The decision by WWE to keep “The Tribal Chief” as the champion instead of Cody Rhodes defeating Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Title in the main event of WrestleMania 39 on night two of last year was widely perceived as a major mistake.
Going into that show, it was expected that Reigns would drop the title to Rhodes and take a break. This was around the time when Vince McMahon began making changes to creative, most notably on the post-Mania episode of Raw and at WrestleMania, despite Paul “Triple” Levesque being in charge of main roster creative.
Some speculated that McMahon was the reason Reigns retained the title at the show.
Rhodes wrapped up his story at WrestleMania XL, defeating Reigns and winning the title.
According to Dave Meltzer’s latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, “Vince did have the final say at the time. But it was noted Levesque agreed to that as well, and it would have happened either way.”
It was reported that both McMahon and Levesque supported Rhodes’ return to the Royal Rumble following pec surgery and the title win.
Meltzer went on to say, “A lot happened behind the scenes, with the key points being argued and eventually agreed by all parties it would be stronger a year later.” It was added that “While Vince did make the call, Levesque was on board with the call, and there were no significant issues with the decision.”
Meltzer added that he was told McMahon was not overruling Levesque by forcing the decision.
