Note: this story originally ran on Fightful Select ahead of WrestleMania XL
We’re a week removed from Cody Rhodes seemingly passing on the title shot many expected he would be getting at WrestleMania against Roman Reigns, in favor of the Rock. However, by the WrestleMania XL Kickoff, it was back to Cody vs. Roman.
WWE did not ignore the support Rhodes was getting, constantly referencing it on WWE Raw, as Rhodes did not commit to his plans for WrestleMania. WWE also reiterated Rock vs. Roman Reigns was not official. They made the adjustment on Thursday. February 8 officially.
To be clear – if this is or was a work, there were numerous parties that had not been clued in on such as of Friday February 2. How things have evolved since then are much less clear.
There are many reporting, speculating or even wondering if the entire situation has been a work since the start. While we can’t speak to the grander situation and who planned what specifically, we can speak to Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, CM Punk, the creative team, producers and those around them – they were not told that an elaborate, multi-faceted work was the plan. As of last week, Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins was the direction told to creative. Prior to the Royal Rumble, CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins was the active plan, and was relayed to Punk himself. So if there was a “work” at play, it didn’t involve those parties ahead of the Royal Rumble, so it would have been a work on them as well.
This does not answer the “why” as it relates to Cody winning the Royal Rumble, as we’ve heard the day of the Rumble, several in creative were told The Rock vs. Roman Reigns was the plan, and merchandise had been produced to promote it.
As far as word that the plan for The Rock and Roman Reigns was the plan dating back to January 3, we have heard from WWE sources that there were meetings on January 1, and others along the way that had indicated to Cody Rhodes that the creative direction had not changed, and he was slated to face Reigns at WrestleMania. Up until the week prior to the Royal Rumble, no other parties that we’d heard from or have spoken to since were made aware. To the best of our knowledge, a select group of people were informed Royal Rumble weekend that the direction had changed.
Those that we spoke to claimed that Cody Rhodes expressed to WWE that he thought the reaction wouldn’t be the desired one, but still did the segment, and was said to have been in a somber mood after. Other sources claim that this decision goes all the way up to Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro, and was even above Nick Khan and Triple H.
The segment went down, and featured the Rock and Cody Rhodes shaking hands. We haven’t been able to find out what The Rock said to Cody Rhodes verbatim, but have learned it was something in reference to their fathers. We’ve long heard that The Rock and Cody maintained a great relationship for years.
Beyond that, we're told that WWE had started production on a follow up to the American Nightmare documentary months back, and has had cameras following Cody for it. There was content filmed for it February 2as well.
WWE was heavily monitoring the reactions, and we were told that as of the days after Smackdown, there were options being discussed moving forward, which clearly led to the change. We can not speak to other outlets reporting of what would or wouldn't happen. To be clear, at no point did Fightful report anything was "definitely" the plan.
Regarding the signs at WWE Raw, we’ve not heard from anyone within the company that WWE were handing those out. Fightful did hear from numerous fans in attendance that physically printed the signs themselves and brought them to the show, with timestamped evidence from before the broadcast. However WWE were not planning to shy away from the controversy, with many in the company noting it was a major swing in coverage than what they’d experienced over the two prior weeks. Talent were also not instructed to tweet about it as of the weekend after, which could always change as things progress.
There were incorrect stories attributed to PWInsider (who never reported anything as such) claiming that a title unification was locked in for Summerslam. That has not been “locked in,” and PWInsider did not report that.
Sources backstage at WWE Raw said that they expected a passionate reaction for Rhodes, but weren’t necessarily expecting “Rocky sucks” chants.
WWE were very happy with how the WrestleMania XL Kickoff event went, and the buzz it got in relation to what looked to be a big negative for them.
This article first appeared on our premium service, Fightful Select and was republished here on Fightful. If you complain about it being "old news," you have to write an essay on why media literacy is important. Subscribe to get exclusive news every day, and a half-dozen weekly podcasts.
To directly support us and our continuing breaking news, interviews, and the like, subscribe to FightfulSelect.com. You'll get exclusive news sent to you directly before anyone else, and dozens of podcasts monthly including Alex Pawlowski's Sour Graps, Sean Ross Sapp's Q&A, Retro Reviews and more
