Cody Rhodes won his second consecutive Royal Rumble match. Last year, he challenged Roman Reigns at WrestleMania and came up short against Roman Reigns. This year, Cody Rhodes won the Royal Rumble match again, adding himself to the legendary list of winning two consecutive Rumble matches, and everyone thought that he would go against Roman Reigns to finish the story.
On last week’s Friday Night SmackDown, The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes stated that he’s not choosing The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns as his opponent for WrestleMania 40. Instead, The Rock returns and it appears that Rock will face Roman Reigns for the title at WrestleMania.
According to the Fightful Select reports, Cody Rhodes expressed to WWE that the reaction to the promo would not be what they were hoping for, but went ahead with the segment anyway. This report also added that The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes was in a “somber mood” after the show.
Sources close to Fightful also stated that the decision to put The Rock in the main event of WrestleMania 40 goes all the way up to Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro, and goes above Triple H and Nick Khan. Fightful also noted that they were unable to confirm exactly what was said between The Rock and Rhodes in the ring. However, the report noted that it was something about their fathers, and the two stars have been friendly for years.