Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson returned to open the first “WWE Raw” on Netflix, and he surprised fans by politely acknowledging Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. The pair were infamously involved in a storyline before fans revolted, where Rock wanted to take Rhodes’ spot against then-champion Roman Reigns after Rhodes had won the Royal Rumble.

The Rock’s appearance on “Raw” did not set up a WrestleMania 41 match between him and either Rhodes or Reigns, who he crowned with the ula fala, and Paul “Triple H” Levesque addressed the possibility of a Rock match at WrestleMania this year while speaking with “Sports Illustrated.”

“Time will tell,” he said. “I don’t want to give anything away, but I do believe as moments appear here that are huge, game-changing moments, he’s a game changer. It’s what he does. It’s who he is.”

Levesque said The Rock is the biggest box office star in the world, explaining that the “Final Boss” has earned the right and a position to do what he wants to do when it comes to WWE. He said that his former rival will always do what’s right for the company.

“He does what is right for the projects he works on, and he sees this as that as well,” Levesque said. “His passion, his DNA, his lineage, his heritage, his family, all of that, is intertwined in this. He loves it.”

Triple H wasn’t surprised by fans cheering for Cody over The Rock

Tim Nwachukwu/Getty ImagesOn an episode of “WWE SmackDown” in February 2024, Cody Rhodes appeared, though almost unwillingly, to step aside after his second Rumble win in a row, so Rock could face Reigns for the championship on “The Grandest Stage of Them All.” As for fans turning on The Rock, leading to his heel turn and “Final Boss” character ahead of WrestleMania 40, Paul Levesque said he wasn’t surprised that fans took Rhodes’ side to cheer him on to “finish the story.”

“It was a lot of debate of which way it would go and how it would go,” he explained. “Fans are very protective of this and what it is and how it’s handled, and if it is seen as self-serving in any way … If it seems that way, they will revolt against it. Cody’s story was so engrained in what we were doing and what we were going to accomplish.”

Levesque said that contrary to what people read online, there were quite a few game plans laid out for WrestleMania 40’s main event. He said he has learned throughout his career that a plan B and plan C are needed because the pieces of a match can shift at any moment.