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Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of the 2023 Royal Rumble was the rumored return of the former WWE Champion The Rock.
The poster released by the Stamford-based promotion was even considered as a potential tease for The Great One's inevitable resurgence to claim his spot in The Bloodline against The Head of the Table, Roman Reigns. However, this may not be the direction the company is heading into, come Saturday.
While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that WWE knew for a while that The Rock wouldn't be ready for The Grandest Stage of Them All in April, which could mean that a swerve may be coming in the Men's Royal Rumble match. If it isn't The People's Champion, the most popular fan favorite is Cody Rhodes to win it all.
"Anything is possible, and it’s certainly possible he could be keeping everything a secret from all by one or two people, but the word is that he doesn’t have the time to get in the shape… All along, if he has the time to do it, he will do it," Meltzer said.
Meltzer further went on to add a general opinion internally.
"Put it this way, most are of the opinion that it’s not happening, and it’s been for months. Those on the inside thought the odds were not good based on that thing because (his schedule)… There’s no such thing as 100% because it’s a very secretive business. Within the company, it’s not looking good," [H/T: WrestlingNews.co]
Meltzer added that there was skepticism a month back regarding the chances of the match happening. It’s possible The Rock is swerving everyone, and only a select few people know about it and he is in shape to wrestle.
Despite this, there have been several hints by WWE regarding The Brahma Bull's return on Saturday. You can read more about it here.
Changes made to The Bloodline segment on WWE RAW XXX
Some had speculated that the major change following SmackDown that was made for the upcoming 30th Anniversary Special of RAW was due to The Rock's unavailability and subsequent change of plans.
However, Dave Meltzer thinks that it is simply due to plans changing rather than having anything to do with the legend's involvement.
“I would say no only because what I just said is what I said in this week’s Observer unless I say it’s a big swerve. It was known by insiders as the probable thing for a while. It’s not like something he all of a sudden gave the final word on [a] Thursday, like ‘Hey, I’m not doing it.’ It’s like they were aware. They knew…I think this was just a change of plans (acknowledgment ceremony)," Meltzer stated. [H/T: WrestlingNews.co]
It remains to be seen what WWE has in store for RAW XXX tomorrow night. Tune in to find out.
