The Rock was pitched to his power to turn a top superstar to become a WWE Champion.
One of the main storylines heading into WrestleMania 41 was The Rock’s offer for Cody Rhodes to sell his soul to him and become the corporate champion. At Elimination Chamber, the Undisputed WWE Champion turned down the offer, much to the dismay of The Brahma Bull.
However, this led decision led to one of the most shocking moments in professional wrestling with John Cena turning heel and aligning with The Rock and Travis Scott. At WrestleMania 41, with the help of the Fein-artist, The Cenation Leader defeated The American Nightmare to become a 17-time World Champion.
As it turns out, the events at Elimination Chamber were supposed to go down differently, with Kevin Owens playing a more prominent role.
The Rock Was Pitched To Have Kevin Owens Be His Champion At WWE Elimination Chamber 2025
On WWE: Unreal, a new Netflix series based on the backstage happenings and decisions of the Stamford-based promotion, The Rock and his writer, Brian Gewirtz, thought that having Cody vs. John at WrestleMania 41, who were still babyfaces at the time, felt dry.
As a result, they pitched Rhodes being Rock’s champion as the hook. Cody would then turn down the offer at Elimination Chamber, which would lead to Dwayne Johnson making an impromptu match between The American Nightmare and Kevin Owens, who would end up becoming the Undisputed Champion.
Brian noted that The Prizefighter becoming the champion wasn’t the end goal, but wanted the takeaway to be that whatever they do, it should be “seismic.”
We proposed at Elimination Chamber, Cody turning down The Final Boss. And that was going to lead to final boss making an impromptu title match right then and there. That resulted in Kevin Owens, who had been in a storyline with Cody during that time, leaving with the championship. Kevin Owens winning the title wasn’t the end goal. The takeaway was whatever it is we do needs to be seismic.”
The Rock and his writer pitched an idea where Cody Rhodes turns down his favor at Elimination Chamber, so Rock uses his power to set up a title match on the spot against Kevin Owens, and Owens wins the Undisputed Title.
Wow 🤯#WWEUnreal
— EliteRockerz 𝕏 (@EliteClubS0B) July 29, 2025
Before the 2025 Elimination Chamber main event saw John turn heel and attack Cody, Kevin Owens had a brutal Unsanctioned match earlier that night against Sami Zayn. The American Nightmare and The Undisputed Champion are now set to have a rematch at SummerSlam for the title.