Cody Rhodes has looked back on WrestleMania 40 and what his direction might have been had WWE stuck to the original plan.
Despite the fact that The American Nightmare triumphed in the Royal Rumble match for the second consecutive year, less than a week later there were no guarantees that he would be competing in the main event of WrestleMania 40. Confronting Roman Reigns on the following episode of SmackDown, Rhodes seemingly relinquished his opportunity at dethroning The Tribal Chief and looked to have gifted the shot instead to The Rock.
Sparking backlash over the next 3 days, the company eventually pivoted and booked the match between Rhodes and Reigns for Philadelphia while having The Rock team with Reigns instead of being his opponent. While the pivot has been acknowledged in the Behind the Curtain documentary, it is still unknown who Rhodes would have faced on The Grandest Stage if the original plan had gone ahead.
“I Had A Really Good Team Around Me”: Cody Rhodes
While speaking with Kenny McIntosh for Issue 48 of Inside The Ropes Magazine, the Undisputed Champion was unable to say what the original plan for him was over that weekend but agreed with a previous comment made by Brian Gewirtz that the fans would not have liked it. Rhodes also credited the team he had with him and how he was able to sit back and watch the support grow and grow:
“If people knew the real plan for me, they’d be even more angry. I can’t share the real plan for you, The Rock plan, whatever it may be. That was going to be on my mind in terms of how do we make that work? How do we accomplish that? I had a really good team of people around me.
That’s where DDP hit me with the famous, whatever happens to you will be the best thing that ever happens to you line, and I thought, that’s insane, that’s madness. I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about, and he was right. Including if it had gone the other way, he would have been right because the audience was what mattered, and I got to be really quiet and I got to say nothing, I got to watch the fire grow and I realised maybe I had every right to be confident. Maybe I had every right to not be concerned. But yeah, definitely, let’s say it was a Wheatley Vodka-sponsored few days.”
While Cody Rhodes looks set to face Solo Sikoa once more, it won’t take place at Bad Blood.
Also in the interview, Cody Rhodes shared his favourite memory from the entire weekend.
The full interview with Cody Rhodes is available in Issue 48 of Inside The Ropes Magazine, which can be ordered here.
If you use any quotes from this article please credit Inside The Ropes.