This crowd eruption is one of the loudest reactions I’ve ever experienced in my… pic.twitter.com/VjYk5xaWzF

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) September 22, 2023

The movie star returned to the show named after his catchphrase alongside former “SmackDown” commentator Pat McAfee after appearing on the latter’s ESPN program. The Rock addressed his scrapped WrestleMania plans with Roman Reigns on McAfee’s show before appearing on “SmackDown” to deliver a People’s Elbow to Austin Theory. He even crossed paths with former “Once In A Lifetime” rival John Cena backstage. The surprise return helped the show crack 2,500,000 viewers for just the sixth time in 2023. Though the Hollywood writer’s strike that is keeping Cena with WWE for the foreseeable future rolls on, there are no reported plans for The Rock to make any more appearances as of this writing.