The Rock doesn’t do anything by accident.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson knows all eyes are on him with the WWE Royal Rumble slated for Saturday night in San Antonio, and thus took it upon himself to post from a movie set for the upcoming Christmas film “Red One” early Saturday morning.

“2am on a Friday night and we’re still going strong,” Johnson wrote in a caption on Instagram. “May not look very sexy right now but in our Christmas movie, this will become a thing of beauty.”

WWE has been building a story for over two years featuring an implied collision course between The Rock and his “cousin” Roman Reigns (their Samoan families are close but they are not related by blood).

Reigns has held WWE’s Universal championship since late August 2020, and the way he has carried himself in the storyline as the “head of the table” and The Bloodline has been the pro wrestling equivalent of a siren call to lure The Rock out of retirement for the two to fight for the designation of family leader.

Reigns is currently the Undisputed WWE Universal champion as he holds both of the company’s world titles.

The tradition of the Rumble is that the winner points at the WrestleMania sign hanging from the rafters, and faces the WWE champion at the big event.

The Rock doesn’t necessarily need to win the match, as a simple confrontation will do.

When will the implied feud between Roman Reigns and The Rock come to a head?WWE

The Royal Rumble also represents a memorable point in the arc between the two performers. In 2015, Reigns won the Rumble as the Philadelphia faithful was pining for Daniel Bryan. WWE brought The Rock out to endorse his family member, but the crowd even booed the longtime fan favorite.

Nevertheless, recent reporting from the wrestling universe has indicated that The Rock declined the opportunity to wrestle Reigns at the upcoming, two-night WrestleMania in Los Angeles.

The thing about wrestling, though, is that the storyline is always subject to change. There is also smoke and mirrors along the way, as the orchestrators of the genre take delight in the swerving of the public and even at times the people employed in the business.

Reigns addressed the rumors that he’d face The Rock at WrestleMania on Friday night on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”

“There’s been a huge buzz on that for a long time now,” Reigns said. “But it’s really picked up in the last couple of years. I believe he just came out with a statement saying he’s not going to be ready in time, which that’s the kind of face everyone’s making, like, hold on, this guy trains every single day. He’s huge!”

Of course, he also threw in some wrestling shade, noting that The Rock would still need to get in ring shape to handle a main event match.

“That’s number one, Dwayne,” the WWE champion warned. “When you’re going up against Roman Reigns, you better get ready to fall down.”

What do you think? Post a comment.

The list of people who know whether or not The Rock will appear at the Royal Rumble is probably small, but his posting from a movie set does not necessarily mean it’s out of the cards.