Last month The Rock returned during Day 1 Raw and he teased a potential match with Roman Reigns. This week on SmackDown, Cody Rhodes told Roman Reigns that he wouldn’t be coming for him at WrestleMania following his Royal Rumble win last weekend. Cody then introduced The Rock who seemingly set up a match with Roman Reigns when he confronted him in the ring.
PWInsider reports that numerous sources confirmed the plan to go with The Rock vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania was pushed by The Rock and backed up by top TKO executives. The match is expected to be officially announced on Thursday during the WrestleMania 40 event in Las Vegas.
It’s being reported that while WWE was building toward a Rhodes vs. Reigns rematch some people believe the change was made by The Rock as one source stated to “save WrestleMania” after CM Punk and Brock Lesnar were taken off the card.
Others believe that The Rock pushed for the WrestleMania main event and likely would have no matter what as his $30 million dollar stock payday is partially contingent on him hitting certain milestones. Sources familiar with the situation believe that an in-ring return for The Rock in 2024 was one of those milestones, so The Great One pushed for the match with Reigns to happen sooner than later with the idea that it’s a far bigger attraction for WWE.
With The Rock’s power as a member of the TKO Board of Directors, his star power in Hollywood, the backing of Ari Emanuel and Nick Khan, the decision was made to go with Rock vs. Reigns with the belief being that it would be a greater mainstream attraction that could build positive momentum for the company.
It’s being said that the change wasn’t done to politic Cody Rhodes out of his main event spot out of malice, but the belief was that The Rock was the best idea to make money. The move was strategic to give The Rock more political power overall and to show Endeavors faith in his involvement. One source stated that they believe even Triple H would lose a power struggle with The Rock at this point.
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