WWE is just days away from announcing The Rock vs. Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40, a change from the originally planned match between Reigns and Cody Rhodes after Rhodes won the Men’s Royal Rumble Match.
As PWMania.com previously reported, Rock’s match with Reigns was part of his agreement to join the TKO Board of Directors and was scheduled before the Royal Rumble. The question remains as to what WWE will do with Rhodes.
The obvious choice has been Rhodes challenging Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 40, which is planned.
While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer stated that WWE expected Rhodes to become Daniel Bryan in 2014, when fans rallied around him and elevated him to star status after leaving SmackDown.
Meltzer stated, “The plan as of Friday night was Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes. And we’ll see how it plays out because now they’re trying to turn it into a story and see how the story goes…..I can’t tell you that they didn’t tell anybody [about plans changing]. But certainly, they didn’t tell many people or almost anyone.”
Meltzer also discussed the SmackDown segment featuring Rhodes and Rock and what WWE hoped to achieve from it.
“I don’t know what they were expecting [fans booing The Rock]. But they were expecting Cody Rhodes to turn into Daniel Bryan…..They were expecting to make Cody Rhodes into a martyr and make him a bigger babyface out of that. Were they expecting people to boo Dwayne? I don’t know. I’ve asked that one, and I haven’t gotten a straight answer.”
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
