Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.
The Rock Reportedly Not Influencing WWE Creative Decisions
Despite being on the TKO board of directors, The Rock has reportedly not provided any creative input as of late.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats), The Rock has “not weighed in at all on current WWE creative.”
The Rock last wrestled a match about two years ago at WrestleMania 40 when he teamed with Roman Reigns to beat Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins in the main event of Night 1.
More recently, The Rock was heavily involved with John Cena’s heel turn in early 2025.
Within the storyline, The Rock made an appeal to Rhodes to sell him his soul, but when Cody refused to do so, Cena viciously attacked The American Nightmare at The Rock’s expense.
While most fans expected The Final Boss to be a big part of the build toward WrestleMania 41, that wasn’t the case, as he left it to Cena and Rhodes to tell the remainder of the story themselves.
As has been the case for several years, The Rock remains busy with outside ventures, primarily in the realm of his hugely successful acting career.
With no indication that The Rock is going to be making appearances on WWE programming any time soon, his laissez-faire approach makes sense.
However, Meltzer (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News) did recently report that Saudi Arabian officials are expected to make The Rock the largest monetary offer in wrestling history to have a match at WrestleMania 43 next year.
If that is enough to lure The Rock back into the ring, it is likely he will be far more hands-on with the creative at that point.
Rey Mysterio Reportedly Avoids Serious Injury
WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio reportedly may have lucked out with regard to the injury he suffered during Monday night’s episode of Raw.
According to Meltzer (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), Mysterio’s injury is not believed to be serious, although specifics regarding the nature of the injury aren’t yet known.
Mysterio lost to Austin Theory on Raw, but during a post-match beat down of Rey, Penta and Dragon Lee by The Vision, Mysterio looked to be in a considerable amount of discomfort.
The referee even put up the “X” signal to denote an injury, and he appeared to step in and prevent The Vision from doing further damage to Mysterio.
F4WOnline’s Bryan Alvarez (h/t Carrier) reported after Raw that the injury was legitimate, but no further details were provided.
The 51-year-old Mysterio missed about seven months with a torn groin suffered the night before WrestleMania 41 last April, and he has only been back in the fold since November.
Mysterio is among the Superstars who have been announced for participation in the men’s Royal Rumble match on Saturday, and his name has not been removed as of yet.
That suggests there may at least be a chance that Mysterio will be good to go for the Rumble, which would be a positive from WWE’s perspective given his star power.
WWE Reportedly Has Lofty Expectations for Royal Rumble
Royal Rumble is always among WWE’s biggest events of the year, but the 2026 edition reportedly could be even more significant than usual.
According to PWInsider.com (h/t Ortman), this year’s Royal Rumble is expected to be “at the level” of WrestleMania.
When WWE holds shows in Saudi Arabia, they are typically grandiose events, so it makes sense that there is an expectation for the first Royal Rumble to ever take place in Saudi Arabia to be a huge deal.
On top of that, Saudi Arabia is hosting WrestleMania for the first time next year, and Royal Rumble could serve as a preview for what is to come.
The Rumble is looking like a star-studded affair with big names such as Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Brock Lesnar, Rhea Ripley, Becky Lynch and a host of others scheduled for the Rumble matches themselves.
Also, Drew McIntyre will defend the WWE Championship against Sami Zayn, and AJ Styles is putting his career on the line against Gunther.
The Royal Rumble marks the start of WrestleMania season, so there is little doubt that Saturday’s premium live event will be a newsworthy one on several fronts.
