recruited’ Cena as a fellow bad guy.

Confirmed matches

Cody Rhodes is the Undisputed WWE Champion and one of the company’s biggest stars (Getty Images)

Night 1

War Raiders (World Tag-Team Champions) vs The New Day

Rey Mysterio vs El Grande Americano

Jade Cargill vs Naomi

LA Knight (United States Champion) vs Jacob Fatu

Tiffany Stratton (Women’s WWE Champion) vs Charlotte

Gunther (World Heavyweight Champion) vs Jey Uso

CM Punk vs Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins

Night 2

Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez (WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions) vs Bayley and Valkyria

Logan Paul vs AJ Styles

Randy Orton vs TBA

Bron Breakker (Intercontinental Champion) vs Penta vs Dominik Mysterio vs Finn Balor

Drew McIntyre vs Damian Priest (‘Sin City Street Fight’)

Iyo Sky (Women’s World Champion) vs Bianca Belair vs Rhea Ripley

Cody Rhodes (Undisputed WWE Champion) vs John Cena

Why is John Cena a ‘bad guy’?

Last year, Cena was a ‘good guy’ and briefly faced off with The Rock (Getty Images)

In pro wrestling, ‘good’ characters are called ‘babyfaces’ and ‘bad’ characters are ‘heels’. Cena spent most of his career as a babyface, having last been a heel in the early-mid 2000s – until February’s Elimination Chamber event, where he attacked Rhodes and joined forces with The Rock. This is part of a storyline in which Cena, during his final year as a pro wrestler, is desperate to win a record-breaking 17th world championship. Rhodes is WWE’s biggest babyface, while The Rock is a heel authority figure, given Dwayne Johnson’s real-life position on the board of TKO (WWE’s ownership group).

How much do WWE stars earn at WrestleMania?

WWE star Austin Theory in 2022 (WWE)

The specifics of WWE contracts have long been hard to ascertain. However, WWE star-turned-executive Triple H (real name Paul Levesque) told The Athletic in 2022 that $250,000 is the minimum base salary for wrestlers in the company. That figure might have risen since, of course, and it reportedly only applied to members of the Smackdown and Raw rosters – not wrestlers on NXT, which is WWE’s developmental show.

However, wrestlers’ wages are boosted by merchandise sales and, it is believed, by cuts of pay-per-view sales as well. Of course, merchandise sales are likely to be significant on a WrestleMania weekend, as well as pay-per-view sales, so 19 and 20 April could be the most lucrative days of the year for most WWE wrestlers.

In 2023, The Mirror reported some of the highest WWE wages as these: Roman Reigns $5m per year; Randy Orton $5m per year; Seth Rollins $3.5m per year; Cody Rhodes $3m per year; Logan Paul $2m per year. These figures reportedly don’t include bonuses.