The Rock vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania seems to be a go following the controversial close to Friday Night SmackDown.
The end of the show saw Cody Rhodes come to the ring to address the Tribal Chief regarding WrestleMania 40. But instead of using his Royal Rumble victory to challenge Reigns for the Undisputed Universal Championship, he informed him that will eventually happen, just not in Philadelphia.
As the American Nightmare dropped this bombshell The Rock’s music hit sending the live audience into a frenzy and the resulting stand off between the two generational talents seemingly confirmed the biggest main event in WrestleMania history.
Obviously, the moment caused a huge buzz throughout the wrestling world, but the online fan reaction has been less than favourable due to the way the longtime build for Reigns vs Rhodes was sacrificed for ‘The Great One’.
A match between Rock and Reigns has been anticipated for some time. There were talks of the bout going down at WrestleMania 39 in Hollywood, but plans didn’t work out because of The Rock’s movie schedule. Now, with The Rock back involved with WWE as a board member of TKO, the stars have aligned for the massive attraction.
The Rock wanted to “save WrestleMania”
According to PW Insider, ‘the People’s Champion’ pushed heavily for the headline match and was backed by top TKO executives to ultimately “save WrestleMania” after the card was thrown into disarray following Brock Lesnar’s removal and CM Punk’s injury.
However, the same report also states that sources say the match was likely to happen anyway due to the company’s willingness to acquiesce to The Rock’s requests, because of his “power as a member of the TKO Board of Directors, his Hollywood standing and the backing of Ari Emanuel, Nick Khan and others”.
Another reason for the showcase match besides the major mainstream attention is that it would also “help push some positive momentum for the company” after the horrendous allegations of sexual assault against former owner, Vince McMahon.