WWE name Kayla Braxton has shared when she learned about The Rock’s surprise SmackDown return from September 2023.

On the September 15 episode of WWE SmackDown, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made his return to the company for the first time since 2019.

The Hollywood megastar took part in a segment with Austin Theory and Pat McAfee.

Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, WWE announcer and backstage correspondent Kayla Braxton was asked about The Rock’s SmackDown return. She answered:

“[I found out] I think 30 minutes prior maybe, because he was with Pat McAfee that day on College GameDay. I don’t even think this was planned.”

“Pat McAfee has this way of making everybody want to be his best friend. In fact, he got The Rock to come to SmackDown. I mean, that’s a very Pat McAfee thing, but I think it was just like that, you know, Rock was in town, so why not swing by Smackdown? But it was like right then, it was a surprise for all of us.”

“Like I freaked and that was the second time I’ve ever met him. The first time was when we premiered on Fox for the first time, however many years ago And I saw him and I was like, I have to say hi to him.”

“And I kept like, talking myself up. It’s now or never Kayla got to do it. And I saw him. And he was like, done socialising. And he was walking back to like his bus and I was like, now’s your time.”

“I went up to him was and I said, Mr. The Rock. I was like, Oh, my God I called him Mr. The Rock. But he turned around, and we had like, a five-minute conversation.”

On her conversation with The Rock, Kayla said:

“And he’s so good about making you feel like you’re the only person in the room. And he looked me in the eye and just asked questions about me. And that was incredible. He’s such a genuinely good human being.”

“And so this time, he remembered me. I was trying to get an interview with him. But he’s a busy man. He promised me next time he sees me, I’ll get my interview with him. The third time’s a charm.”

“But it was so cool. And like you said with Cena there. The fact that fans bought their tickets without knowing that was going to happen was such an incredible, incredible [experience].”

“Imagine fans who have been fans forever. And that may have been their very first show. And they bought their ticket. I think when they bought tickets, we didn’t even know Cena was going to be there at the time when the tickets went on sale.”

“So people bought their tickets, then they find out Cena is gonna be there, then Pat McAfee’s there and then The Rock comes out, like holy cow.”

The Rock has not appeared on WWE programming since his surprise return back in September at the time of this writing.