After appearing at WWE's Elimination Chamber in early March where he played a pivotal role in shaping the WrestleMania 41 main event between Cody Rhodes and John Cena, The Rock was notably absent from all shows leading up to 'Mania and any influence he had on the Cena heel turn angle were barely mentioned.
Following WrestleMania though, The Rock popped up on Pat McAfee's show where he discussed why he appeared at Elimination Chamber while also suggesting that he would have made some adjustments to WrestleMania if he was handling that creative aspect, which some felt was a subtle shot at Paul Levesque. That appearance on McAfee's show was met with more criticism and Rock responded on Instagram suggesting that everything is a work and to lighten up and stop ranting, which didn't help to quiet his critics.
Fightfulselect.com published a story discussing the backstage reaction to Rock's lack of involvement within WWE as of late nothing that a number of wrestlers pointed out that he wasn't ever on TV, at TV, at WrestleMania nor did he even promote the event in any way in person or via social media. One source did back up Rock's claim that he was brought into boost Elimination Chamber ticket sales and it was considered to have worked internally and many felt that after that appearance, Rock would feature into storylines leading into WrestleMania. Another wrestler stated that while the roster always loves seeing The Rock at shows, the WrestleMania card was essentially "at the mercy of Dwayne", perhaps a reference to last year when he showed up and drastically altered the course of what WrestleMania 40 was expected to be.
Yet another person in WWE felt that The Rock took himself out of this year's storylines due to what happened last year as he likely did not want to be seen as once again "interfering" with creative plans but that he didn't realize how much more integral he was to the story based on his presence at Elimination Chamber. Another chalked it up to perhaps an unnecessary "overcorrection" despite the wildly differing scenario this year from last year but almost everyone felt that it was "weird" that The Rock didn't promote WrestleMania at all, perhaps even more surprising because he is on the TKO Board of Directors.
In the end, despite his absence, it is believed that most wrestlers and staff weren't frustrated, but rather more confused at his lack of involvement. A number of talent who pointed out that the Rock wasn't even mentioned commented on the online rumor that there could be issues ongoing between him and Triple H but that if that is the case, the roster isn't aware of anything like that. The fightful report noted that there have always been rumors that "the two had a rivalry that was based on respect but was contentious at times."
