Entertainment - “The Rock” returns to wrestling to guest host WWE’s WrestleMania XXVII pay-per-view

After spending almost a decade disavowing his storied history in the WWE to chase a movie career and mainstream credibility, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson returned to WWE. On Monday night’s live episode of USA’s “Monday Night Raw”, Johnson returned to his old stomping grounds during the show to announce he’ll be a part of the 2011 iteration of WrestleMania as the show’s guest host.

WWE had seemed to be grasping at straws as of late to find a newsworthy hook for the 2011 show, following the hype of 2007′s “Hair Vs. Hair” match featuring Donald Trump and Vince McMahon, 2008′s wrestling debut for Floyd Mayweather Jr., and last year’s retirement of wrestling legend Shawn Michaels.

The early returns look good for the wrestling promotion. “#therock” was a trending topic on Twitter minutes after Johnson’s entrance video and interview segment aired on the show.

Johnson also set up a confrontation with current WWE golden boy and pseudo film star John Cena, saying that part of the reasoning for his return was to get in Cena’s face after Cena bashed Johnson to the press for leaving WWE for his movie career.

During his interview on “Raw”, Johnson claimed he was back not to promote a new movie, but rather was with WWE “to stay.” But will he be there long-term to bring the business of sports entertainment back to where it was when he left? WWE is hoping you’ll tune in when WrestleMania airs on April 3, 2011, to find out.