The Rock’s praise of Tony Khan in his tribute to PAC is still being discussed inside WWE, according to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The Rock, who sits on the TKO board, posted a video honoring PAC after his death in September. In it, he called Khan a friend and said AEW “is growing into this phenomenal wrestling company.”
Meltzer wrote that “not a week has gone by” without the comments coming up within WWE, and that for some in the company, the “sting still hasn’t gone away.” He added that people understood why The Rock spoke about PAC.
The Rock addressed the reaction earlier in October in a reply on Instagram.
“You’re right brother, and humanity matters to me. I was born into this business and I’ve seen it all, but when one of our own passes away, I don’t care nor do I see ‘our competition’, I care about the wrestlers and how it affects them. I’ve been there. To me, humanity matters most.”
The Rock was also advertised for WWE’s tryouts in Hawaii but did not appear. WWE had removed him from promotional material before the tryouts and live events on October 16 and 17.