So far, one of the most intriguing figures of the build for WrestleMania 42 is a person who hasn’t even been revealed yet. That would be the person on the other line of Randy Orton’s mysterious phone calls, calls that began occurring right after Orton turned on his long-time friend, WrestleMania 42 opponent, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. 

The mysterious nature of the caller has led to speculation on who it could be, and one popular candidate to emerge has been The Rock, Rhodes’ long-time foil. While Rock hasn’t been seen or heard from since Elimination Chamber last year, he has developed a knack for going after “The American Nightmare” during WrestleMania season, feuding with him in the lead-up to WrestleMania 40 and serving as the catalyst for John Cena turning on Rhodes last year.

During the latest edition of “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Dave Meltzer discussed the theory that The Rock was Orton’s mystery caller after co-host Bryan Alvarez suggested that Rock had to be the caller. And at least according to what Meltzer has heard, Rock is not the man on the other line, though Meltzer was quick to say it would be denied even if Rock was involved.

“Everyone tells me it’s not,” Meltzer said. “But of course, if it is, The Rock’s not going to let anyone know. But within the company, it was pretty much strongly denied to me. But like I said, when it comes to Dwayne, there’s only going to be three people who know. It’s going to be Nick and Paul and Dwayne. And you know, maybe one or two others, but it ain’t going to be, like, a lot of people. So yeah, if he fits, he absolutely fits in the story. But you know, I was absolutely told that it ain’t him.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription

2025 was a big year for Samoa Joe, Hook, and the rest of The Opps. Joe became the AEW Men’s World Champion at Full Gear, one-third of the AEW World Trios Champions with Powerhouse Hobbs and Katsuyori Shibata, and were featured prominently in the Death Riders storyline heading in to All In Texas. However, 2026 hasn’t been as successful, with both Joe and Hook currently on the sidelines with separate injuries, Hobbs now in WWE as Royce Keys, and Shibata taking a break back in Japan.

Fans have already seen Shibata in action as recently as the Blackjack Battle Royal for the AEW National Championship at AEW Revolution, but as far as Joe and Hook are concerned, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select shed some light as to when they could potentially return to the ring. For Joe, he was sidelined with a concussion back in January and hasn’t been medically cleared as of yet, and according to Sapp, it’s still a “wait and see” situation as no one is completely sure when Joe will be cleared. With that said, Joe himself confirmed during at the 2026 “For The Love of Wrestling” convention in the United Kingdom that he will be back in AEW sooner rather than later.

In Joe’s absence, Hook was made the interim leader of The Opps and was hoping to bring some gold back to the group in the form of the AEW National Championship. However, he was pulled from the Blackjack Battle Royal at AEW Revolution and replaced by his teammate Shibata due to an undisclosed medical issue. According to Sapp, it’s unclear exactly when he will return as well, but it was noted that when he was sidelined in 2025, AEW didn’t expect Hook to be out for as long as he was, and that he would have absolutely gritted his teeth and wrestled through whatever he was going through had the company gave him the green light. 

This past December, John Cena retired from professional wrestling at Saturday Night’s Main Event against GUNTHER, but at the “Never Seen 17’s” request, the additional matches on the card featured up-in-coming “WWE NXT” talent against main roster stars. The newer performers that arguably impressed the most was the team of Je’Von Evans and TNA star Leon Slater, who just fell short in their battle against AJ Styles and Dragon Lee. Although Evans had been featured on WWE’s biggest weekly shows before, SNME marked Slater’s first exposure to the main roster, and during a recent interview with “The Sun,” the TNA X-Division Champion reflected on the match as well as getting the privilege to work with Styles.

“So the first major interaction I had with him was at Slammiversary where he returned to TNA and came out and sung my praises in the middle of the ring, which I will never forget … And then getting to share another moment with him in his home for the last 10 years, in WWE, and especially on the night that it was – it’s still hard for me to believe I was there,” Slater explained. “I’ll see clips from that night of like John being stood in the ring and putting his armbands and his and his and his sneakers and I was like, bro, I was stood right there! It almost feels like a fever dream, but it was real. That whole day was just magical. For the match, I couldn’t have asked to be around better people.”

Evans continued by remembering the events that followed the match, as he walked backstage to be greeted by legends such as The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle and Rob Van Dam, all of whom were his idols growing up. Additionally, he claimed that tagging with Evans was a dream come true as he’s one of his best friends in the industry today.