The Rock's Best Potential Opponents After WWE WrestleMania 41

The Rock may have appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday and revealed that he took The Final Boss out of the equation in WWE and that he has commitments elsewhere that he wants to honor, but the Hollywood A-lister did not rule out a return to the ring.

Assuming The Great One has not wrestled his final match in a company for which he serves on the Board of Directors, the question becomes who the best potential options are for him to wrestle.

In the wake of WrestleMania 41, find out the answer and who with this preview of what the future should hold for The Rock inside the squared circle.

The one remaining dream match WWE has at its disposal but has not been able to get in the ring, despite trying since 2015.

The closest the company came was a year ago, when Rock cleared his schedule and returned to WWE to square off with Reigns, only to find a fan base that wanted Cody Rhodes to finish his story at WrestleMania 40 rather than a self-indulgent dream match.

Instead of that long-awaited contest, Rock teamed with The Tribal Chief to defeat Rhodes and Seth Rollins on Saturday before failing to assist Reigns to victory Sunday. Since then, they have shared the ring, with Rock presenting his cousin with the ula fala on the January 6 debut of Raw on Netflix, but have not hinted at any issues that would result in them squaring off.

This, despite insinuations early in Solo Sikoa’s hostile takeover of The Bloodline that The Rock was behind it. Therein lies the emphasis for The Final Boss vs. The Head of the Table.

Rock revealing that he was behind Sikoa’s attempt to seize control of the family, only for him to fail, leaving The Final Boss to do it himself is the right approach to take. From the beginning, both Rock and Reigns noted that any match between them would be to highlight the incredibly rich history the Samoan dynasty has in professional wrestling.

A match for the ula fala, which was presented in a way that it was as prestigious as the championships themselves, would make for a high-stakes main event and the highest-profile civil war The Bloodline has seen.

That is a WrestleMania main event and one that, hopefully, ends with Reigns conquering Rock in what would be the most important match of his already iconic career.

The best choice for any potential return to the squared circle for The Rock is Cody Rhodes, with whom he has a year’s worth of unfinished business and the most ready-made story.

Rhoades cost Rock his triumphant return match against Reigns, thanks to his loyal fan base, which demanded to see him finish his story at WrestleMania 40. He did, with some help in the form of The Undertaker thwarting interference from Rock, but only after being pinned by The Final Boss the previous night.

Rock warned Rhoades not to break his heart again, showed up at Bad Blood, and gave the first of several throat-slashing gestures. There was no follow-up to that until he returned 24 hours before Elimination Chamber and implored Rhodes to sell his soul to him. The American Nightmare obviously did not, breaking Rock’s heart again and earning a shocking beatdown from the suddenly heel John Cena and rapper Travis Scott for his troubles.

That series of events led to WrestleMania 41, where Scott interfered on behalf of Cena and helped him secure his record 17th world title at Rhodes’ expense.

A feud on hold while Rock tends to prior commitments or, as he put it on McAfee, “let all the spotlight go to John and Cody,” it is worthy of, and fans deserve, a suitable payoff in the form of the marquee match at WrestleMania 42.

Based on everything that has occurred over the last year, it is the one match that makes the most sense for The Great One’s in-ring comeback, whenever that may be.

When The Rock returned for an expected match with Reigns at WrestleMania 40, he almost certainly planned on being a babyface, welcomed back to WWE with open arms by its fans. That did not happen, but there is still a path back to The Great One assuming his mantle as pro wrestling's People's Champion.

At WrestleMania 41, we witnessed Seth Rollins align himself with Paul Heyman, then Bron Breakker the following night on Raw. With The Wise Man and Badass by his side, and the potential for more competitors to join in, The Visionary is poised to become the "big bad" on Monday nights and the leader of a faction threatening to take over WWE.

Enter The Rock, the savior of WWE.

A battle with Rollins for the, ironically enough, soul of WWE allows him to be the hero he fashions himself and gives main event heel Rollins a marquee match against one of the most iconic Superstars of all time.