WWE’s product hasn’t been this scorching in a long time. And with the sort of momentum not seen because the Angle Period, the promotion is barreling towards WrestleMania 40 this weekend in Philadelphia.
But when you have not been watching these days, you may need a number of questions relating to the present’s two foremost occasions. Why is The Rock again? Why is he evil now? And what’s this “story” individuals preserve happening about with Cody Rhodes?
We have got solutions for all of that, however there was quite a bit happening within the final yr to get to this epic level.
An sudden nightmare
Having left the WWE in 2016 and reinventing himself on the impartial scene — whereas serving to launch what’s now the second largest promotion on this planet in AEW — Rhodes returned to the corporate at WrestleMania 38 in 2022 and instantly established himself as one of many promotion’s prime babyfaces. He reduce a promo on the primary episode of Uncooked following his return and successfully referred to as his shot — he was again to win the WWE championship, a title that eluded his well-known wrestling household for many years. That title now belonged to Reigns, who unified it with the common championship the evening prior.
Rhodes’ journey to the championship would finally obtain its personal tagline: “End the story.”
However as a substitute of instantly focusing on Reigns, Rhodes wound up in a months-long program with Seth Rollins. He’d go on to attain two extra wins over “The Visionary,” however Rhodes suffered a torn pectoral days earlier than their scheduled match at Hell in a Cell 2022. He gutted his approach via that match however was then stored off WWE TV for the remainder of the yr to bear surgical procedure and get better.
Rhodes made his in-ring return within the 2023 Males’s Royal Rumble match, coming into at No. 30 and punching his ticket to the WrestleMania 39 foremost occasion with a win. In the meantime, Reigns was using an enormous wave of momentum due to a prolonged, emotional program with Sami Zayn. And between Rhodes being offered because the conquering hero and Reigns’ Bloodline faction lastly taking a loss at WrestleMania 39 Evening 1, it seemed just like the stage was set for Rhodes to dethrone Reigns within the closing moments of WrestleMania 39 Evening 2.
However then a humorous factor occurred — Rhodes misplaced.
Rhodes had Reigns useless to rights by hitting his Cross Rhodes finisher twice, just for Paul Heyman to leap onto the apron and distract the referee. Solo Sikoa, regardless of being ejected by the referee earlier within the match, all of the sudden appeared behind Rhodes and nailed him within the neck with a Samoan Spike. Reigns then hit Rhodes with a Spear for the win, sucking the oxygen out of a sold-out SoFi Stadium.
To today, the reserving determination stays controversial. Based mostly on backstage studies, it wasn’t a last-minute determination, nor was it a shock decree from Vince McMahon because the steadiness of energy inside WWE’s entrance workplace continued to shift — although we’ll get to that.
It was, nonetheless, a choice that aged poorly.
Rhodes would go on to spend the remainder of 2023 spinning his wheels, collaborating in applications with Brock Lesnar, The Judgement Day and Shinsuke Nakamura. He by no means misplaced the assist of the followers, however the nagging sensation that every one of his huge matches would’ve meant extra with him as world champion lingered.
In the meantime, the thrill surrounding the undisputed WWE common championship took a nosedive due to Reigns’ notoriously mild schedule. He has defended the title on pay-per-view simply thrice because the Rhodes match — a conflict with Jey Uso at SummerSlam the place the title took a again seat to Reigns’ place as “Tribal Chief,” a forgettable match with LA Knight in Saudi Arabia and an much more forgettable four-way match on the 2024 Royal Rumble.
However by the top of this yr Royal Rumble, it seemed as if WWE had realized from its earlier mistake. Rhodes received the Males’s Rumble match but once more and the present went off the air with him pointing immediately at Reigns, who was seated in certainly one of Tropicana Area’s suites excessive above the ring. Reigns vs. Rhodes II seemed to be a lock for the WrestleMania 40 foremost occasion. And whereas we’re nonetheless getting that match, issues received rather more difficult.
The individuals’s champion
By 2015, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had absolutely remodeled from ex-wrestler into certainly one of Hollywood’s largest names. And whereas he was a number of years faraway from his WrestleMania duology with John Cena, the 10-time world champion nonetheless made a shock look at that yr’s Royal Rumble and aided a a lot youthful and less-experienced Reigns in profitable the Rumble match. The choice was met with resounding rejection from the group inside Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Middle, and the explanations behind why so many followers have been vocally in opposition to Reigns’ ascent inside WWE is a prolonged story in its personal proper.
No matter that evening’s infamy, Reigns and Johnson have been linked within the minds of followers from that time on. The concept of a dream match between the 2 cousins grew as years handed, even because the blended response surrounding Reigns as a WWE foremost eventer endured. He underwent a long-awaited character transformation in August 2020, reemerging from a hiatus because the vindictive and manipulative “Tribal Chief.” And as soon as he began reducing promos about sitting at “The Head of The Desk” and being the chief of his household, followers’ ears began perking up as that household tree additionally included Johnson.
As soon as the Pandemic Period ended and WWE was again to touring in entrance of reside crowds, rumors of Reigns vs. Rock grew to become an annual affair. WrestleMania 39 was theorized to be the perfect occasion given its Los Angeles location and Johnson’s intensive ties to Hollywood, but it surely by no means occurred. Johnson confirmed final September on The Pat McAfee Present that the match was “locked” at one level, just for negotiations to fall via.
That McAfee interview was only one piece of an enormous plan Johnson created to tease the concept of the match. That additionally included him discussing it in over a dozen interviews, Instagram promos from his “Iron Paradise” house fitness center and even on his “Younger Rock” comedy collection. The ultimate tease arrived on the New Yr’s Day version of Uncooked again in January when Johnson made a shock look, rapidly dispatched of Jinder Mahal and requested the followers in attendance if he ought to sit “at The Head of the Desk.”
Lower than three weeks later, Johnson joined the board of administrators for TKO Group — which grew to become WWE’s guardian firm after a merger with UFC underneath the Endeavor banner. Information dropped the identical week by way of The Wall Avenue Journal that WWE government chairman Vince McMahon was being sued for abuse and intercourse trafficking by a former worker, only one in an inventory of sexual misconduct allegations. With McMahon formally gone, Paul “Triple H” Levesque was now in a position to freely ebook WWE’s weekly programming with none interference from his father-in-law. WrestleMania 40 could be the primary occasion of its type to don’t have any enter from its authentic creator.
The final word pivot
Though Rhodes made his determination to problem Reigns fairly clear, Rollins tried to influence him in one other course. He pleaded his case on an episode of Uncooked that Rhodes ought to problem for his world heavyweight championship as a substitute because it was the true “workhorse” championship his father, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, would’ve needed reasonably than Reigns’ “Hollywood” title. And whereas Rhodes’ must “end the story” centered round him beating Reigns for his undisputed championship, Rhodes stated he’d take into account his choices.
Rhodes then appeared on the Feb. 2 version of SmackDown to confront Reigns. The champ additionally tried to push Rhodes to problem Rollins as a substitute. And, to the shock of the wrestling world, Rhodes agreed with him. “The American Nightmare” proclaimed he would finally beat Reigns, but it surely simply would not be at WrestleMania. He then bowed out, visually and metaphorically, as Johnson arrived for a staredown with Reigns, who was visually sad to see his cousin.
The response from wrestling followers was as loud because it was indignant. Regardless of Reigns vs. Rock being a long-awaited dream match, followers needed to see Rhodes have his second of triumph and refused to have practically three years of funding casually brushed apart. “#WeWantCody” grew to become a rallying cry on social media, nonetheless trending days after Rhodes’ determination. With a possible catastrophe on their arms, the corporate opted to pivot.
WWE introduced a “WrestleMania Kickoff” occasion on Feb. 8 on the T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas, inviting reporters and followers alike as varied wrestlers overvalued the two-night occasion. The particular culminated with a phase involving Reigns, Rhodes, Johnson and Rollins. Rhodes introduced he’d be difficult Reigns, whereas Johnson took exception to Rhodes mentioning the Anoa’i household lineage and Rhodes’ followers, which he dubbed “The Cody Crybabies.” By the top of the particular, Johnson and Reigns have been a unified pressure in opposition to “The American Nightmare” and all indicators of the notorious Feb. 2 Smackdown phase had vanished.
The stakes have been raised even greater within the weeks that adopted. Johnson, sporting the brand new moniker “The Ultimate Boss” and enraged that the followers pressured his dream match to be scrapped, introduced that WrestleMania 40 Evening 1 would have a tag group foremost occasion — Rock and Reigns vs. Rhodes and Rollins. If Rhodes and Rollins win, the Evening 2 foremost occasion will happen with none interference from The Bloodline faction. But when Reigns and The Rock win, the Evening 2 foremost occasion shall be contested underneath “Bloodline Guidelines” — all however guaranteeing Reigns will retain due to heavy interference from his household.
Trying again on the previous 4 a long time of WrestleMania, the concept WWE would have such an enormous match in its arms solely to name an audible looks as if lunacy. Had been this firm nonetheless underneath the Vince McMahon regime — the place good enterprise overpowered what followers needed practically each time — this type of change seemingly would not have occurred. We would be weeks into the corporate collectively burying its head within the sand, trying to drown out fan backlash. However by deciding to make a change and create one thing that has all of the potential to be even higher, it reveals WWE really has entered a brand new period.
As a substitute of weeks of forgettable tv, each episode the place The Bloodline, Rhodes or Rollins are current is now must-see. We have been given moments just like the return of “The Rock Live performance” and Johnson brutalizing Rhodes within the pouring Chicago rain. We’ve got Johnson working at a degree not seen in a long time and three males all keen to match his depth.
And all of that’s with out mentioning the opposite 9 matches already confirmed for this weekend. After the corporate practically drove the exhibit a cliff simply two months in the past, WrestleMania 40 may simply be WWE’s greatest present in years.