The road to WWE WrestleMania XL was filled with twists and turns, as The Rock laid the groundwork for the Roman Reigns match at WrestleMania XL when he returned in January.
Cody Rhodes won this year’s 30-Man Royal Rumble match, implying that he intended to challenge Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 40. Things changed when Rock pushed for the match, which WWE did on television. When the fans pushed back, Rock decided to make a heel turn and form an alliance with The Bloodline.
It laid the groundwork for Rock and Reigns to defeat Rhodes and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania XL night one, before Rhodes dethroned Reigns as the Undisputed WWE Champion. WWE continues to plan Rhodes vs. Rock, which is expected at WrestleMania 41, as well as Rock vs. Reigns for a future date.
As previously reported, some in WWE believe Rock returned to WWE solely to advance his Hollywood career.
In the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer stated that Rhodes was always going to win the title, despite all of the twists and turns.
Meltzer wrote, “The decision for Rhodes to win the Rumble was to set up a future title match after they would do an injury angle, which would lead to Rock getting the title shot, and Rhodes would get his shot and victory later. At one point, there was an idea that Rock would win the title from Reigns and then give up the title to go to Hollywood and end the streak.”
It was said that the title win was the idea that many were fighting against within the company, as the feeling was that if Reigns lost it to Rock only to reclaim it only to lose it again to Rhodes, it would greatly harm Rhodes’ eventual win, and Rhodes was the guy who was going to have to carry the company going forward.
Others believed Rock should not win the title because it should be reserved for Rhodes’ big moment.
