Video: The Rock Confronts Roman Reigns in WWE Return After Calling out Champ

Amid speculation regarding a potential match against his cousin, undisputed WWE universal champion Roman Reigns, The Rock appeared Friday at SmackDown and appeared to lay the groundwork for a showdown at WrestleMania.

In the closing segment of the show, Reigning Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes came out to the ring and addressed the Tribal Chief.

Rhodes entered the evening with the option of facing Reigns for the Undisputed Universal Championship or Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship by virtue of winning the Rumble. Rhodes said he sought advice from individuals and chose Reigns.

However, Rhodes also noted that he would not be challenging him at WrestleMania. Rhodes then said one of the individuals he spoke knows Reigns very well, and then the Rock came out to a thunderous ovation.

The Rock shook hands with Rhodes, who left the ring.

The Rock and Reigns then stared each other down as the show went to black.

In January, The Rock made a surprise return to WWE on an episode of Raw. The eight-time WWE champion and future Hall of Famer beat down Jinder Mahal before cutting a promo in which he mentioned “The Head of the Table.”

The Head of the Table is one of Reigns’ nicknames, and it led to a ton of speculation that WWE was possibly planning to do The Rock vs. Reigns at WrestleMania 40 in April.

A couple of weeks after his Raw appearance, it was announced that The Rock was named to the board of directors for TKO Group Holdings, which is the name of the company formed by the WWE-UFC merger.

Later that day, The Rock appeared on ESPN’s First Take, and he was asked about the possibility of having a match against The Tribal Chief.

The Rock and Reigns have both openly expressed interest in the match before, and The Rock did so again on First Take.

The Great One said there is “a chance” of a match between him and Reigns happening at a WrestleMania, and he went on to call himself a “long-gamer” and discussed his desire to have a proper build into that match.

While some interpreted that as The Rock pushing to face Reigns at WrestleMania 40, others felt like the language used by The Rock suggested that he wanted to do it further down the road, potentially at WrestleMania 41.

With Cody Rhodes winning the men’s Royal Rumble match for a second year in a row, however, it seemingly took Reigns vs. The Rock out of the equation for WrestleMania 40.

Still, Reigns vs. The Rock seems likely to happen at some point, and The Rock’s return to WWE could be another opportunity to build toward it.

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