WWE announces that “The Final Boss” returns to Smackdown tonight in New Orleans, Triple H says “strap in” and “everything could change”

In perhaps a notable choice of words, WWE announced last night that The Final Boss is returning to Smackdown tonight. It could be indicative of nothing, but using the term “The Final Boss,” the latest pro wrestling personal of “The Rock” Dwayne Johnson, could point toward this being an angle to inject himself into the WrestleMania landscape.

The speculated and projected line-up for WrestleMania this year includes a Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins vs. C.M. Punk match, plus Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena. If The Rock were to wrestle, he’d likely be involved with one of those wrestlers in some way. Rock doused the Cody rivalry on the Netflix premiere episode of Raw last month, and he’d have to win the Elimination Chamber or announce with his executive power he was making it a Triple Threat match. He could also be added to the Reigns-Seth-Punk match, or split off one of the wrestlers to face him one-on-one. Or, he could face Jacob Fatu or someone else not listed in the above two key matches.

Tonight’s line-up includes Cody Rhodes & Damien Priest & Braun Strowman vs. The New Bloodline (Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga), so perhaps an angle setting up a Rock vs. Solo match is possible.

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“Strap in,” said WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque. “When The Final Boss shows up at this time of year, the audience knows absolutely anything is possible. Everything could change in an instant.”

Although this announcement was made last night, this was known internally in WWE for a while longer. The last-second nature of the announcement could have been to insulate themselves from an issue of something last-second coming up in Rock’s schedule that would have derailed his appearance.