Dwayne Johnson Returning to His Wrestling Roots on ‘WWE Smackdown’ for Fox Launch

*Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson announced he will be returning to his roots and appear on Friday’s Fox premiere of WWE Smackdown.

“FINALLY…I come back home to my @WWE universe,” Johnson wrote on Twitter Monday. “This FRIDAY NIGHT, I’ll return for our debut of SMACKDOWN! LIVE on @FOXTV. There’s no greater title than #thepeopleschamp. And there’s no place like home. Tequila on me after the show.”

Johnson hasn’t appeared on the show in six years or on WWE programming since April 2016, msn.com reports. The “Jumanji” star announced that he “quietly retired from wrestling” during an interview on “Live with Kelly and Ryan” in August.

“I quietly retired from wrestling because I was lucky enough to have just a really wonderful career and accomplish what I wanted to accomplish, but there’s nothing like a live crowd, a live audience, a live microphone as you both know. Plus, I grew up in wrestling. For a lot of you guys that don’t know, my grandfather wrestled, my dad as well, my whole family. And I actually had my very first match ever in the WWE, was in Madison Square Garden and it was a big pay-per-view, and it was funny because I credit my time and my journey in pro wrestling to getting me to where I am at today,” he said.

Smackdown — named after one of Johnson’s catchphrases when he was a WWE star — makes its debut on Fox Friday after spending the last nine years on cable. It was initially broadcast on NBC’s Syfy from 2010 to 2015 before moving to the USA Network from 2016 until last month, per CBS.

Johnson last appeared on Smackdown in early 2013, and has made occasional appearances both in and out of the ring, most recently at WrestleMania 32 in 2016. It isn’t clear exactly what role he will have on Smackdown  this week. 

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