Cody Rhodes was informed of his WrestleMania plans much earlier than many had anticipated.
The direction for Rhodes heading into Mania looked to be certain at the Royal Rumble as The American Nightmare triumphed for the second consecutive year and made it very apparent that he wanted a rematch with Roman Reigns. However, with The Rock making a sudden return just 6 days later and seemingly inserting himself into the match, many wondered if this was always the plan or a last-minute switch of creative.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Rhodes was told that he would be facing Reigns as far back as autumn 2023, with changes being told to him the day of the Rumble:
For those who were wondering about what Rhodes did and didn’t know about how things went down, he was told he was facing Reigns in the fall. He was not told about Rock getting the match as part of his deal on 1/3 so any interview he did about finishing the story prior to the Rumble was with the idea he was definitely in the match, even with the Rock rumors out. He was told the day of the Rumble that Rock was facing Reigns even though he was winning the Rumble.
He was also told that they would be going to Reigns against him later so all the post-match stuff building that match wasn’t there to swerve people as much as build a later match. But the fact it was not going to be Reigns vs. Rhodes was keep secret from almost everyone (obviously a few knew) because Rock wanted the angle the next Friday a surprise.
The report continues, citing a scrapped angle pitched by Triple H that would have seen Cody Rhodes taken out by The Bloodline and not at the WrestleMania press conference but eventually getting his match with Reigns, either at WrestleMania or at a later date. It is also added that if Rhodes was injured then this would have necessitated the Men’s Elimination Chamber match, which CM Punk was scheduled to win prior to getting injured.
The report concludes by stating that the decision was made to satisfy the hardcore fans as opposed to what was best financially, adding that The Rock’s heel turn played a significant factor:
Obviously far more would have watched Reigns vs. Rock on night two than Reigns vs. Rhodes, even though Reigns vs. Rhodes had the stronger storyline. You can say this was a company decision to satisfy the hardcore audience while limiting the larger audience, but a lot of it was just Johnson wanting to go heel as much as a decision which turned out to be like that. Johnson in his promo on Raw did two teases for the idea of a match with Reigns down the line, so the idea from a company standpoint is that match will happen.
There were people internally who were aware before Rhodes but it was kept quiet, notably those involved with the booking of T Mobile Arena and obviously the key guys involved in making the deal to bring Rock in on the board and for the Mania match which was actually in heavy negotiations in December.
Cody Rhodes Suffers Major Loss On WWE Raw
For the past year, Rhodes has been positioned as the top star on the Raw brand and the top babyface in the company. Rarely losing since making his return back in 2022, Cody Rhodes’ most recent loss went down in the history books.