Anoa'i family member explains why The Rock and others are "coming back now" to wrestling (Exclusive)

While returns are familiar in wrestling, it's not every day that talents like The Rock and John Cena appear on TV. During the latest UnSKripted episode, Lloyd Anoa'i explained that the Hollywood stars have returned to wrestling lately due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Lloyd Anoa'i, who wrestled for WWE, WCW, and ECW back in the day, revealed that he, too, was a SAG-AFTRA member and had a few movie roles lined up until the recent controversy.

The shutdown of activities in Hollywood has given The Rock and John Cena the time to explore their passion for pro wrestling again. While The Cenation Leader has already wrestled and looks to be on an extended run, The Rock just appeared on an episode of SmackDown a few weeks ago but didn't rule out the possibility of doing something bigger with the WWE in the future.

Lloyd Anoa'i stated that given the ongoing issues in the world of acting, The Rock, John Cena, and other wrestlers-turned-actors had to look for avenues to stay relevant until normal business resumed. Anoa'i also mentioned Batista while sharing the reasoning for the high number of returns in wrestling:

"A lot of these guys are coming back now, even for myself, too. I'm a SAG-AFTRA, I have SAG-AFTRA, I did some movies, I had some movies coming up, and I can't do anything right now because of the strike. These guys actually on strike can't do anything; they can't do commercials. They can't do anything. I can't do anything, but they are bigger names than I am, but John Cena, even Batista, is talking about coming back, you know, it they call him."

Lloyd continued:

"So, you know, they have to stay busy in order to continue making money. They are not starving, but to keep them in the limelight and keep them on TV, why not do it?" [From 28:20 - 29:20]

Lloyd Anoa'i on how he reacted to The Rock's WWE return

Dwayne Johnson showed up on the September 15 episode of SmackDown during the opening segment involving Pat McAfee and Austin Theory.

The Great One had a back-and-forth with Theory before laying the young WWE superstar out and celebrating with the fans, who'd seen him on the company's programming for the first time since 2019.

Lloyd Anoa'i, who was at home watching the show with his son, recalled being caught off guard by the moment. Anoa'i initially just thought McAfee was going to have a typical babyface segment with a heel-like Theory until The Rock's music hit, and he marked out!

"It was funny because we were sitting, and I believe we had just got home, me and my son. So I said, let me put on the TV on, and all of a sudden, we are sitting there, and we see Pat McAfee in the ring," Lloyd stated. "We thought he was going to do an angle with Theory and all that. All of a sudden, you hear, 'Can you smell what The Rock is cooking?' And then I looked at the TV and went, 'Nah!' My son is sitting there with his jaw open like this." [From 26:35 - 27:30]

Did you check out what Lloyd Anoa'i had to say about The Bloodline and the man responsible for it? More on that right here.'

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