More has come out about the creative process behind the WrestleMania switch involving Cody Rhodes and The Rock.
Almost a week removed from last week’s SmackDown, viewers are still puzzled about what will be the main event of WrestleMania 40. Last Friday, Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes surprised fans by announcing that he wouldn’t be challenging Roman Reigns in Philadelphia this April, instead bringing out The Rock to have a face-off with The Tribal Chief. However, this caused uproar online as the majority of fans were unhappy with Rhodes not targeting Reigns at WrestleMania.
To provide an update on the situation, Fightful Select have released a report, first detailing that the situation with Rock, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns and potentially Seth Rollins is not a work, as The Visionary was pencilled in to be facing CM Punk at WrestleMania prior to his injury, something that Punk himself was aware of.
“Prior to the Royal Rumble, CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins was the active plan, and was relayed to Punk himself.”
-Fightful Select
To expand on this, Fightful touch on the notion that The Rock’s match with Roman Reigns was decided on in early January, saying that, whether this is true or not, word hadn’t reached Cody Rhodes, as it was indicated to him that he would be facing The Tribal Chief at WrestleMania. It’s noted that a small group of people were made aware that the direction had changed over Royal Rumble weekend.
“As far as word that the plan for The Rock and Roman Reigns was the plan dating back to January 3, we have heard from WWE sources that there were meetings on January 1, and others along the way that had indicated to Cody Rhodes that the creative direction had not changed, and he was slated to face Reigns at WrestleMania.”
-Fightful Select
As we’ve seen, the reaction from the majority of WWE fans has been negative to say the least. On this, the report says that Cody Rhodes expressed his concerns over potential backlash, but went along with the segment and was seemingly sombre backstage after SmackDown had ended.
“Those that we spoke to claimed that Cody Rhodes expressed to WWE that he thought the reaction wouldn’t be the desired one, but still did the segment, and was said to have been in a somber mood after.”
-Fightful Select
As it stands, it appears as if Cody Rhodes will battle Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania. But, WWE still hasn’t made an official announcement regarding a match between Roman Reigns and The Rock, so options remain open to the company should they choose to pivot back to Rhodes in response to fan backlash.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the plans for Cody Rhodes and The Rock at WrestleMania 40 as soon as we hear more.
