Breaking Down the Fallout of Rock's Stunning Pat McAfee Interview After WrestleMania
The Rock may not have had the time in his schedule to appear at WrestleMania 41, but he did make time for The Pat McAfee Show Tuesday afternoon, where he explained his absence from the big event (video includes NSFW language).
“I did feel — and I made the call, ‘I don’t want to be involved in that. Let The Final Boss step back into the shadows. Let all the spotlight go to John and Cody. Let’s not make it about Cody’s soul or John’s soul. Let’s let them do what they do,’” he claimed, despite a very clear creative decision to make it about Rhodes selling his soul and being front-and-center alongside Cena after a buzzworthy heel turn two decades in the making.
Rock also claimed he wanted to see Cody Rhodes turn heel at some point and had developed the soul-selling narrative as part of that larger story, then took some thinly veiled shots at the creative process surrounding the WrestleMania main event between The American Nightmare and Cena.
“They had six weeks to plan for that. I loved the finish of the match. I would have finessed things a little differently on how they got there, but that’s just me creatively,” he said, in response to a main event finish critically panned.
While it was a clear damage control attempt by a massive Hollywood star and a member of the Board of Directors at TKO, it also came across as a self-serving, pro-Rock spin on what appeared to be a tumultuous stretch of WWE Creative leading into the biggest show of the year and one that essentially threw Paul “Triple H” Levesque and his team under the bus.
It was ineffective and may have a negative impact on relations within the promotion.
What does the fallout of that explosive interview on the ESPN talk show look like for WWE moving forward? Let’s take a look.
A Final Boss Missing In Action
Rock made it very clear when discussing the reason(s) for missing WrestleMania that one of them is commitments elsewhere that he wants to honor and uphold. WrestlePurists’ Ibou noted back in December that they included reshoots for the upcoming Moana live-action film, which would make him unavailable to compete in the show’s main event.
If that is the case, one thing that must stop at the highest levels of WWE is the reliance on The Rock to help boost ticket sales and add spice to premium live events. It disrupts creative plans and sets impossible expectations among fans that The Final Boss will factor into the story when it matters most.
We saw it at Bad Blood, when he appeared in the closing moments of the show for absolutely no reason, teasing involvement with Rhodes and Roman Reigns that never went anywhere and prevented CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre inside Hell in a Cell from being the main event over a generic tag team match-up.
The more that happens, the more the company sets itself up for unnecessary backlash when the Hollywood A-lister does not appear as expected, even if he was never advertised to in the first place.
His commitments elsewhere also mean the company should not rely on him to make promotional appearances, such as the one on Tuesday afternoon.
For as iconic a character as he was and as much as he may genuinely intend to help, he tends to spin things in a manner best described as self-serving. It usually makes him look good, or like the emphasis of great ideas, at the expense of everyone else, all while undermining the actual Chief Content Officer of the company.
Speaking of which, the interview should also have an impact on how he creates stories, generates rivalries, and builds Superstars moving forward.
Re-Examining The Game
Triple H experienced his greatest success as a booker when he did not have to account for mega celebrities popping back into the frame and becoming a factor in his stories, then waiting around for them to become available to tell the next chapter.
Part of what made WWE as hot as it was entering last year’s Showcase of the Immortals was how he created new stars. Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley, LA Knight, Jacob Fatu, Liv Morgan, Dominik Mysterio, Jey Uso, Drew McIntyre, and Gunther all saw their stars skyrocket, thanks to concentrated booking that intertwined their stories with other, bigger stars on the roster.
Their creative plans were not at the mercy of whether Rock would be available for any given episode of Raw or SmackDown, let alone making an appearance at a premium live event.
They had clear plans and an obvious yet effective story direction, and the result was the most coherent WWE product fans had seen in a decade.
He needs to get back to that.
If Rock has made it clear that he has commitments elsewhere, he should not feel beholden to whatever it is he may want to pop back in and do. Book how he wants, which also meant getting as many faces in front of the audience as possible.
It was not uncommon for the 2025 Hall of Fame inductee to feature the bigger stars in backstage promos or video packages that could further their stories while ensuring Dragon Lee got on television in a match with Chad Gable that highlighted his incredible in-ring abilities.
Otis and Chad Gable had one of the best stories in WWE in 2024, and much of that can be attributed to the fact that they had television time for in-ring promos and matches, which, given the current state of the product, they likely would not have today.
Get back to creating those moments that benefit stars outside of the top handful of Superstars, tell those undercard stories that allowed someone like Gable to shine and become one of the most interesting and entertaining performers on the roster.
If Triple H cannot rekindle the magic of his first year as head of WWE Creative, it does not appear he will have The Rock to lean on when needed for the foreseeable future. If that is the case, and the product suffers, then it will be time to re-evaluate The Game.
Literally and figuratively.
