WWE creative is reportedly moving forward on WrestleMania 43 without The Rock. The company is not expecting Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to be available for a major storyline.
WrestleVotes on Fightful Select reports that a source tied to WWE creative gave an update on Johnson’s status. The team is operating under the assumption that he will not be available for substantial storyline work during the WrestleMania 43 season.
The source added a caveat. Situations like this one can change fast, and nothing is being treated as final. For now, though, the company is not building around him.
Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that Fast Forever, the final Fast & Furious movie, is expected to begin filming in December. Vin Diesel confirmed the production timeline publicly, with the film slated for release in March 2028.
A December start would leave little runway for the training an in-ring return demands. Meltzer added that a one-off appearance in Riyadh, without a match attached, remains possible.
Johnson has kept the door open himself. Speaking on The Morning Shift podcast in August, the 54-year-old promised the hosts tickets whenever he next walks out at the show.
“Whenever I do go back to WrestleMania, I gotta have you guys out,” Johnson said. No date, opponent, or event was attached to the comment.
Johnson’s last match came at WrestleMania 40 in 2024, when he teamed with Roman Reigns to beat Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins on night one. On night two, he interfered in the main event, which Rhodes won for the WWE Championship.
Johnson’s most recent WWE appearance came at Elimination Chamber in March 2025. The Hollywood star helped set up John Cena’s heel turn on Rhodes there, aligning Cena with Travis Scott ahead of a WrestleMania 41 title match.
Cena beat Rhodes at WrestleMania 41 for a record 17th world championship, with Scott interfering at ringside. Johnson did not appear at the show.
WrestleMania 43 is set for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in April 2027. WWE announced the location in September 2025, making it the first WrestleMania held outside North America. The promotion ran the 2026 Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia as well, and exact dates for WrestleMania 43 have not been announced.
WWE President Nick Khan addressed the planning directly. Speaking on The Varsity with John Ourand, Khan said the company is “already across the creative” for the show, adding that the plans are “subject to any injury.”
Khan also confirmed two watch-along parties at New York’s MSG Theater during the weekend. Each one will be followed by NXT or AAA programming.
Meltzer followed up in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter with detail on what that creative might look like. The belief inside WWE, he wrote, is that the Sunday main event is being built around Reigns and Oba Femi.
Femi has been pushed hard since winning the 2026 King of the Ring tournament. A win over Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 42 put him in the main event picture. Rather than use the title shot that came with the crown, he faced Lesnar again at SummerSlam.
WWE does not need him, and 2025 made the case. Johnson turned up in February, told Rhodes to sell his soul, engineered the biggest heel turn in years, and then disappeared. The WrestleMania 41 build belonged to Cena and Rhodes, two men who showed up every week and did the work. Travis Scott handled the interference at the finish. The Final Boss was nowhere.
The pattern is familiar by now. A cameo, a headline, and a story handed off to someone else to finish. Spectacle sells a weekend, and it does nothing for the roster carrying the product in July.
WWE stopped waiting, and the results arrived fast. Femi beat Lesnar at WrestleMania 42, won King of the Ring, and passed on the easy title shot to run it back at SummerSlam. Reigns against Femi in Riyadh was built week by week, on camera, by people under contract. No filming schedule attached.
Johnson will walk out at a WrestleMania again, and the pop will be enormous. A pop is what the Brahma Bull offers now. Planning a season around a man who cannot promise to be in the building is how WWE burned an entire WrestleMania build in 2025. Betting on Femi and Reigns instead is the correct call, and the creative team appears to have made it.
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