Cody Rhodes fans have experienced a roller coaster of emotions over the last month. Rhodes has confirmed that he will challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Title at WrestleMania 40, as expected on the night of the Royal Rumble, where he earned his title shot. This will be a rematch from WrestleMania 39, where Rhodes lost to Reigns.
However, there was widespread speculation that WWE would announce The Rock vs. Reigns at the event instead. This came after The Rock pushed hard to have the match to save the WrestleMania card. It appears that WWE is also planning a Rhodes and World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins vs. Reigns and Rock tag team match for the event. The negative reaction from fans caused Rock to reconsider taking Rhodes’ place.
In the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that Rhodes was told he would face Reigns in the fall but was not informed about Rock getting the match, which was agreed upon on January 3rd, until much later.
According to Meltzer, “Any interview he did about finishing the story prior to the Rumble was with the idea he was definitely in the match, even with the Rock rumors out.”
Rhodes learned on the day of the Rumble that Rock was going to wrestle Reigns, despite Rhodes’ plans to win the Rumble, and was “also told that they would be going to Reigns against him later, so all the post-match stuff building that match wasn’t there to swerve people as much a build a later match.”
CM Punk was supposed to win the Elimination Chamber match to earn a title shot against Rollins, but that was nixed due to an injury. Some WWE employees were aware of the changes before Rhodes, but it was kept quiet until the WrestleMania press conference.
In December, WWE held extensive talks with Rock about his potential return.
