Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has looked almost unrecognisable in recent weeks – and it’s left fans wondering if his in-ring story is finally over.

The 53-year-old appeared at the Venice Film Festival promoting The Smashing Machine, his long-awaited biopic of MMA legend Mark Kerr, revealing a strikingly leaner frame that’s fuelled talk of a permanent wrestling exit.

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Johnson had already said he’d done “the hardest physical prep of my career” to portray Kerr, revealing that he put on about 30 pounds for the role. But that’s not the look that has fans talking.

Indeed, wrestling audiences are used to seeing Johnson at his fullest and thickest – the powerhouse build that defined his Attitude Era run and his larger-than-life Hollywood persona. His latest appearances show the opposite: a visibly leaner Rock, drawing gasps and worry in equal measure.

The contrast, it turns out, isn’t accidental. Speaking at the Toronto Film Festival, he explained that he has slimmed down for another Benny Safdie project, Lizard Music.

The Rock’s new transformation fuels talk of wrestling retirement

“A little bit of backstory for you guys here is Benny pitched me this after we wrapped The Smashing Machine, and after about 45 minutes, his pitch ended, and I said, ‘I am your Chicken Man,’” Johnson said.

“Now what that means is, without giving too much away, the role that I will play is a very whimsical and eccentric 70-something-year-old man called the Chicken Man, and his best friend is a 70-something-year-old chicken.”

On his weight loss, he added: “I still have a long ways to go. I’m so excited to get a chance to hopefully transform again like I was able to do in Smashing Machine. (It means) eating less chicken.”

That swing – bulking up for one role, then shedding it for another – has created a version of The Rock fans barely recognise. For the first time, the man once built like a comic-book hero now looks closer to a film character than a wrestling powerhouse.

While speculation is running wild among fans, it doesn’t look or feel like The Rock will be at Survivor Series – or any wrestling show – any time soon.

BodySlam’s Cory Hays reported earlier this summer: “Internally, there is no indication that The Rock is scheduled to return to WWE in the near future.”

That line alone has now echoed across the wrestling landscape: fans reading the transformation as more than a film phase.

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From WrestleMania 40 to Hollywood – is this the end for The Rock?

So was the WrestleMania 40 tag team epic alongside Roman Reigns the Great One’s final hurrah?

There will be fears the great showman might be drawing the curtain quietly – especially after hopes were dashed that he was among the mystery figures in WWE’s early promotion for WrestleMania 2026 in Las Vegas.

Brock Lesnar, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk and Roman Reigns were later confirmed as the stars behind the shoot – fans had been convinced one silhouette was The Rock.

“WWE needs The Rock, the Rock doesn’t need WWE,” one fan mused on social media.

“I was begging for this to be Rock,” said another. “Obviously he’s done with WWE for good.”

Johnson’s last genuine outing under the lights came at WrestleMania 40, when he teamed with Reigns against Rhodes and Seth Rollins. That was the full-power version – a 260-pound Rock still swinging the leather and flexing like the box-office juggernaut of old.

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Six months on, the same man now cuts a very different figure: leaner, calmer, the movie star rather than the main-eventer.

For many, that contrast says more than any press quote ever could. If WrestleMania 40 was a temporary return to the old Rock, this transformation might be his subtle farewell.

At 53, his schedule tells its own story. Between film production, Teremana Tequila, the merged UFL football venture and family life, his calendar is as packed as any prime-time tour ever was.

Finding the months of ring training and travel that a wrestling return demands now looks almost impossible. The Rock remains as disciplined as ever, but the hours are being spent elsewhere.

To wrestling’s global audience, the sight of their most electrifying export now built like a leading man rather than a main-eventer feels symbolic. The titan has slimmed, and so too perhaps has the chance of one more thunderous return.

It might be that Johnson’s daughter, Simone, holds the key to sustaining and prolonging their family legacy inside the ring. She had her father in tears on the red carpet recently as he spoke about her ascension to a prominent role in NXT – the brand designed to mould the stars of wrestling’s future.

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Now might be the moment to accept that The Rock belongs to wrestling’s glorious past.