Why did WWE snub Cody Rhodes and choose The Rock vs. Roman Reigns for WrestleMania 40?

The Rock's appearance on Smackdown has thrown the original Rhodes vs. Reigns Wrestle Mania plans completely out of the window.

Why did WWE snub Cody Rhodes and choose The Rock vs. Roman Reigns for WrestleMania 40?

Cody Rhodes, The Rock and Roman Reigns (via WWE)

On the first episode of SmackDown on their Road to WrestleMania, WWE planned out their main-event scenario. The original contender for Roman Reigns‘ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship was all set to be The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes. But in a sudden turn of events, Rhodes foolishly declined that idea. Instead, brought The Rock to challenge The Head of the Table at WrestleMania 40.

Wrestling Observer reported that the plans for going with Roman vs. Cody were locked in until last week. On the day of the Rumble and even on Sunday, it was all sure that the Rhodes would lead to Mania. But on Monday, the gears were shifted, and a glimpse of that was seen on Raw when Seth Rollins asked Cody to face him. It has been reported that Dwayne Johnson’s persuasion brought WWE to this dilemma.

YouTube video

The card changed when Brock Lesnar and CM Punk were ruled out of The Shows of Shows. Johnson needed the match, while the megastars’ absence made WWE needy of him. Cody was originally the plan, and Dwayne may be for next year or at the Saudi Arabia event. Adding to all that were Vince McMahon’s allegations, which made WWE bound to have huge numbers at The Grandest Stage of Them All.

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The card changed when Punk & Brock were out and all the dominoes fell. Dwayne already wanted it and they felt they now needed it as well. Felt this was better to change the news flow away from Vince.
Wrestling Observer’s report about The Rock being Cody Rhodes’ replacement

The original plans were Seth vs. Punk and Cody vs. Roman. The Royal Rumble ending also made sure that the plans ended up in Rhodes’ favor and led to his match in the main event of WrestleMania 40. But the situation has now boiled down to Cody inevitably choosing The Visionary for his World Heavyweight Championship. The fans are disappointed but still have hopes for WWE to fix the chaos.

The Rock confronting Roman Reigns is the most disliked video of WWE

The crowd in Birmingham went bonkers as they witnessed the surprise appearance of The Rock. It was exciting, as Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns were already in the ring when Dwayne Johnson entered. The entire segment received pops from the live audience. However, it got the worst reactions on YouTube, with the largest number of dislikes there have been for any other WWE video.

The Rock confronts Roman Reigns
The Rock confronts Roman Reigns (via WWE)

As of this writing, the video has gained over 300,000 dislikes as it left a bad taste in people’s mouths over the internet. Fans are disappointed over Rhodes being replaced by Rocky to face Reigns at WrestleMania. Coming from a consecutive Royal Rumble victory, WWE Universe was sold on the fact that The American Nightmare will dethrone Reigns at WrestleMania 40 and finally finish his story two years after re-joining WWE.

The dislikes are evident in fans’ displeasure for Rock vs. Roman, and the talks on X also add up. The WWE Universe is polarized now, with certain fans liking the idea of the Samoan dream match. However, most of them hate it from Cody’s perspective. Rhodes, who has been talking out loud about his title chances, will have to change routes and vye for Seth Rollins’ World Heavyweight Championship.

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