WWE icon The Rock receives one of the greatest pops of all time on surprise return to Monday Night Raw

WWE legend turned Hollywood actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson was greeted with a thunderous pop on his return to Monday Night RAW.

The 51-year-old, who is regarded by many wrestling fans as one of the all-time greats, made a surprise appearance at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California.

After his iconic 'Electrifying' theme song rang around the 16,000-capacity stadium, he began his in-ring performance by interrupting ‘The Modern Day Maharaja’ Jinder Mahal.

Mahal's speech about the United States and its politics was cut short when Johnson got the crowd chanting: "Day One D**chebag."

And moments later, 'The Rock' made fun of a Hollywood film he starred in alongside Zac Efron, saying: “If you were one of The Rock’s movies, you would probably be Baywatch."

After things got heated between the pair, 10-time world champion Johnson eventually delivered The People’s Elbow; a move that brought a huge reaction from the San Diego faithful.

He would then hint at a long-awaited match with real-life cousin Roman Reigns, who has held the WWE Universal Championship for over 1,000 days.

“I am a little hungry," he said. "When I go out tonight to eat, should The Rock sit in a booth, at the bar or, at The Head of the Table?"

Back in September, a report from Wrestling Inc suggested Roman Reigns versus 'The Rock' has “long reportedly been the proposed endgame" of Reigns' run as 'The Head of the Table'.

Last month, Johnson teased a return to the ring after meeting a young fan for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. "Jayden is 15 and he’s awesome!!" he said alongside a photo with the fan.

"Jayden’s wish was to meet, 'the People’s Champ'. He is a HUUUUUGE ROCK and pro wrestling fan and we had a BLAST chopping up his favourite wrestlers and matches!! I LOVE pro wrestling so my time with Jayden was super dope!

"I told him a little secret that may or may not involve some dude returning to WWE to lay the SmackDown on all their candy asses.

"There’s a lot of negative and toxic noise out there in the world - but there’s a lot of positive, good things too, and Jayden is one of them."

Roman Reigns has since responded to The Rock's return by positing a laughing face emoji on social media.