The Rock comments on how WrestleMania 18 compared to the closing segment of Elimination Chamber 2025, and how they prepared for how the crowd would react.
The Rock has a historic history in Toronto, Canada. Some of his most famous promos have took place in Toronto, as well as the city being the location of his WrestleMania 18 dream match with Hulk Hogan. On that night, the crowd was loud and opinionated, leading to one of the most iconic moments in WWE history between The Rock and Hogan.
While speaking during the post Elimination Chamber press conference, The Rock was asked how Elimination Chamber 2025 compared to WrestleMania 18.
"We’ve been thinking about this all week long because Toronto is generally a heel town. It certainly was a heel town with me and Hogan at WrestleMania 18. That was a real psychological chess game we played that night. This crowd tonight was exceptional. We had discussed, ’Let’s be prepared on how this crowd is going to be. When you go into something like this, the crowd is waiting and they know something is going to happen. It’s building up, we have the Elimination Chamber and all these matches, but at the end is; is our number one hero going to give his soul to the Final Boss? What’s going to happen? We all collectively discussed, ‘Let’s be prepared.’ If the crowd goes this way, don’t stay on track. Don’t be rigid. Let’s be flexible and see. I had to that with Hogan when we had our match. At WrestleMania 18, I was the big babyface, Hogan was the heel, the moment we locked up, the crowd turned. I became the heel within two minutes of the match and we had to adjust on the go. We went into tonight being flexible, amenable. The crowd tonight was unbelievable. They had given all of their energy, but they know something else is coming. We come out, what’s going to happen? Are you going to give me your soul? Cody tells me, I’m not, in his eloquent way, and in that moment, everything was relying on me to make a move, which will then spur the next movements by everyone else. I just waited and I let it all cook once he told me no. Waited, waited waited. It was such a special moment because in wrestling, there is a metabolism that happens as you’re watching the show. There is a rhythm to things. In this case, when he told me, ‘Go fuck yourself,’ and I paused and waited, and waited, and waited. I wasn’t going to move. Finally, when I did make a move, John came over, gave him his hug. I’ve been part of a lot of really cool moments in pro wrestling, Toronto was one of them. That Hogan match was the greatest match of my career. What made it great was the crowd turned and kept us on our feet. Tonight, the crowd didn’t know what was going to happen, but they knew something was going to happen and they were feeling it. The moment John hugged Cody and they looked at me, and I [did the throat slash], the whole place erupted. That moment is what we work for. It’s bigger than a promo or words or a storyline or a television show or broadcast numbers. It’s the feeling you get when the crowd comes unglued."
Elsewhere during the Elimination Chamber post show press conference, The Rock addressed the possibility of Travis Scott teaming with he and John Cena. You can read more about that here.
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