Triple H says he knew the fans would support Cody Rhodes.
Though Cody Rhodes won the 2024 Royal Rumble, he stepped aside on the February 2nd episode of WWE SmackDown to allow The Rock to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40.
Fans quickly threw their support behind Cody Rhodes, getting "We Want Cody" trending through the weekend, and by the WrestleMania 40 Kickoff, less than a week after Cody stepped aside, he said he wanted to face Roman Reigns.
Appearing on ImPAULsive, Triple H discussed how plans changed.
"There was talk about, maybe Rock would try to do something this year, we're not really sure. I've heard that a lot. Even me personally, he and I shot an angle before, and then his schedule changed. We were locked in, WrestleMania, here's what we're doing and where we're going, and then his schedule changed and he couldn't make it happen. I get it. As that becomes a reality, you have to shift thinking. Then, there are a lot of different thoughts and what the camps are. 'We're going to do this, we think that will be good.' Some people thought Rock coming in and challenging Roman and Cody moving over would be a great thing. Other people thought it's not going to work, it'll be really tough. There was a back-and-forth, for sure," said Triple H.
He continued, "You can make the argument that Cody and Roman, and the story where we were, was massive. You can also make an argument to, the biggest star in the world comes in to your product to face the biggest guy that you have in the product in Roman Reigns. That's huge. It's a win win. Some people are like, 'this is going to be the reaction.' Some people are like, 'this is going to be the reaction,' the exact opposite. The beauty of our business is, they [the fans] tell us."
Asked if he thought the fans would react the way they did to Rock confronting Roman and Cody stepping aside, Triple H replied, "To be honest, for me, I did. This isn't one of those ones where I was so adamantly...I can see both sides, but I felt like, I kept saying, 'I just don't want you to get booed in this.' When they went where they went, in all fairness, you don't get to the level of success where Rock is without being super sensitive and dialed in to what is working and what is not. You're not going to hit 1000% on everything, but you have to be aware. In all fairness, when that happened, we all sat on it for a few days, and he was the guy that called me and said, 'let me throw this at you.' If you would have asked me two months earlier, Rock comes in here and it goes where it goes, 'what do you think of Rock turning heel?' I would have said, 'He'll never go for that.' He was the one, 'what if we flip this. What if I turn heel.' As soon as he said it, I said, '1000%.'"
The Rock claims he called Nick Khan in January with the idea to turn heel. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
The Rock will team with Roman Reigns at night one of WrestleMania 40 to face Seth Rollins & Cody Rhodes.
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