Reason behind The Rock's dramatic weight loss revealed

The reason for The Rock's dramatic weight loss while outside WWE has been revealed. The veteran has not appeared since aligning with John Cena at Elimination Chamber 2025.

The Great One spoke at the Toronto Film Festival and revealed why he had lost so much weight. He shared that he will be portraying an eccentric man in his 70s labeled as "Chicken Man" in an upcoming film called Lizard Music. The film will be directed by Benny Safdie, who also directed The Rock in The Smashing Machine film.

"Benny pitched me this after. And after about 45 minutes, this pitch ended and I said, ‘I am your Chicken Man," he said. [H/T: Variety]

John Cena turned heel earlier this year and captured the Undisputed WWE Championship from Cody Rhodes in the main event of Night Two of WrestleMania 41. However, the legend has since turned babyface again and lost the title back to The American Nightmare at SummerSlam 2025.

Brock Lesnar attacked John Cena following the match and beat him down once again this past Friday night on SmackDown. The 48-year-old challenged Sami Zayn for the United States Championship on SmackDown, but Brock Lesnar's interference caused the match to end in a no-contest.

Former WWE writer comments on The Rock's weight loss

Wrestling legend Vince Russo recently shared his thoughts on The Rock's weight loss and suggested that it showed he had no interest in returning to WWE.

Speaking on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Writing with Russo show, the veteran stated that The Brahma Bull was now focused on his career as an actor, and the substantial weight loss showed where his priorities were.

"Yeah, bro, for him to go through that transformation, he ain't coming back to wrestling anytime soon, if at all. If at all, bro." He continued, "Well, the good news is, there's a bright side to this. Thank God, they got AJ Lee to step into The Rock's shoes there. Thank God, AJ Lee will slip right in The Rock's shoes and we'll never miss a beat, bro," said Russo.

The 53-year-old has not competed in a match since teaming up with Roman Reigns to defeat Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins during Night 1 of WWE WrestleMania XL. Only time will tell if The Final Boss decides to return to the ring down the line.