Update On The Rock, Steve Austin, And Hulk Hogan Appearing At ‘WrestleMania’
We’re less than 24-hours away from WWE’s biggest show of the year, and there’s a chance that at least two of the company’s biggest stars ever will appear at the event.
We’ll start with the good news: according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, The Rock is planning on being at WrestleMania, although it’s still unclear what his role will be if he appears at the show.
“So, Ata [The Rock’s mom] is in town. But, she would probably be in town anyway because Nia Jax is on the show, and they’re very close. Dwayne is gonna be in Orlando on Tuesday or Wednesday. I think he’s doing one of the talk shows. He’s doing something next week in Orlando. I know that the TV show ‘Ballers’ is filming right now and it’s not shooting on Sunday. It’s shooting almost every other day, but they are not shooting on Sunday. He said if he could be there, he’d be there. He likes coming every year. I don’t know if he’s there, I’m just saying that his mom has been in town for a couple days.”
Now, for some bad news: also according to Meltzer, Steve Austin won’t appear on Sunday’s show.
“Yeah, as far as I can tell, [Steve Austin] is not coming at all. People who know him haven’t heard that he’s gonna be here. It may be a complete, major surprise, but I don’t expect him [to be] here. But you know, who knows? I just haven’t heard anything about him at all.”
Austin appeared at last year’s WrestleMania 32 in his home state of Texas, where he teamed up with fellow WWE legends Shawn Michaels and Mick Foley, as they took out both The New Day, Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E, and the League of Nations, Sheamus, Wade Barrett, Rusev, and Alberto Del Rio.
Now, for some potential good news: it looks like there’s a chance that we could see Hulk Hogan make his return to WWE tomorrow night. About a month ago, Dave Meltzer was asked on Twitter about Vince McMahon’s rumored big surprise at WrestleMania, and he said that he had heard that the surprise is going to be Hulk Hogan.
On Friday’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer talked about whether or not we’ll see the Hulkster on Sunday night.
“There’s nothing new [on Hulk Hogan]. He’s been signing autographs at the beach shop. His last signing ends at five o’clock on Sunday, so there’s that. He’s in town, but he would’ve been in town anyway. If [WWE] has gone through at the sponsors don’t have any problems, I see no reason for him not to be there, because they’ve been wanting to bring him back, the only question is, when is it time to bring him back? I think it’d get a giant pop, the fans would like it, there’s no question about that.”
Several months ago, Hogan’s daughter, Brooke, said that her dad is going to be at this year’s WrestleMania, which Hogan later denied. So, we’ll see if he shows up on Sunday.
The only other rumored big name for the show is Mick Foley, who was in attendance at Friday’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. Most believe that the now ex-Raw general manager will get involved in the Seth Rollins vs. Triple H match.
For now though, it looks that of the three aforementioned big names — Rock, Austin, and Hogan — the only one that will likely show up is The Rock. As for what his role on the show will be, well, that’s hard to predict. It could end up being a 25-minute talking segment, or he could just do a short, backstage cameo with someone.
[Featured Image by Jonathan Bachman/AP Images]
