The Rock WrestleMania XL Interview_ A new era in wrestling _ becoming the Final Boss _ WWE on ESPN

WWE is red hot right now. As somebody that's been around it and been at WrestleMania as recently, this feels very different. It feels beyond anything we've seen in recent years. And there's nobody, obviously, more equipped to give us the historical perspective and make that kind of assessment. You, a couple weeks ago, you declared wrestling is cool again. You put that out there. Yeah. You put that out there. It matters. What are you sensing with the fan reaction to that? To this level of fire associated now with this brand. What I'm feeling with the fans, and I think that's one of the great benefits of this business of professional wrestling. I was very lucky and fortunate that I grew up in it. I was born into it, for those who may not know. My grandfather was a professional wrestler. My dad was a professional wrestler. My grandfather wrestled for Vince McMahon Sr. in the 70s. My dad came along in the 80s. He was a trailblazer as well. I came along in the 90s, ruined everything with my bad haircut and a fanny pack, as I like to say. But what I'm sensing now, Joe, is that fans are excited at this idea that professional wrestling, yes, is cool again. It's exciting again. It's unpredictable. And it kind of harkens back to, in my opinion, which was my personal goal. You have a sense in the spirit of professional wrestling in the early 80s, where that was a really unique time in this world of professional wrestling, where a shift started to happen in the culture, in the zeitgeist, where Hulk Hogan, the immortal Hulk Hogan, became what he became. And professional wrestling became national. Then it became global. But the cornerstone and the underpinning happened in the early 80s. So you had, and again, growing up just as a fan of a man and a kid who just loved professional wrestling, loved the bad guys. At that time in the early 80s, you had Hulk Hogan. You also had Ric Flair. And he had Dusty Rhodes. And you had guys like that who were ushering in this really unique style of professional wrestling, where there was a blurring of the lines, so to speak, between reality and fiction, and how they merged and converged together at times in the early 80s, created this really cool, unique, as we call it in wrestling parlance, as you would shoot wrestling angles. People would watch and go, that was really cool. That ---- looks real. What is that? What's unique about it? So I feel like in this world of pro wrestling, things can come full circle. And I think it's coming back around full circle, but also in this unique way where I would say teamwork makes the dream work. So I am one, luckily, one of many individuals who are ushering in this new era, if you will. I think you sum it up perfectly with your analysis of going back to 1984. Yes. And really looking at what the product was in the 70s, where it was wrestling. It was arenas. And it was superstar Billy Graham, and Bob Backlund, and the strong Chief J. Yes. It became, in what you just described there, there was the merging onto the superhighway of entertainment, and drama, and cinema with wrestling, when Mr. T gets involved. First, WrestleMania. That's right. When Muhammad Ali's the guest ref. When Liberace is strutting out. Billy Martin. All of that, though, you feel that pull back to that right now. The past three months, from your initial pop on day one to right now, feels like this is the modern day example of the merging with mega entertainment with the sport as we know it. I think you sum it up perfectly. Thank you for saying that. And I would agree with you now. And this is the fun part, man, that we are in right now. The ride's been unbelievable. The build's been unbelievable. It has been a pretty good build, yes. But it's also required, I think, the ability to pivot. And I think, perhaps more importantly than the ability to pivot, is the capacity to listen to the fans. I want to talk about that pivot, because that's what I think has put the hook in the mouth for so many that have been reeled in to what's going to happen this weekend. Because we've seen your evolution through the years in all different forms of you. But the final boss is so different. And it's so beyond what we've known. Hollywood Rock and other versions of where you've gone. How would you characterize that evolution and your ability to listen and to deliver with that? Sure. I would categorize the evolution into final boss as when opportunity meets the willingness to listen, truly listen. You could hear fans, but there's also a difference between hearing and then listening. And then there's also a difference between, I think, hearing, listening, and then action. And in this case, the idea of The Rock versus Roman Reigns was the main event idea that was going to happen last year. At last year's WrestleMania, it was converging nicely. We were having discussions, myself, Nick Khan, who you know very well. Both of us know him very well. And that was coming together. And that wasn't meant to be. I'll just say it like that. So we decided to put the pencils down, not with Nick Khan, but with Vince McMahon. And I had suggested to Vince, let's put the pencils down for now. And maybe we could move off. Maybe we could return to this at another time. So as I started to come back and structured a new deal, an agreement with Ari, who I've known for over 20 years, my close business partner and my agent. I always like to joke that I look at him as my big brother, even though there's a nice size difference between us. The goal was then, well, let's put on the biggest WrestleMania of all time between The Rock and Roman Reigns. Let's do that. So now, as we started to put that on its feet, the fans started to voice their concern, which is the best part, one of the best parts about our business. Again, when the fans voice their concerns, whether it's 5,000 or 5,000,000, you can hear them, you can listen, you can choose to truck through it, or you can choose to take action and serve them properly. So as we started to put this whole thing on its feet, a moment came. I felt like it was a critical moment. And I was in Hawaii with the family. And luckily, in Hawaii is where I get a lot of my pretty good ideas, some not so good, but a lot of them good. And I remember calling Nick and Ari. And I said, I have this idea. I don't think we should truck through this, because the thing that bothers me most is that there is a group of fans, a segment of fans, who are upset. I don't know what the answer is. I don't know what the North Star is. But how about this as an idea? Why don't we go with this incredible storyline, continue to go with it between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns? The idea of finishing his story is one that fans have invested in. We as a company have invested in that too. Rock and Roman can wait. However, what if the rock turned heel? And what if the rock not only turned heel, but I was able to present a version of the rock that was 10.0? Oh, yeah. There's been a level of violence and intensity that if you told me six months ago, DJ is going to be doing this, everybody would be shaking hands. Sure. I mean, you've taken this thing to a far different level. Well, I think you have to with something like this. If we're going to go and we're going to commit to rock 10.0, we're going to commit to final boss. And if that's going to be the declaration, well, what does that mean? That means you go for it, you swing for the fences, and you don't look back. We're not going to just halfway get involved into this. We're not going to halfway commit to a rock 5.0. Let's go rock 10.0. And also selfishly for me, I mean, for many years, I've been very lucky and appreciative of this situation that I'm in where I've been able to achieve a few things, gotten a little bit of influence underneath my belt. But also at the same time, what you realize is people expect you to be a certain way. And they expect you to talk a certain way. And they expect you to do things in a certain way. And at times, I could feel a little pretzeling. At times, it could feel like you're a little handcuffed. And so the final boss represents a lot of things to a lot of people, but certainly to me, represents, I'll tell you this. A lot of people have called this, oh, the attitude era is back. What I have called this era is the, excuse my language, because it's coming, the f*** that era. And that's what this means. And that's what the final boss means. It's, you expect me to do one thing. You think it's got to be like this. Well, f*** that, I'm not doing it like that. Final boss isn't doing it like that. So what's also interesting is what we have found is the reason why people have gravitated towards this Rock 10.0 final boss is I'm able to say things that people want to say, that they can't say. So let the final boss say it. Your level of investment to make this decision, it's not just putting your face and name to something. There has to be a physical commitment as well. I thought it was an amazing article with ESPN.com this week detailing your training camp. Thank you, yes. Sending the rings to LA, sending a ring to Hawaii. Yes. How do you feel? Physically, I feel great. Yes, knock on wood. Physically, I feel great. It's been 11 years since a scheduled match. Of course. 11 years. And there is no, there's nothing that you could do. There's nothing that we could do in life that could, that could equal being in the ring. Being suplexed, being thrown around. You just have to do it. Right. It is like riding a bike. It does come back. But it is a, it's a rude awakening when you first start hitting that mat because it's very unforgiving. But physically, I wanted to make sure that I was prepared. And as you know, and as everybody watching who follows WWE and pro wrestling, these guys who I'm in the ring with, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, these guys are the best in the world. And they are top-notch athletes. I want to make sure that I'm holding my own. So I committed to a eight to 10 week training camp. I did have rings flown to Los Angeles, ring flown to Hawaii when I was there. We brought in guys, we had training camp, and the training camp has been great, but it's also been very intense. So it's a unique training camp in that you, you apply the practice of your weight work, your recovery modalities, everything that I have typically been doing for years, but when it comes to the ring work, that's where it gets really unique and it gets specific. And you also have to be careful about how much you do because you don't want to get hurt, but you also know that there's nothing in the gym that could ever equate to just being suplexed or slammed. So the training camp has been great. The body feels good. You can see a transformation, especially in recent weeks, and you've earned that. And tomorrow you go out and perform at a high level tomorrow, and then maybe the final boss can enjoy a nice agave-based drink afterwards. Oh, absolutely. And celebrate. Yes, there you go. Celebrate just a little bit. It's waiting, yeah. Hey, what a great visit. Everybody's looking forward to this. Congratulations on arriving just to this point. Thank you very much. The final boss. I appreciate it. Good to see you.