Dylan jackson
The WWE product hasn’t been this hot in decades. And with the kind of momentum not seen since the Attitude Era, the promotion is moving toward WrestleMania 40 this weekend in Philadelphia.
But if you haven’t been watching lately, you might have some questions about the show’s two main events. Why is The Rock back? Why is he bad now? And what is this “story” that people keep telling about Cody Rhodes?
We have answers for all of this, but a lot has happened in the last year to get to this epic point.
An unexpected nightmare
Having left WWE in 2016 and reinventing itself on the independent scene – while helping to launch what is now the second biggest promotion in the world in AEW – Rhodes returned to the company at WrestleMania 38 in 2022 and immediately established himself as one of the promotion’s top babyfaces. He cut a promo on the first episode of Raw after his return and effectively decided it – he was back to win the WWE Championship, a title that had eluded his famous wrestling family for decades. That title now belonged to Reigns, who unified it with the Universal Championship the night before.
Rhodes’ journey to the championship would eventually receive his own tagline: “Finish the story.”
But instead of immediately targeting Reigns, Rhodes ended up in a months-long program with Seth Rollins. He would score two more victories over “The Visionary”, but Rhodes suffered a torn chest days before their scheduled match at Hell in a Cell 2022. He fought his way through that match, but was kept off WWE TV for the rest of the year to undergo surgery and recover.
Rhodes made his return to the ring in the 2023 Men’s Royal Rumble match, entering at No. 30 and punching his ticket to the main event of WrestleMania 39 with a win. Meanwhile, Reigns was riding a huge wave of momentum thanks to a long and emotional program with Sami Zayn. And between Rhodes being presented as the conquering hero and Reigns’ Bloodline faction finally losing at WrestleMania 39 Night 1, it seemed like the stage was set for Rhodes to dethrone Reigns in the final moments of WrestleMania 39 Night 2.
But then a funny thing happened: Rhodes lost.
Rhodes left Reigns completely nailed by hitting his Cross Rhodes finisher twice, only for Paul Heyman to jump to the apron and distract the referee. Solo Sikoa, despite being ejected by the referee at the start of the match, suddenly appeared behind Rhodes and hit him in the neck with a Samoan Spike. Reigns then hit Rhodes with a spear for the win, sucking the oxygen out of a sold-out SoFi Stadium.
To this day, the reservation decision remains controversial. Based on behind-the-scenes reports, it wasn’t a last-minute decision, nor was it a surprise decree from Vince McMahon, as the balance of power within WWE’s front office continued to shift – but we’ll get to that.
It was, however, a decision that has aged poorly.
Rhodes would spend the rest of 2023 spinning, participating in shows with Brock Lesnar, The Judgment Day and Shinsuke Nakamura. He never lost the support of the fans, but the nagging feeling that all his big matches would have meant more to him as world champion remained.
Meanwhile, buzz surrounding WWE’s undisputed Universal Championship has plummeted thanks to Reigns’ notoriously light schedule. He has defended the title on pay-per-view just three times since the match against Rhodes – a clash with Jey Uso at SummerSlam, where the title took a backseat to Reigns’ position as “Tribal Chief”, a forgettable match with LA Knight. in Saudi Arabia and an even more forgettable four-way match at the 2024 Royal Rumble.
But at the end of this year’s Royal Rumble, it seemed like WWE had learned from its previous mistake. Rhodes won the Men’s Rumble once again and the show went off the air with him pointing directly at Reigns, who was sitting in one of the Tropicana Field suites high above the ring. Reigns vs. Rhodes II seemed to be a lock for the main event of WrestleMania 40. And while we’re still getting that match, things just got a lot more complicated.
The people’s champion
By 2015, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had completely transformed from former wrestler to one of the biggest names in Hollywood. And although he was a few years removed from his WrestleMania duology with John Cena, the 10-time world champion still made a surprise appearance at that year’s Royal Rumble and helped the much younger and less experienced Reigns win the Rumble match. The decision was met with resounding rejection from the crowd inside the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and the reasons why so many fans were vocally against Reigns’ rise in WWE is a long story in itself.
Regardless of the infamy of that night, Reigns and Johnson were linked in the minds of fans from that point forward. The idea of a dream match between the two cousins has grown over the years, even with the mixed reaction surrounding Reigns as WWE’s main eventer. He underwent a long-awaited character transformation in August 2020, reemerging from hiatus as the vengeful and manipulative “Tribal Chief.” And once he started cutting promos about sitting at “The Head of The Table” and being the leader of his family, fans’ ears began to perk up, as the family tree also included Johnson.
Once the Pandemic Era ended and WWE returned to touring in front of live crowds, rumors of Reigns vs. Rock music has become an annual affair. WrestleMania 39 was theorized as the ideal event given its location in Los Angeles and Johnson’s extensive ties to Hollywood, but that never happened. Johnson confirmed last September on The Pat McAfee Show that the match was “locked in” at one point, only for negotiations to fall through.
That McAfee interview was just one part of a grand plan Johnson created to tease the idea of the match. This has also included him discussing the topic in over a dozen interviews, Instagram promotions for his “Iron Paradise” home gym, and even on his comedy series “Young Rock”. The final tease came on January’s New Year’s edition of Raw, when Johnson made a surprise appearance, quickly dispatched Jinder Mahal and asked the fans in attendance if he should sit “at the head of the table.”
Less than three weeks later, Johnson joined the board of directors of TKO Group – which became the parent company of WWE following a merger with UFC under the Endeavor banner. News broke the same week by The Wall Street Journal that WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon was being sued for abuse and sex trafficking by a former employee, just one in a list of sexual misconduct allegations. With McMahon’s official departure, Paul “Triple H” Levesque could now freely book weekly WWE programming without any interference from his father-in-law. WrestleMania 40 would be the first event of its kind to have no input from its original creator.
The final pivot
Although Rhodes made his decision to challenge Reigns very clear, Rollins tried to persuade him in another direction. He pleaded his case on an episode of Raw that Rhodes should fight for his World Heavyweight Championship, as it was the true “workhorse” championship that his father, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, would have wanted instead of “Hollywood” by Reigns. title. And although Rhodes’ need to “finish the story” revolved around him defeating Reigns for his undisputed championship, Rhodes said he would consider his options.
Rhodes then appeared on the February 2 edition of SmackDown to face Reigns. The champion also tried to pressure Rhodes into challenging Rollins. And, to the shock of the wrestling world, Rhodes agreed with him. “The American Nightmare” proclaimed that he would eventually beat Reigns, but that simply wouldn’t be at WrestleMania. He then bowed, visually and metaphorically, as Johnson arrived to face Reigns, who was visually unhappy to see his cousin.
The reaction from wrestling fans was as loud as it was angry. Despite Reigns vs. Rock being a long-awaited dream match, fans wanted to see Rhodes have his moment of triumph and refused to have nearly three years of investment casually set aside. “#WeWantCody” became a rallying cry on social media, still trending days after Rhodes’ decision. With a potential disaster on its hands, the company chose to pivot.
WWE announced a “WrestleMania Kickoff” event on February 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, inviting reporters and fans as several wrestlers hyped the two-night event. The special culminated with a segment involving Reigns, Rhodes, Johnson and Rollins. Rhodes announced that he would challenge Reigns, while Johnson criticized Rhodes by mentioning the Anoa’i family lineage and Rhodes’ fans, who he nicknamed “The Cody Crybabies”. By the end of the special, Johnson and Reigns were a unified force against “The American Nightmare” and all signs of the infamous February 2nd Smackdown segment were gone.
The stakes rose even further in the weeks that followed. Johnson, sporting the new nickname “The Final Boss” and furious that fans had forced the cancellation of his dream match, announced that WrestleMania 40 Night 1 would have a tag team main event – Rock and Reigns vs. Rhodes and Rollins. If Rhodes and Rollins win, the main event of Night 2 will take place without any interference from The Bloodline faction. But if Reigns and The Rock win, the main event of Night 2 will be contested under “Bloodline Rules” – all but guaranteed that Reigns will retain thanks to heavy interference from his family.
Looking back at the last four decades of WrestleMania, the idea that WWE would have such a huge match on its hands just to call an audible seems crazy. If this company was still under Vince McMahon’s regime – where good business trumped what the fans wanted almost every time – this kind of change probably wouldn’t have happened. We would be in the company for weeks collectively burying our heads in the sand, trying to stifle the fan reaction. But by deciding to make a change and create something that has all the potential to be even better, it shows that WWE has truly entered a new era.
Instead of weeks of forgettable television, every episode in which The Bloodline, Rhodes or Rollins are present is now unmissable. We had moments like the return of “The Rock Concert” and Johnson brutalizing Rhodes in Chicago’s torrential rain. We have Johnson operating at a level not seen in decades and three men willing to match his intensity.
And all this without mentioning the other nine matches already confirmed for this weekend. After the company nearly drove the show off a cliff just two months ago, WrestleMania 40 could be WWE’s best show in years.
