Finally, The Rock has come back to Denver.
The most-electrifying man in sports entertainment made a surprise return to World Wrestling Entertainment on Friday at the “SmackDown” airing at Ball Arena on Friday. It was Dwayne Johnson’s first appearance on WWE television since October 2019.
Johnson, 51, appeared in a segment with Pat McAfee (who was also making his return to the WWE) and Austin Theory. Theory, who lost to McAfee in their match at WrestleMania 38, antagonized the former Colts punter in the show’s opening segment. McAfee responded by saying, “This is the people’s show” before The Rock’s theme song hit to deafening cheers from the Denver crowd.
“I’m still completely blown away by this crowd reaction in Denver this past Friday night on SMACKDOWN,” Johnson wrote in an Instagram post. “My appearance was a surprise and this crowd of 14,000 erupted and blew the roof off the arena with the roaring energy of 100,000 strong!!!
“This Denver crowd officially made my MOUNT RUSHMORE of loudest crowd reactions of my entire career.”
During the 15-minute segment, The Rock and Theory traded verbal barbs, including The Rock getting the Denver crowd to chant a not-so-polite message at Theory. When The Rock threatened to beat up Theory, the younger pro wrestler got the jump on the Hollywood star and attacked him first. However, The Rock reversed an Irish whip into the ropes and hit Theory with a spinebuster to set up his signature move, The People’s Elbow. After hitting the move, he invited McAfee to do one of his own to Theory.
Both McAfee and Johnson were in town for the Rocky Mountain Showdown between Colorado and Colorado State. Johnson appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Friday in Boulder.
