Triple H gives honest reaction to The Rock’s performance in his WWE return… as the 51-year-old Hollywood megastar finishes his first match in 11 years at WrestleMania 40

The Rock may have raked in billions at the box office over the past 20 years, but he put it all aside to return to his roots and compete at WrestleMania 40 on Saturday.

The Great One, 51, hasn’t wrestled full-time since leaving WWE in 2003 and hasn’t competed in a real match in 11 years.

But in Philadelphia on Saturday night, The Rock donned his jersey once again for the main event of the show with Roman Reigns taking on Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins in an epic match lasting nearly 45 minutes.

Given that The Rock was seriously injured during his last appearance at WrestleMania against John Cena in 2013, there were question marks over whether the former 10-time world champion could still take on the best in the world.

Performance aside, The Rock got the result. The Final Boss pinned Cody Rhodes to secure victory for his family and secure “lineage rules” for tomorrow’s main event between Reigns and Rhodes for the WWE Undisputed Universal Title.

Triple H went out of his way to thank WWE legend The Rock for returning to the company.

So how did The Rock fare? WWE chief content officer and former rival of The Rock, Triple H, was full of praise for the TKO board member.

“It wouldn’t be the physical part,” Triple H said when asked why The Rock’s performance impressed him. “I think he loves it and he’s going to throw caution to the wind and go all out and it’s going to be amazing.”

“When you’ve been doing this a long time and you’re there every day, you see the composure in people and I can spot it in people now, that’s my job to a certain extent.

“I can spot it and tell you who’s comfortable and who’s not feeling it, who’s just doing things.

“The most impressive thing to me was his composure, his presence in the moment and his feeling. I could see him feeling everything that was happening and his composure.

“An adrenaline hits you. It moves fast and you move with it, you think you’re not, but you are. He was calm.

“Being gone for that long and being that calm and collected and in control and that feeling, there’s not many people that can do that, that’s the part that gets away from you.

“You always know how much traction you could get, but composure is the magic. It’s impressive.

In his opening statement, he also thanked The Rock, admitting that his former foe didn’t need to return to WWE given all his fame and fortune, but he is grateful.

Triple H and The Rock had an incredible rivalry that blurred the lines during the Attitude Era.

“I want to say thank you to him. He doesn’t need to be here. What bonded us was our passion for it. No matter what other things are going on, we both understand that deep down in his DNA, this is what he likes, and it’s the same for me.

“We had a lot of fun creating the Final Boss. If you had told me he would have chosen to turn heel, I would have said you were crazy. But it was true.

He concluded: “Again. New era. we have just started. I see this as the starting point.

The Rock also told members of the press that he felt good after the main event, suggesting that he suffered no injuries during the epic 45-minute event.