Cody Rhodes‘ WrestleMania choice is made, and The Rock isn’t pleased.
When Cody Rhodes won the men’s Royal Rumble match, he pointed straight to Roman Reigns and said he was coming for The Tribal Chief, a clear indication that he intended to finish his story with Reigns on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
However, on the February 2nd episode of SmackDown, Rhodes declared to Reigns that he would not be coming for him at WrestleMania after all and introduced a faceoff between Reigns and The Rock.
Rhodes reportedly warned WWE that the SmackDown segment would get a negative reaction, and sure enough, chants of “Rocky sucks” could be heart at both NXT Vengeance Day and Monday Night Raw.
What Happened At The WWE WrestleMania 40 Press Conference?
At the highly-anticipated WrestleMania 40 Press Conference in Las Vegas, World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins made his entrance and addressed the crowd. Rollins said it was time to make a main event and called out two-time Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes – but Rhodes was not the man who confronted Rollins straightaway. Instead, the sounds of Roman Reigns’ theme music rang throughout the T-Mobile Arena, and Rollins joked that Roman had decided to show up to work today.
Reigns called Rhodes “the man who can’t make his own decision” and said that it was no longer Rhodes’ choice who he would face in the main event of WrestleMania; instead, it was going to be the Tribal Chief’s choice. He was emphatic in his declaration:
“I choose The Rock.”
This brought out The Great One himself, who received massive boos from the crowd in attendance. Rock asked whether the crowd thought Reigns would beat him at WrestleMania and received a mixed response. When he asked if he would beat The Tribal Chief, the boos intensified, with chants of “We want Cody” and “Rocky sucks” beginning to emerge. Then, Rock asked if he and Roman Reigns would be the biggest main event in WWE history, receiving more pushback from the crowd.
The Rock tried to continue, but the “We want Cody” and “Rocky sucks” dueling chants intensified. After giving a welcome to those in attendance and at home, Rock referenced the “Cody crybabies” that he coined earlier in the day on the Pat McAfee Show.
Rock then unveiled a Bloodline family tree, showing the prestigious lineage of the Samoan wrestling dynasty. He declared that if people couldn’t see that there is only one dominant royal family in wrestling, then it doesn’t matter what they think, and The Rock vs. Roman Reigns will be the biggest main event in WrestleMania history.
In recent news, it was reported that WWE made last minute changes to the WrestleMania 40 press conference.
“I Choose Roman Reigns” – Cody Rhodes
This led to Cody Rhodes himself interrupting, pointing out that Rock and Roman don’t get to choose the main event, because he was the one who won the Royal Rumble. Saying he’d made his decision, Rhodes declared:
“At WrestleMania 40, in the main event, I choose you Roman Reigns.”
Reigns scoffed, saying that Rhodes was last year’s news and that nobody cares about his story. He called Rhodes an embarrassment to his entire family, irrelevant, just like his late father Dusty Rhodes.
Rhodes clapped back at Reigns’ family comments, asking:
“How’s Jey?”
He continued:
“What is this match about? Who sits at the head of the table? What does it matter when neither of you have been doing any of the cooking for two years?”
Rhodes declared that if Reigns’ father or grandfather were here, they’d be ashamed of him. This led to an emotional Rock saying:
“When you talk about his family, you’re talking about my family. When you’re talking about his ancestors, you’re talking about my ancestors. And when you’re talking about his blood, you’re talking about my blood. So now, we have a problem.”
The two men got into a physical confrontation, and later in the show, The Rock approached Triple H backstage and told him to “fix it.” Despite Rock’s warning, Triple H made it clear on social media that Rhodes will be facing Reigns on the Grandest Stage of Them All:
“Decision made. @CodyRhodes gets the chance to finish his story when he challenges @WWERomanReigns in the main event of #WrestleMania XL.”
Decision made. @CodyRhodes gets the chance to finish his story when he challenges @WWERomanReigns in the main event of #WrestleMania XL. pic.twitter.com/A12apAnELf
— Triple H (@TripleH) February 9, 2024
The full press conference can be seen below.
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.