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00:00 - Coming up...
00:22 - Real Reason The Rock Missed WrestleMania 41
08:32 - WrestleMania 41 Success
10:17 - Bayley Teases Leaving WWE
Real Reason The Rock MISSED WrestleMania 41! Bayley LEAVING WWE! | WrestleTalk
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Sources used for research:
https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/the-rock-made-call-to-not-be-involved-in-john-cena-cody-rhodes-wrestlemania-angle/
https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2025/4/22/24414039/wrestlemania-41-most-successful-wwe-event-all-time
https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1k5kw12/randy_ortons_reaction_to_wrestlemania_ticket/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1k53zi4/bayley_ive_a_year_and_a_half_left_on_this_current/
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What do you make of The Rock's comments? Let us know in the comments!
WrestleTalk Patreon 👉 https://www.patreon.com/wrestletalk
Monday Night War Episode 6! 👉 https://youtu.be/B3QfFOuUnGM
More wrestling news on https://wrestletalk.com/
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00:00 - Coming up...
00:22 - Real Reason The Rock Missed WrestleMania 41
08:32 - WrestleMania 41 Success
10:17 - Bayley Teases Leaving WWE
Real Reason The Rock MISSED WrestleMania 41! Bayley LEAVING WWE! | WrestleTalk
#WWE #WrestlingNews #WrestleTalk #WWERAW #AEW
Buy WrestleTalk Merch here! https://wrestleshop.com/
Sources used for research:
https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/the-rock-made-call-to-not-be-involved-in-john-cena-cody-rhodes-wrestlemania-angle/
https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2025/4/22/24414039/wrestlemania-41-most-successful-wwe-event-all-time
https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1k5kw12/randy_ortons_reaction_to_wrestlemania_ticket/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1k53zi4/bayley_ive_a_year_and_a_half_left_on_this_current/
Youtube Channel Comments Policy
We appreciate the comments and opinions our viewers provide. Do note that all comments are subject to YouTube auto-moderation and manual moderation review. We encourage opinions and discussion, but harassment, hate speech, bullying and other abusive posts will not be tolerated. Decisions on comment removal are made by the Community Manager. Please email us at support@wrestletalk.com with any questions or concerns.
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Bayley teases leaving WWE, Randy Orton disgusted at his own company's ticket prices, and
00:07Rock the final Dwayne Johnson himself reveals why he didn't feature on WrestleMania 41.
00:13You just didn't really feel like it.
00:16I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:22During The Rock's WWE return feud with CM Punk back in 2013, he would wear Team Boots
00:272 Asses t-shirts with the numbers 24-7-365 on the back.
00:34That means putting those boots to the asses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
00:43Over 10 years later, in 2025 though, he's more on track for 24-6-312.
00:48Because in the main event of WrestleMania 41 Night 2, where Cody Rhodes was defending his
00:53WWE Championship against the heel John Cena, the same John Cena, who sold his soul to
00:59The Rock six weeks prior at Elimination Chamber.
01:04The Rock didn't show up.
01:06It was a very disappointing end to what had been a very good Night 2, and Rock's lack
01:10of involvement was heavily criticised by almost everyone.
01:14Because the whole storyline and match felt like it had been designed around the final boss
01:19turning up to finally give Cena the payment for selling his soul to him.
01:24But it turns out that payment was the Grammy award-winning musical artist Travis Scott wearing
01:27a replica hardcore title.
01:29In the wake of many blaming him for Mania's anticlimactic end, he made a video link appearance
01:34on yesterday's Pat McAfee show to explain the real reason he wasn't at WrestleMania.
01:40And the story starts all the way back in February.
01:45The Rock revealed in the interview that about a month before the Elimination Chamber PLA,
01:49where Cena would turn heel, the final final boss, Ari Emanuel, who is the head of not
01:53just TKO where Rock has his board seat, but its parent company Endeavor, called him to
01:58personally ask Johnson to appear at the Chamber show, apparently due to ticket sales being low,
02:04and Emanuel wanting that PLA to be a must-see event by itself, rather than just a stop on
02:10the road to WrestleMania.
02:11Following that, Rock had a phone call with Emanuel, Nick Khan and Paul Levesque to throw
02:15around ideas for what he could do with another WWE run.
02:19Which was probably quite awkward, because Rock had decided to resolve his year-long feud
02:22with Cody Rhodes the month before that on the Netflix debut of Raw.
02:26They came up with the idea that the final boss character no longer wants championship titles
02:31or money.
02:32He wants… people's souls.
02:36And specifically, one person's soul, Cody Rhodes, turning him heel, which The Rock claimed
02:42lots of fans wanted to see happen.
02:44A week or two later, presumably trying to scramble to find a way to deal with this massive
02:48spanner that had just been thrown into his year-long mania build machine, Levesque suggested
02:53that Cena sells his soul to The Rock instead of Cody, which The Rock loved.
02:58Cena agreed to, and said he wanted to anchor his new heeled character in the Let's Go
03:03Cena, Cena sucks chants he'd had to endure throughout his career.
03:07Before I get into why Rock then didn't appear for the mania angle he himself set up, here's
03:12a word from this video's sponsor.
03:16Uploading the news, but… wait, what?
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03:22Cybercriminals have stolen the news!
03:23Hello mate, what's going on?
03:25No, not the cybercriminals, they've stolen my news again!
03:28Oh precious little Oli, don't worry about that, we'll get your news back in a jiffy,
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04:13The Rock being called in after the rumble fits with what we saw transpire on screen.
04:31Up until that point, I believe they were building a story of Rhodes vs Cena, but basing it on
04:36Cena's babyface pursuit of a record breaking 17th world title, which would be contrasted
04:42with Cody's increasing isolation as a long-reigning world champion.
04:46Levesque had been telling a really great long-term story of all of Rhodes' friends slowly turning
04:51on him.
04:52AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins.
04:55The Royal Rumble go home episode of Raw had CM Punk clearly lay it out.
04:59This is the point in a title reign where you have no friends left.
05:02That turned Punk heel back in 2012.
05:04Don't let the same paranoia take hold of you.
05:08You make it seem like Cody is going to be the one to turn heel at WrestleMania, when actually,
05:13as the Wrestling Observer have reported, it's a swerve for John, who is the one who goes
05:17bad in the main event.
05:19But instead, several weeks after that first phone call from Emmanuel, The Rock suddenly
05:23announced he'd be appearing on the 21st February episode of SmackDown, where, in True
05:28Rock style, he seemed to turn heel and babyface several times in one segment.
05:32He made the big announcement that WrestleMania 42 would take place next year in New Orleans,
05:37which is where that episode of SmackDown was taking place.
05:40But then he delivered his new heel final boss offer to Cody, that he'd make him a megastar
05:45in return for Rhodes' soul.
05:49Emmanuel got his wish.
05:50Elimination Chamber had become must-see.
05:53Not because of the Chamber matches so much, but because of the intrigue of an appearance from
05:57The Rock and whether Cody would sell his soul to him.
06:01It turned out to be Cena in one of the greatest wrestling angles in history.
06:05Unfortunately though, in hindsight, Emmanuel wanting Chamber to be a big success on its
06:09own terms undermined the longer term story that would have made WrestleMania 41, the more
06:15important show, a complete all-time storyline.
06:19Because The Rock seems to think in his McAfee interview that his mission was to kick off Mania
06:24season with that incredible Chamber moment, and then hand the ball to the other guys to
06:29run with.
06:30I called Jon after Elimination Chamber, spoke to him, called Cody, and I said, I think the
06:35final boss work is done.
06:37We've established it.
06:38We have six weeks, now let's build.
06:41You guys go and crush it, I'll be right there with you, and I'm always here if you
06:45need me, but I think it's best for the final boss not to be involved in that finish.
06:50Six weeks to plan for that, I knew then the best thing for the final boss, we've established
06:54this idea with Cody's soul and can always come back to it, I did feel and I made the
06:59call that I don't want to be involved in that.
07:02Let the final boss step back into the shadows and let all the spotlight go to Jon, let it
07:06go to Cody.
07:07Let's not make it about Jon's soul or Cody's soul, let's let them do what they do.
07:14So humble, almost as humble as Triple H.
07:16After The Rock, the storyline then became about Cena's mission to ruin professional wrestling.
07:21Which is true, that's exactly what the next six weeks of the road to WrestleMania became,
07:26with no mention of The Rock or Travis Scott.
07:29But that still left a huge Rock-sized hole in the story, as we needed the actual reason
07:34why Cena sold his soul in the first place, other than just, wow, what a cool moment.
07:40Rock told McAfee that he could have been involved in the Mania finish, and that he's always
07:44open for conversations with TKO and WWE, but that he wanted the spotlight to be on Cena
07:50and noted, well, I'm pretty busy, I've got loads of other commitments too.
07:54He said he loved the finish of Sunday's match, but he would have finessed things a little
07:58differently in how they got there, but that's just me creatively.
08:02Perhaps he is talking about everyone's favourite Grammy Award winning musical artist, Travis Scott,
08:07who he said he loves, but he was surprised to see him involved.
08:11Obviously, because it made fans expect The Rock was about to come out after him.
08:15I knew the moment I saw Travis, well, that immediately amplifies, here comes the final
08:21boss.
08:22Some parts of it I would have just adjusted a little bit more, I would have finessed it
08:25a little bit more.
08:26What do you all think of The Rock's explanation?
08:28Let me know in the comments down below, where I'll be replying, it doesn't matter what
08:31you think.
08:32But even with a critically panned final match, WrestleMania 41 succeeded in the most important
08:38business, business, business metric… money!
08:41The year after WWE announced WrestleMania 40 as their most successful event of all time,
08:46the promotion has issued a press release titled, WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas becomes most successful
08:52event in WWE history.
08:54Because it shatters all time gait, viewership, merchandise, sponsorship, social records, and
08:59that one woman by the barricade when Stone Cold crashed into her.
09:03I added that past one.
09:05The made up live attendance saw a combined 124,693 fans, 100,000 of which were probably
09:13real.
09:14Being distributed worldwide on Netflix meant viewership at home was up 114% from Mania 40, merch sales
09:20were up 45% in the building and 86% online.
09:24And most importantly, the event featured a record 28 total partners to set an all-time
09:29event record for sponsorship revenue.
09:32Shout out to the Konzo!
09:34The Wrestling Observer claims the live attendance revenue was $40 million combined for both nights,
09:39which means an average of $400 a ticket per show going by the estimated actual paid
09:45attendance figures.
09:46Which brings us to the unlikely moral voice of WWE from out of nowhere, Randy Orton.
09:53In a video on TikTok, a fan is shown talking to Randy about buying tickets to WrestleMania,
09:58where they say they spent about $30,000 on the weekend.
10:03To which Randy looks totally shocked and says, that's embarrassing to me, that's so
10:08much f***ing money for a seat.
10:10But wrestlers aren't just concerned about WWE's increasingly high ticket prices.
10:14They're also annoyed about not being booked.
10:17Bayley was set to tag with Lyra Valkyria at WrestleMania, challenging for Liv Morgan and
10:22Raquel Rodriguez's women's tag team titles.
10:24But on the day before the match, WWE announced Bayley had been attacked backstage, and Lyra
10:30would now be teaming with a mystery partner.
10:32That mystery partner turned out to be Becky Lynch, who had burned through two years of normal
10:36Leveque booking in two nights.
10:38Returning from injury, winning the tag belt, losing the tag belt, and turning heel all in
10:42the space of 24 hours.
10:44PWInsider have reported that Bayley was not really injured, and this was all a part of the
10:48plan dating back for weeks.
10:50Apparently there was sympathy for Bayley in the locker room, as she's very respected,
10:54and people thought she deserved a Mania spot.
10:57The former tag partner Mercedes-Monee over in AEW even tweeted her,
11:01Pointing at you emoji, telephone emoji, money face emoji, Bayley!
11:06It must have got Bayley thinking, as she's now said in an interview with Chris Van Vliet.
11:10Hunter has gone on a press conference being like, Bayley's this, Bayley's this.
11:14She's everything that you could possibly want out of a superstar, which I appreciate.
11:19But it's like, alright, well what do I need to do to get me there?
11:21I've a year and a half left on this current contract.
11:25So we'll see what happens then.
11:26And then what?
11:27Man, I dunno.
11:28I've done so much with WWE, and I've been here already for 12 years.
11:34Much like Karrion Kross' work shoot promo, there is a chance this could all be a work,
11:38as it could tie into her getting revenge on Becky on her return.
11:41Now click the video on screen to watch the brand new episode of Me vs Luke in WWE 2K25 My
11:47GM Mode in Monday Night War.
11:51I'll see you again later in the next one.
11:56I'll see you again next time.
11:57I'll see you again next time.