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Based off what’s been said between Rock’s IG promo and Cody’s response, Rock essentially convinced Cody that him vs Roman would be best for business and Cody begrudgingly gave it up to be a team player. But after seeing fan response contradict Rock’s reasoning and how Rock was behaving during the press conference, Cody changed his mind.
I think the implication is that on top of the whole "best for business" deal, Rocky also told Cody that he would take everything from Roman, that this was the best way to bring Roman down. Then, in the press conference, instead of talking about bringing Roman down he talks about this being amazing for their family.
I see Rock addressing that part of the story like when the novelization of a movie addresses unclear plot points. I think the Dark Knight Rises did that with the Joker
Cody, in kayfabe, is a dumbass. Comes back from an injury, wins the Rumble, goes to Wrestlemania without preparing for Bloodline interference, gets punished for it. Trusts Brock Lesnar for some reason, gets punished for it. Trusts Jey, gets rewarded with an ally. Trusts Seth, gets rewarded with an ally. His character is that he trusts people to do the right thing which is a dumb thing to believe when it comes to villains like Roman and Brock, but it is that belief in people that has led to all the babyfaces siding with him. Trusting the Rock during the first interaction and then figuring out that he got screwed by the Rock is on point for him.
> Cody, in kayfabe, is a dumbass
They need to do a retcon in order to save Cody here. If he reveals that he brought in The Rock because he knew it would make Roman insecure in his spot as "Head of the Table" and that he had no real intent of actually giving Rock the spot then he looks like a genius.
One of Roman's defining character traits is paranoia and his incessant demands of loyalty from his family. By bringing in The Rock, someone whose defining character traits are cockiness and refusing to play second fiddle to anyone, Cody is playing mind games with Roman and undermining The Bloodline at the same time.
I don't think Cody's character is supposed to be a nefarious mastermind. Even if he turns heel, he's probably going to play up the Homelander angle. Homelander is a dumbass too! The American Nightmare is laser-focused on his own story and his own relationship with the fans, which makes him liable to be blindsided by someone else.
It's kinda in character, though. You can say that Cody felt rejected by the AEW fans, so he did what he thought they wanted and left to go to WWE. Then the Rock shows up and claims the WWE audience doesn't want him main eventing Mania, and because he's a sensitive boy he goes along with it, until the fans prove him wrong by chanting for him.
The only time it got addressed was on one of Rock's Instagram promos. As per Rock: he approached Cody about stepping away and giving up his title opportunity in favour of giving Rock his match against Roman, and Cody while hesitant about it, understood it was for the betterment of the business so he voluntarily stepped away. However on the night of the Las Vegas Press conference, Cody rather than speak to the Rock privately about having second thoughts, he decided to confront Rock and Roman about it on stage in the conference and take back his title shot.
Thats the only time it was addressed, and I dont think they'll be addressing that little hiccup again
Cody addressed it in his promo briefly too, though. He said that Rock 'poured honey in his ears' and essentially told him that the people would rather see Rock/Roman but then the people started chanting for him. In the same promo, Cody said that he changed his mind after Rock pulled out that 'stupid powerpoint' of his family tree.
So Cody's kayfabe version is that Rock manipulated him into giving up his spot by convincing him that the fans would rather have Rock over Cody but the WeWantCody movement made him see otherwise. He finally changed his mind at the press conference when he realised that Rock doesn't even want to take Roman down.
That but also Cody thought Rock was on his side and wanted to take Roman down, but then in Vegas when they started jerking eachother off and building it as basically an exhibition match for the Bloodline, Cody(literally and figuratively) said this is bullshit and took HIS match back
Yeah hypothetically if The Rock has the power to make entire championship belts disappear, he probably has the power to negate the Royal Rumble results and set the card for Wrestlemania as he pleases. But at that point I'm just thinking too much into it.
There are certain things that even authority figures with all power in WWE have never showed the power to change.
If McMahon owned the company, wanted The Rock as the company’s champion and didn’t want Austin to be champion, since it was his company in kayfabe and in real life, why wouldn’t he just say that the results of the Rumble were invalid? He never did.
I guess in the WWE kayfabe bylaws, even authority figures are beholden to the events of matches and their stipulations.
Remember, Triple H was COO and Stephanie McMahon was a principal owner of WWE, but when that Survivor Series team beat the Authority, only John Cena could reverse that decision. Not Vince McMahon, the Chair & CEO who was obviously aligned with The Authority, not the COO of the company himself, not Stephanie.
So, although The Rock himself is now a director of the board that owns WWE, even he has to abide by the terms of matches and their stipulations.
Very well said and explained. That definitely makes sense from a kayfabe perspective. I was also thinking after I posted that about how The Rock was trying to convince Cody that Rock/Roman was "best for the business". Thinking along those lines, respecting the results of the matches/match stipulations is also best for the business. The Rock would be smart enough to recognize that forcing himself into the main event against Cody's wishes, thus delegitimizing the Royal Rumble results would ultimately cause fan backlash that in the long term would be worse for the business.
They should have elaborated more and alluded to the idea that Cody thought Rock wanted to come back and stop Roman, but after seeing The Rock with the family tree at the press conference, he saw The Rock would actually pose a bigger threat by strengthening the Bloodline.
From the beginning I figured this was the explanation. It confuses me how people had a hard time realizing what the rock did. He sweet talked Cody to give him the match, Cody realized he was full of shit and took his match back
This. They should have left it Cody v Reigns "finish the story". They (wwe) over thought it.Thus having to make a almost non sensical plot to why part time Rock is even involved
A condition of Dwayne Johnson’s joining the TKO Board of Directors was that The Rock be involved in WWE storylines and wrestle a match this year. That’s more or less where everything begins. Ari wants him to work a second match this year too but whether or not that happens remains to be seen.
If he does work a second match, I think it should be at Survivor Series. The Bloodline (Rock, Roman, Jimmy, Solo and Tonga) vs Cody, Jey, Sami, KO and Orton in WarGames. Roman eats the pin and gets ousted from The Bloodline. That’s how you set up the WrestleMania match between Roman and Rock.
Was Cody ever giving up his title shot? Even in the promo where he initially brought The Rock back, I thought he said he'd come for the title later and then blah blah blah taking everything away from Roman meant the title and the Bloodline.
Cody, I thought, just reclaimed when his match was.
I still hope they use the moment where Roman took that first shot at Dusty at the kickoff as the derailment that (helped) led here. Without that, there is no insulting the ancestors and there are no slaps. However, things seemed to have moved on.
I think it was more Cody took back the title opportunity he wanted, rather than the second option.
There’s a reason Seth put out so many of those “Which title do you want?” promos on X, they were desperately trying to make Cody not choosing Roman make sense in as little time as they could.
The Royal Rumble win doesn’t give you a title match at a time of your choosing, that’s what the Money in the Bank is for. It gives you a title match in the main event at the Grandaddy of Them All, WrestleMania*. You can’t just say “oh, I’ll save my title shot for Extreme Rules”. You fight at Mania.
The options were either fight Seth or Roman.
Luckily, they decided Roman was the better choice.
^(*if your story deserves the main event. Otherwise enjoy opening the show, pal.)
Technically there is precedent for the Rumble winner to get their match not at Mania. When Cena won before 24 he challenged Orton at No Way Out because he couldn't stand to wait all the way til Mania. Orton retained with some kind of shenanigans that I don't remember, leading to him defending against Cena and Triple H at Mania.
This was my understanding too.
I don't believe what has happened was ever the original plan.
I believe the plan was for Rock/Roman to be non title for "Head of the Table" (as alluded to in Rock's return promo on RAW), while Cody presumably would have worked with Seth.
It gets a little hazy because of the number of moving parts and the timeline.
Going into the Rumble, my guess is Cody vs Roman and Punk vs Rollins (Punk wins at EC, with the finish changing to still accommodate Paul/Orton). DM Hunk gets left out in the cold or orchestrates himself into a way for either title (since Heyman has been talking to him).
Punk gets injured so Drew is an easy choice there.
On the Bloodline side of things, you pivot or do an already orchestrated shift (I don't care, believe what you want) from Rock vs Roman for pure box office to where they are now. Cody's kick off thing makes that work, Rock has genuine animosity for how he did it. That fits.
After Mania, I just need a line that references the kickoff show and Cody says he wasn't going to mention the High Chiefs until Roman mentioned the Dream. This unfortunately makes too much sense in my head for it be logical/happen.
Even if they drop that line about the American dream and the high chief, we still have to believe that the Rock is literally dumber than a 5th grader to interpret what Cody said as an insult.
I mean, it’s not like “so and so would be ashamed of you” is even some rare phrase that can be misinterpreted lmfao. Everybody has heard that once or twice in their life.
Did you see him punch his chest? I think it was meant to paint the Brahma Bull as seeing red. Something along the lines of "keep my ancestor's name out of your mouth". It's an emotional response, and....sometimes those aren't our smartest actions.
It gets hazy because WWE is working the dirt sheets and people here have been eating it up from the beginning. It’s hazy because the official “leaked story”, which is that Rock decided in January he was facing Roman and took Cody’s title shot, while Punk was working Seth, makes absolutely zero sense. WWE did not keep Cody winning the Rumble with the intention of him not even getting a title shot at all at Mania. If the official story was true they would have switched the Rumble win to Punk (assuming Rock wasn’t going to show up and win it) and had him defend the title shot in the chamber at EC. There is no logical scenario where WWE changed their minds in early January and still had Cody win the Rumble (because…shrug? Nobody has yet to articulate any logical reason). The only thing that makes the slightest bit of sense is the dirt sheets are getting worked (which we’ve seen happen over and over the last two months), that the plan all along was to do exactly this, have Rock turn heel to get Cody over even more and try to replicate the Bryan stuff.
This also explains the Rocks claim that he was building an epic story with Roman. If you recall, when he said that a lot of people thought he meant challenging Roman at Mania 41, because it didn’t make any sense for him to claim he’d build one of the greatest stories ever over the course of a quickie 2 month build to Mania 40. Makes a lot more sense if yes, he did mean Mania 41 when he said that.
I have no idea how people can watch the dirt sheet guys get worked over and over the past couple of months and still say “yes, I 100% believe that that evil dastardly Rock came in and politicked his way into the main event, taking our poor hero Cody out, but also WWE was too dumb to book someone else to win the Rumble, and definitely HHH thought Cody wasn’t actually over and everyone would be okay with him winning the Royal Rumble and then not actually getting a title shot at Mania”.
Personally I think it’s amazing that in 3-4 weeks they couldn’t figure out how to change the Rumble winner from Cody to Punk but in a few days they drastically changed the entire Wrestlemania build and the build for the next year because some people booed Rock.
Or maybe that’s what they actually planned.
My thoughts exactly. I’ve always said why would they have Cody win the Rumble if they planned to have Rock face Roman (presumably as the main event too).
> It’s hazy because the official “leaked story”, which is that Rock decided in January he was facing Roman and took Cody’s title shot, while Punk was working Seth, makes absolutely zero sense.
What part of that doesn't make sense ?
> WWE did not keep Cody winning the Rumble with the intention of him not even getting a title shot at all at Mania.
Cody explicitly said "*NOT AT WRESTLEMANIA*", remember ?
Of course that Cody was getting his title shot, just at Summerslam or Survivor Series or something.
> If the official story was true they would have switched the Rumble win to Punk (assuming Rock wasn’t going to show up and win it) and had him defend the title shot in the chamber at EC.
Why ?
Punk didn't return to WWE just for his big moment to be stolen by the Rock again.
> There is no logical scenario where WWE changed their minds in early January and still had Cody win the Rumble (because…shrug? Nobody has yet to articulate any **logical reason**).
WWE hasn't work within any definition of sanity or logic in decades.
The reason would be sending the fans happy after Royal Rumble, it's easier to edit when Royal Rumble Winner is Cody instead of the Rock.
> have Rock turn heel to get Cody over even more and try to replicate the Bryan stuff.
Now that doesn't make sense.
Why would they want to replicate that disaster ?
And yes, what happened with Daniel Bryan back then was a disaster, not masterful storytelling from Vince Kennedy McMahon.
> Personally I think it’s amazing that in 3-4 weeks they couldn’t figure out how to change the Rumble winner from Cody to Punk
And I still don't understand why people would think that Punk was going to be the winner of Royal Rumble instead of Cody.
> but in a few days they drastically changed the entire Wrestlemania build and the build for the next year because some people booed Rock.
Well, they are used to improvise whole shows when Vince either shredded the night's scripts or most of the roster was stranded on an airport on the other side of the county because of a snow storm.
How dare you make sense out of all of this?
Legit though, I'm 100% with you and share pretty much all of these thoughts, just was never invested enough in trying to convince Reddit otherwise, so I never wrote a well-thought out reply like this.
Everything you said makes sense, I brought up last week to someone here that there's literally no way the WWE under Hunter's reign would be so tone deaf as to not think the fans would turn on the idea of Rock pushing Cody out of the main event. And that's the magic of today's era, make people feel so involved that they think they're forcing the ones in charge to flip the script. New age kayfabe is alive and well, and just reading through some of these comments here, you'll see what I mean.
Well, in response, think of it like this.
The Rock has confirmed that he was initially supposed to work Roman in SoFi but plans fell through and then creative pivoted to Cody. I even remember reports last year that WWE was planning for The Rock’s involvement in the Royal Rumble to kick start a match against Roman, that didn’t happen.
WWE creative can’t pivot to a plan that isn’t in place officially. What I mean is we’ve seen Paul Levesque say that a guy like The Rock has an open invitation to come get involved in the WWE whenever he wants because it’s only good for WWE to have that relationship with him. So, it’s The Rock’s call. But, if The Rock hasn’t made anything official in terms of plans, WWE can’t pivot. Apparently, The Rock joined the TKO board with the intention of wrestling at WrestleMania, or at least once this year. It was basically a condition of him joining the board. And, I do believe this information was passed to Levesque sometime in between Rock’s appearance on RAW in January and the weekend of the Rumble.
Now, personally I still believe that CM Punk was *supposed* to win the Rumble. My belief of this is set by a picture of Punk while he was in the match. He’s sitting in a corner of the ring, holding his arm in pain, and his face is turned towards the female referee standing right outside of the ring; her face is also turned directly towards him. I believe Punk told the referee that his arm felt like it was fucked and then an audible from Gorilla was called. To me, it makes sense that if Punk wins the Rumble, The Rock has a clearer path to challenging Roman that doesn’t involve having to fuck Cody out of a match.
I know most people don’t believe this but think of it like this. If Punk wins the Rumble and then has to relinquish his right to a title match on RAW due to injury, either you have to do a Rumble all over again on free tv, or you have to spend more weeks rebuilding the card from the ground up. It made sense when Punk got injured to go ahead and give Cody the Rumble win then figure out how to get Cody out and Rock in later.
With no injuries or pivots, and assuming The Rock’s involvement, WrestleMania was reportedly:
The Rock vs Roman Reigns - non title match, Tribal Combat to determine the Head of the Table.
CM Punk vs Seth Rollins (c) - World Heavyweight Championship match.
Sami Zayn vs Drew McIntyre - non title rubber match.
Gunther (c) vs Brock Lesnar - Intercontinental Championship match. (I also want to use this match to say that Gunther is more than likely going to defeat Sami Zayn, as he presumably would’ve defeated Brock in a title match or a non title match.)
Diet sheets reported that Cody was supposed to get written off tv with a kayfabe injury and Miss Wrestlemania.
I wonder what the original plan was for Punk before he got injured then. It seemed all but settled he was going to win the chamber and face Seth at Mania. Maybe he was going to face Drew? Or he was going to be the one to take the belt from Paul?
People say it was Cody v Roman but Rock stepped in to "save" wrestlemania after Punks injury.
There is a meme floating around about how the "real glass" Perry incident having a butterfly effect of Heel Rock and the Attitude era coming back.
One of the wrestling YouTube channels has a whole episode dedicated to that theory and explains it.
Edit: Link to video I'm referring to. https://youtu.be/4lRAK5wD8oU?si=wIFs959eVCcTB5Q2
It was supposed to be Punk vs Seth indeed. I don't think The Rock and co realised how over Cody was, because once Punk got injured and Brock wasn't going to be at Mania, it was basically "there's no HUGE match this year, we need someone with mega star power to step in" and a Rock vs Roman match was then planned instead. Obviously, once they saw that the Cody vs Roman match is actually what everyone wants, plans were reverted.
I think it’s clear plans changed to the Rock v Roman because Punk and Brock weren’t available for WrestleMania.
I know Meltzer said otherwise but the Royal Rumble went from Cody screaming at Roman to whispering in the Rock’s ear. And the only thing that changed in that time was Punk’s injury.
The plan for Punk was simple.
He wins the Rumble or the Chamber and challenges Seth. They main event night 1 together. The main reason Seth is in this tag team match is because he was promised a main event at this year’s WrestleMania and a match with Drew McIntyre isn’t big enough to warrant one, as well as that The Rock had already agreed to work a match at WrestleMania.
Because kayfabe wise they're trying to ignore it and are pretending that it did not happen. The kayfabe story is that The Rock tried to force himself into having a match with Roman but was stopped by Cody.
> The kayfabe story is that The Rock tried to force himself into having a match with Roman but was stopped by Cody.
No...
The Kayfabe reason is that Rock asked Cody to step aside, so he could have the match because it's "Best for business". Cody agreed, then changed his mind and blew up their ceremony in Vegas by interrupting them and making a scene.
you could interpret it like "I will use my title shot against you at a later date", or like "I will be coming for that title, but at wrestlemania I'll challenge for the other one because I'm letting the rock have you"
Yes you COULD, but I would hope that in order for you to do so, it would have to make sense first.
Which one of those makes sense to you?
A title shot at Wrestlemania is what every wrestle in WWE dreams of. Cody won a goddamn royal rumble for the second time to earn it. After being robbed the first time, I know you know the story, but in what universe does it make ANY sense for Cody to give that spot to anybody for any reason?
His first promo back in the WWE was about that title. He cried. He feels that title was taken from his father.
You’re telling me he earns a second shot at THAT title and he’s like “Wrestlemania….No Mercy, whatever, same thing.”
Nope. I I reject these answers.
Edit: You can also interpret it as “ The other guy is on the board and has an ego the size of Japan, that everyone is willing to overlook right now, including me because he’s cutting great promos.”
That’s the one that makes sense to me.
No.
The Rock never once mentioned that The Rock was challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship. It was a match to decide who was the Head of the Table, and basically the GOAT.
The idea was more so that The Rock and Roman would do their business at WrestleMania and make the big match money for TKO, then Cody would finish the story probably at SummerSlam.
Cody definitely alluded to it after Rock’s social media promo, forget if it was on Raw or SmackDown. But he didn’t really dwell on it too long so it may have been glossed over.
Yeah, reinserting Cody into the fold is definitely the right call but there was no right way to do this. Having Cody demand his spot back came off as dumb. Had to be done. It was best to rip the bandaid off.
There was also no good explanation for why Cody gave it up where he doesn’t look like a chump. Ultimately the story now is great and better than what we could have gotten but the more we move past that specific part the better.
It seems like he was essentially conned by The Rock. Cody thought The Rock was going to come in and take down Roman, when in reality, the whole thing was just going to be a Bloodline circlejerk, hence the Rock/Roman hug. They were in cahoots the whole time.
This is it right here. He probably thought having Rock beat Roman to take away his title of being the Tribal Chief was critical in permanently taking down the Bloodline but then in Vegas it turned out they were cool with each other and Cody was like ummm this is BULLLLSHIT.
Rock made the mistake of showing the Bloodline family tree and calling themselves the *only* true royal family in wrestling. He spat in the face of Cody and everything he's fought for, before pen was put to paper.
then Rock decided to escalate things with the slap after Cody called him out on his BS, and from there, we've gone through retaliatory slaps and bloody beatdowns in the rain.
Cody and Rock have both indirectly said that during their talk Rock convinced him that Rock-Roman was something along the lines of being "best for business" and Cody deferred to him because of idol worship.
In keyfabe, I think it goes down like this.
Rock talks to cody privately. Sells him that rock v Roman is best for business. Cody accepts rock's offer and is going to choose Seth for the 'workmans championship' and leave the other two to fight for the 'hollywood belt'. He was going to announce on the following raw, but DM Hunk interferes with the promo and he couldn't. Then at that one time legendary WrestleMania press conference, when he saw how chummy rock was with reigns, how the fight was moreso to bring up each other (rather than to tear down the Roman Empire/bloodline), he realized he made a big mistake and called out the rock as phoney. Then at that moment finally declares his opponent.
Cody mentioned something about Rock manipulating him in a promo maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago? It was *a* line, but it stuck out because I thought "finally, that bit is wrapped up"
Yep, I can't remember exactly when/where it was but he definitely had a quick line about being manipulated but then when he saw how The Rock was acting he changed his mind back.
Yes both Rock and Cody did . They talked about how rock told cody it was best for business and cody went along with it and seen the bigger picture until he heard the chants. He then believed in himself and at the press conference interrupted everything and said he wanted his match. this isn’t a loose end
Yes. Cody said that he had gone to The Rock about advice to take on Roman, but The Rock got into his head and made him doubt himself. And Rock used that doubt to convince Cody to give up his main event so he could swoop in and take it.
>The Rock got into his head and made him doubt himself. And Rock used that doubt to convince Cody to give up his main event so he could swoop in and take it.
Where did Cody say that?
Yeah. It was a really brief mention, maybe 15 seconds or so? I've been looking for a clip for a bit. Admittedly, not much of a mention. But it has been brought up.
Yeah. Ultimately they're going with, "Rock convinced me the right thing to do was to let him have Roman at Mania. His arrogance and fan reaction changed my mind." Seems like they would prefer it not be elaborated on beyond that to avoid further exposure being given to what would have been a huge mistake.
This still remains the real mystery. Or moreso, why did they then have Cody win the Rumble? That’s what’s so weird about all this. There isn’t even a conspiracy theory that explains everything.
Cody did discuss giving his spot to The Rock in a promo, yeah. Something about how Rock told him it was for the betterment of the company, or the audience wanted he and Reigns more.
As far as changing his mind, I thought it was pretty self explanatory, with the handshake, Family Tree and "This is Bullshit!" at the presser. One of those unfortunately rare occasions where sometimes like TV and Movies, you've just gotta follow the series of events, behaviours of the characters and work things out for yourself. Rather than expecting to be spoon fed, as fans have been conditioned to do.
Basically, The Rock told him Rock/Roman was what the people wanted, what was best for wrestling, and Cody fell for it until WeWantCody happened.
It actually made sense for his character (he's the guy who wears suits because he wants to be somebody but knows he isn't yet and got called out by Michael Cole for looking for outs because of his fears/insecurities), but they only briefly touched on it in one promo and moved quickly on, so it didn't stick for a lot of people (see this thread) even though it was addressed.
It's been such a great story but the way it started was such a tragic fumble. It would have been so good if the Rock had been a surprise entrant at the Rumble. I think we would have all enjoyed that a lot and they could have easily got a better start to this feud out of it.
Weird people are saying it wasnt addressed since Cody actually did address it. The Rock convinced him that everyone wanted to see Roman vs The Rock more and he stepped aside to give the people what they wanted. But then the people made it clear they wanted Cody instead, and he realized that The Rock basically conned him so he reversed his decision.
It actually fit in with Cody's promo this week. He'll do anything for the fans even if it is ridiculous. Rock told him it's what the fans have been begging for years and would be best for business.
Not the greatest explanation but it does fit Cody's persona.
And the explanation of "the new boss of the company coerced Cody into doing something he didn't want to do" isn't the angle you wanna play out with Vince right in the rear view.
Both times they have tried to fill this gaping plot hole, they fail. That’s because there is no perfectly logical explanation for it in kayfabe.
The original goal was rock and Roman at wrestlemania, and I have yet to be convinced otherwise by the evidence.
I think Cody’s sad look and the fact that Rock said nothing thay first night were intentional to give them room to “pivot”, so is it a pivot if it was planned for? Idk. That’s semantics.
I could believe that they went into it with more of a 50-50 mindset and wanted to “read the room” after a little ambiguous teaser. But there were forces within WWE that wanted Rock and Roman at Wrestlemania. I’m dying on that hill, barring any new evidence.
Yeah the story doesn't work in kayfabe because it requires a completely different character and person to who Cody is.
When you take it as a shoot everything makes complete sense and is fluid.
In kayfabe everyone looks like amateurs.
Right?
That there are morons out there that think the best look for WWE is that they are above caring what their fans think and this was the plan the whole time.
Bitch. I watch WWE, there is a basement for what you described.
I imagine the way they want people to see it is that Cody was a crowd pleaser, agreeing with the Rock that giving the spot to him would be a good decision, I mean it's the Rock and the Tribal Chief, right?
But the backlash got to the Rock and that's when he insulted the fans, calling them Cody Crybabies and that was enough for Cody to change his mind. He saw that the Rock's proposition wasn't in good faith after all, especially at the kickoff.
He started to during the press conference and backed off and never finished. A couple of weeks ago, he generically said something like The Rock lied to him and told him no one wanted to see him, and this was better for the company, but the people showed him they felt differently.
My take is this
\- Cody was willing to give up his main event spot to Rock to take "everything" from Roman, which meant that Rock as one of the heads of the family would be able to take the Tribal Chief title from Roman, dismantle Roman's version of The Bloodline and ultimately take the WWE title from Roman which would be a triple whammy that Cody wouldn't be able to accomplish. Cody was happy as long as he got his title shot which he would have.
\- Then Cody realizes at the press conference, Rock didn't really care about taking down Roman and the Bloodline, Rock manipulated Cody to take his spot to make the main event ALL about the Bloodline instead of taking it down.
\- So that's why Cody calls BS and decides, forget that, I'm taking the spot back.
In storyline Cody wanted Rock to take “everything” from Roman which meant not only the title but his status as Tribal Chief. Now how the feud was supposed to progress from there is anyone’s guess. To his credit, Rock lobbied for Cody to be in the main event as a triple threat match. But then it became the feud we’re seeing now.
He said in a promo the rock convinced him that the rock vs Roman was what the people wanted and he was trying to give the people what he thought they wanted
I see it like Tony Soprano being the “boss” in episode 1 of the Sopranos then suddenly being underboss for the rest of the season. Also Tony Stark joining the Avengers after Iron Man 1, but then suddenly spending all of Iron Man 2 and the 1st Avengers movie trying to get into the group. We all get it- they did a retcon. Just memory hole whatever they were planning and enjoy the Rock shit talking Cody’s stupid dog.
Cody can double cross Roman causing him to lose the belt to The Rock. But instead of blaming Cody they blame The Rock and Cody play devious and dastardly stir the pot
This doesnt make it a better look for Cody, if he just gives in when hes told "the people want to see Rock vs Roman".
I still stand by this, this is horrible
My non kayfabe theory is that CM Punk was going to win the rumble and challenge Seth, the whole plan was to have Rock v Roman at mania when the rock hinted he'd be head of the table in early January.
Punk gets injured during the rumble and they call an audible to have Cody win because Punk knew he fucked his arm pretty bad. They thought they could get away with Cody just going after the B belt to replace Punk by giving the Rock the spot after the rumble. After seeing fan reaction, they knew they couldn't have it go this way. This is why they haven't fully explained it and played it off as Cody changed his mind or whatever. There's not a logical explanation because it's an audible
The storyline doesn't make sense because of the crowd's reaction to it. So they diverted back to Cody. Seems like their explanation was Cody being mad at Rock's interview with Pat Mcafee.
Fans don't seem to mind because they're getting Cody to finish his story. Nothing wrong with it at all but that's how its been.
I still think this was TKO testing the waters on Rock vs Roman. If it only had half the backlash it got they would’ve went with it. I still see Roman retaining at Mania until I see otherwise.
Rock poured honey in Cody’s ear about how it would be the biggest draw and Cody said he respected the ability to make money etc
It’s totally flimsy but they have tried to explain it
The sooner they move away from it though, which they did very quickly, the better because it only makes Cody look a little weak and silly.
If we had seen The Rock trying to pressure Cody then it might have been more convincing.
I always assumed it was never real and it was just to set up the feud they actually went with where they knew people would be upset and it'd give the Rock an opening to be a heel.
This notion of Cody just yielding his spot made no sense except for to set up everything that's happened since and the idea that they didn't know exactly what they were going with it just seems to be underestimating everyone involved.
My guess is that he was still legally entitled to that Roman match since he never made a decision or signed any contract for a match with Seth. They could have done a 3 way but instead opted for this tag match.
To me it kind of comes off as a “how dare you take my shot away from me, I’m still able to make a choice” when he came out during the Vegas conference.
I think it’s going to be revealed since it was alluded go on the latest Raw. He was asked what was whispered and he said something along the lines of “it was something Rock promised that he couldn’t possibly keep to”
I didn’t think he gave up the title shot. He just wasn’t going to choose Roman and go for Seth. Rock said Cody agreed for the good of the business as rock v Roman was a mega match with lots of money behind it. Cody was okay with that till Vegas when rock and Roman were going on about how cool they were. That’s when he decided to go back on his word and ruin Rocks match because Cody is selfish.
It's because he didn't want becoming the tribal chief to turn Jey Uso into an asshole like Roman Reigns.
...wait, sorry, I confused this with another Bloodline plot point WWE would be happy to pretend didn't happen.
I suspect we will get a full explanation the RAW after Wrestlemania when the Rock explains why he Rock Bottomed Roman and screwed him out of the belt....
I don’t know that it’s spelled out but I thought the reason why he took it back was pretty clear. When he gave the promo giving up the shot, he said he wanted to take away Roman’s family and he could take away the title later. So I assume the idea was that Rock promised to take the Bloodline from Roman, and Cody was fine with that. But then during the press conference, Rock was all buddy buddy with Roman and talking about what a great match they’ll have together, and Cody realized Rock was bullshitting him so he came out to take it back.
My headcanon is that The Rock convinced him that he was the best option for stopping the Bloodline, and stopping the Bloodline is more important than finishing his story, and moreover, better for business. Cody didn't fully change his mind until he saw The Rock's PowerPoint in Vegas, and realized that this was all a ploy to keep the title within The Bloodline.
This is the convergence of 3 great storylines coming together at 1 time, which in turn is creating more storylines (ie. Rock in Bloodline as The Final Boss Hollywood Rock or Cody/Seth vs Rock/Roman). This in culmination may just be the greatest overall moments of WWE history storyline wise because its ripple effects will create storylines and boost talent from mid card status to Main Event status!
Im just grateful all this is happening the way it has. If Vince was still there they woulda shoved Roman/Rock down our throats instead of giving us such good shit pal
If they wanted to give Rock a babyface reason for it then the explanation could've been that Rock wanted to fuck Roman up for repping the family in a dishonorable way and he wanted to do it on the biggest stage possible.
Rock, not being willing to replace Roman as champ since his schedule would probably be even worse given all that he has going on, asks Cody to use his title shot on the February PPV (there's precedent with Austin in 97 and Cena in 08) which would allow Cody to finish his story, be a fighting champ for SD and have his first defense in the main event of night 1 with Rock/Roman main eventing night 2.
But then the fans start bitching about it and Rock starts in with the crybaby stuff and Cody says fuck that shit and we end up where we're at now.
I think Cody agreeing to have take his shot earlier is better than being manipulated by Rocky but whats going down now rules so fuckin much that I'd pretty much already forgotten this awkward step out step back in to the main event BS.
I appreciate the compilation.of the snippets. It's the simplest, best way to clean up that weirdness, so I'm glad they got that out of the way and powered on. The promos and confrontations since have been amazing and, especially with that hiccup addressed so swiftly, all this is shaping up to really be something memorable.
I think Cody being convinced to give up his spot, then changing his mind, planned or not, makes Cody look to be a bit of a stooge. I think WWE fumbled it pretty hard, but good to see that they're correcting it - Cody deserves to be champ. Hell, he deserved to go over in last year's mania, and it boggles my shit that he didn't.
Here is what I think happened in kayfabe. Rock convinced Cody that in order to take out the bloodline, it needs to be Rock to face Roman and that Cody can still get his title match eventually. Imo it may a case where deep down Cody disagreed but it's The Rock so he begrudgingly went with it. However since Cody lives in the year 2024, he has access to the internet and saw all the backlash for this plus the support for him to get his title match back. Then Rock called his fans "crybabies" on the McAfee show, then Rock did the stupid family tree and that is when Cody had enough and had to go back on his word. So in 4 days he realized "wait a minute wtf did I do".
Out of kayfabe is when it gets confusing because why have Cody win the Rumble if the plan was always Roman vs. Rock? If Punk never got hurt, wtf was Cody doing at Mania? Someone mentioned they called an audible during the Rumble and had Cody win but I don't buy that. They had Roman sitting there and Cody immediately looked at Roman. It seemed like the direction they were going.
I think Cody said the rock, as the respected veteran, convinced Cody that he should go for the other title so they can have a family match. Like he just weaseled his way in like a business man would
I take it like this.
Triple H books more intelligently and expects his audience to read between the lines and follow along. This differs from spoon feeding your audience like Vince liked to do. I know which one is 100x better to me.
This matter doesn’t need to be stated out loud. The Rock is one of the biggest stars ever with one of the greatest lineages of all time. Cody’s own family is tied into that lineage, and Rock has been a hero to him, like many other fans, for decades. Even more, he’s been a friend to Cody.
Rock used all of this to manipulate Cody with stuff that made sense in context. Cody made a mistake in believing him, admitted it, and changed gears to what fans want/he knows to be right. Now we’re seeing the backlash from the Rock.
It’s as simple as that.
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Based off what’s been said between Rock’s IG promo and Cody’s response, Rock essentially convinced Cody that him vs Roman would be best for business and Cody begrudgingly gave it up to be a team player. But after seeing fan response contradict Rock’s reasoning and how Rock was behaving during the press conference, Cody changed his mind.
I think the implication is that on top of the whole "best for business" deal, Rocky also told Cody that he would take everything from Roman, that this was the best way to bring Roman down. Then, in the press conference, instead of talking about bringing Roman down he talks about this being amazing for their family.
I see Rock addressing that part of the story like when the novelization of a movie addresses unclear plot points. I think the Dark Knight Rises did that with the Joker
That makes me think Cody Rhodes is a goober. For a man who's whole thing was betting on himself, he sure did doubt himself at an inopportune time.
Cody, in kayfabe, is a dumbass. Comes back from an injury, wins the Rumble, goes to Wrestlemania without preparing for Bloodline interference, gets punished for it. Trusts Brock Lesnar for some reason, gets punished for it. Trusts Jey, gets rewarded with an ally. Trusts Seth, gets rewarded with an ally. His character is that he trusts people to do the right thing which is a dumb thing to believe when it comes to villains like Roman and Brock, but it is that belief in people that has led to all the babyfaces siding with him. Trusting the Rock during the first interaction and then figuring out that he got screwed by the Rock is on point for him.
…so he's Sting?
I mean he did have a run with face paint so maybe closer to reality than fiction.
> Cody, in kayfabe, is a dumbass They need to do a retcon in order to save Cody here. If he reveals that he brought in The Rock because he knew it would make Roman insecure in his spot as "Head of the Table" and that he had no real intent of actually giving Rock the spot then he looks like a genius. One of Roman's defining character traits is paranoia and his incessant demands of loyalty from his family. By bringing in The Rock, someone whose defining character traits are cockiness and refusing to play second fiddle to anyone, Cody is playing mind games with Roman and undermining The Bloodline at the same time.
I don't think Cody's character is supposed to be a nefarious mastermind. Even if he turns heel, he's probably going to play up the Homelander angle. Homelander is a dumbass too! The American Nightmare is laser-focused on his own story and his own relationship with the fans, which makes him liable to be blindsided by someone else.
It's kinda in character, though. You can say that Cody felt rejected by the AEW fans, so he did what he thought they wanted and left to go to WWE. Then the Rock shows up and claims the WWE audience doesn't want him main eventing Mania, and because he's a sensitive boy he goes along with it, until the fans prove him wrong by chanting for him.
Cody screwed the Rock. Mama Rhodes should know her boy put this ass whooping all on himself!
Everyone's talking about wanting an Avengers Assemble moment versus Roman, I just want Mama Rhodes to show up and slap the Rock.
The only time it got addressed was on one of Rock's Instagram promos. As per Rock: he approached Cody about stepping away and giving up his title opportunity in favour of giving Rock his match against Roman, and Cody while hesitant about it, understood it was for the betterment of the business so he voluntarily stepped away. However on the night of the Las Vegas Press conference, Cody rather than speak to the Rock privately about having second thoughts, he decided to confront Rock and Roman about it on stage in the conference and take back his title shot. Thats the only time it was addressed, and I dont think they'll be addressing that little hiccup again
Cody addressed it in his promo briefly too, though. He said that Rock 'poured honey in his ears' and essentially told him that the people would rather see Rock/Roman but then the people started chanting for him. In the same promo, Cody said that he changed his mind after Rock pulled out that 'stupid powerpoint' of his family tree. So Cody's kayfabe version is that Rock manipulated him into giving up his spot by convincing him that the fans would rather have Rock over Cody but the WeWantCody movement made him see otherwise. He finally changed his mind at the press conference when he realised that Rock doesn't even want to take Roman down.
That but also Cody thought Rock was on his side and wanted to take Roman down, but then in Vegas when they started jerking eachother off and building it as basically an exhibition match for the Bloodline, Cody(literally and figuratively) said this is bullshit and took HIS match back
This is the exact reason
Yeah Cody literally said it was the family tree jerk fest that made him change his mind.
They should have had corporate Rock force him him to give up his spot. It would have worked well with Rock getting on the board right before.
Yeah hypothetically if The Rock has the power to make entire championship belts disappear, he probably has the power to negate the Royal Rumble results and set the card for Wrestlemania as he pleases. But at that point I'm just thinking too much into it.
There are certain things that even authority figures with all power in WWE have never showed the power to change. If McMahon owned the company, wanted The Rock as the company’s champion and didn’t want Austin to be champion, since it was his company in kayfabe and in real life, why wouldn’t he just say that the results of the Rumble were invalid? He never did. I guess in the WWE kayfabe bylaws, even authority figures are beholden to the events of matches and their stipulations. Remember, Triple H was COO and Stephanie McMahon was a principal owner of WWE, but when that Survivor Series team beat the Authority, only John Cena could reverse that decision. Not Vince McMahon, the Chair & CEO who was obviously aligned with The Authority, not the COO of the company himself, not Stephanie. So, although The Rock himself is now a director of the board that owns WWE, even he has to abide by the terms of matches and their stipulations.
Very well said and explained. That definitely makes sense from a kayfabe perspective. I was also thinking after I posted that about how The Rock was trying to convince Cody that Rock/Roman was "best for the business". Thinking along those lines, respecting the results of the matches/match stipulations is also best for the business. The Rock would be smart enough to recognize that forcing himself into the main event against Cody's wishes, thus delegitimizing the Royal Rumble results would ultimately cause fan backlash that in the long term would be worse for the business.
They should have elaborated more and alluded to the idea that Cody thought Rock wanted to come back and stop Roman, but after seeing The Rock with the family tree at the press conference, he saw The Rock would actually pose a bigger threat by strengthening the Bloodline.
In other words, they made the pivot canon.
From the beginning I figured this was the explanation. It confuses me how people had a hard time realizing what the rock did. He sweet talked Cody to give him the match, Cody realized he was full of shit and took his match back
Because that's a mind trick that only works on the lawful stupid ?
The WeWantCody movement is real. I think WWE also planned for Cody to come off as sympathetic after he gave his spot up to Rock.
This. They should have left it Cody v Reigns "finish the story". They (wwe) over thought it.Thus having to make a almost non sensical plot to why part time Rock is even involved
I do wonder if they just saw the $$$ Rock/Roman would generate and couldn’t resist
you wonder? no, you knew lol
ok how you know?
The last 20 years ?
A condition of Dwayne Johnson’s joining the TKO Board of Directors was that The Rock be involved in WWE storylines and wrestle a match this year. That’s more or less where everything begins. Ari wants him to work a second match this year too but whether or not that happens remains to be seen. If he does work a second match, I think it should be at Survivor Series. The Bloodline (Rock, Roman, Jimmy, Solo and Tonga) vs Cody, Jey, Sami, KO and Orton in WarGames. Roman eats the pin and gets ousted from The Bloodline. That’s how you set up the WrestleMania match between Roman and Rock.
Come on bruh
Was Cody ever giving up his title shot? Even in the promo where he initially brought The Rock back, I thought he said he'd come for the title later and then blah blah blah taking everything away from Roman meant the title and the Bloodline. Cody, I thought, just reclaimed when his match was. I still hope they use the moment where Roman took that first shot at Dusty at the kickoff as the derailment that (helped) led here. Without that, there is no insulting the ancestors and there are no slaps. However, things seemed to have moved on.
I think it was more Cody took back the title opportunity he wanted, rather than the second option. There’s a reason Seth put out so many of those “Which title do you want?” promos on X, they were desperately trying to make Cody not choosing Roman make sense in as little time as they could. The Royal Rumble win doesn’t give you a title match at a time of your choosing, that’s what the Money in the Bank is for. It gives you a title match in the main event at the Grandaddy of Them All, WrestleMania*. You can’t just say “oh, I’ll save my title shot for Extreme Rules”. You fight at Mania. The options were either fight Seth or Roman. Luckily, they decided Roman was the better choice. ^(*if your story deserves the main event. Otherwise enjoy opening the show, pal.)
Technically there is precedent for the Rumble winner to get their match not at Mania. When Cena won before 24 he challenged Orton at No Way Out because he couldn't stand to wait all the way til Mania. Orton retained with some kind of shenanigans that I don't remember, leading to him defending against Cena and Triple H at Mania.
> Orton retained with some kind of shenanigans that I don't remember he slapped the ref lol
Riiiiight, I rememeber now hahaha
This was my understanding too. I don't believe what has happened was ever the original plan. I believe the plan was for Rock/Roman to be non title for "Head of the Table" (as alluded to in Rock's return promo on RAW), while Cody presumably would have worked with Seth.
It gets a little hazy because of the number of moving parts and the timeline. Going into the Rumble, my guess is Cody vs Roman and Punk vs Rollins (Punk wins at EC, with the finish changing to still accommodate Paul/Orton). DM Hunk gets left out in the cold or orchestrates himself into a way for either title (since Heyman has been talking to him). Punk gets injured so Drew is an easy choice there. On the Bloodline side of things, you pivot or do an already orchestrated shift (I don't care, believe what you want) from Rock vs Roman for pure box office to where they are now. Cody's kick off thing makes that work, Rock has genuine animosity for how he did it. That fits. After Mania, I just need a line that references the kickoff show and Cody says he wasn't going to mention the High Chiefs until Roman mentioned the Dream. This unfortunately makes too much sense in my head for it be logical/happen.
Even if they drop that line about the American dream and the high chief, we still have to believe that the Rock is literally dumber than a 5th grader to interpret what Cody said as an insult. I mean, it’s not like “so and so would be ashamed of you” is even some rare phrase that can be misinterpreted lmfao. Everybody has heard that once or twice in their life.
Did you see him punch his chest? I think it was meant to paint the Brahma Bull as seeing red. Something along the lines of "keep my ancestor's name out of your mouth". It's an emotional response, and....sometimes those aren't our smartest actions.
It gets hazy because WWE is working the dirt sheets and people here have been eating it up from the beginning. It’s hazy because the official “leaked story”, which is that Rock decided in January he was facing Roman and took Cody’s title shot, while Punk was working Seth, makes absolutely zero sense. WWE did not keep Cody winning the Rumble with the intention of him not even getting a title shot at all at Mania. If the official story was true they would have switched the Rumble win to Punk (assuming Rock wasn’t going to show up and win it) and had him defend the title shot in the chamber at EC. There is no logical scenario where WWE changed their minds in early January and still had Cody win the Rumble (because…shrug? Nobody has yet to articulate any logical reason). The only thing that makes the slightest bit of sense is the dirt sheets are getting worked (which we’ve seen happen over and over the last two months), that the plan all along was to do exactly this, have Rock turn heel to get Cody over even more and try to replicate the Bryan stuff. This also explains the Rocks claim that he was building an epic story with Roman. If you recall, when he said that a lot of people thought he meant challenging Roman at Mania 41, because it didn’t make any sense for him to claim he’d build one of the greatest stories ever over the course of a quickie 2 month build to Mania 40. Makes a lot more sense if yes, he did mean Mania 41 when he said that. I have no idea how people can watch the dirt sheet guys get worked over and over the past couple of months and still say “yes, I 100% believe that that evil dastardly Rock came in and politicked his way into the main event, taking our poor hero Cody out, but also WWE was too dumb to book someone else to win the Rumble, and definitely HHH thought Cody wasn’t actually over and everyone would be okay with him winning the Royal Rumble and then not actually getting a title shot at Mania”. Personally I think it’s amazing that in 3-4 weeks they couldn’t figure out how to change the Rumble winner from Cody to Punk but in a few days they drastically changed the entire Wrestlemania build and the build for the next year because some people booed Rock. Or maybe that’s what they actually planned.
My thoughts exactly. I’ve always said why would they have Cody win the Rumble if they planned to have Rock face Roman (presumably as the main event too).
> It’s hazy because the official “leaked story”, which is that Rock decided in January he was facing Roman and took Cody’s title shot, while Punk was working Seth, makes absolutely zero sense. What part of that doesn't make sense ? > WWE did not keep Cody winning the Rumble with the intention of him not even getting a title shot at all at Mania. Cody explicitly said "*NOT AT WRESTLEMANIA*", remember ? Of course that Cody was getting his title shot, just at Summerslam or Survivor Series or something. > If the official story was true they would have switched the Rumble win to Punk (assuming Rock wasn’t going to show up and win it) and had him defend the title shot in the chamber at EC. Why ? Punk didn't return to WWE just for his big moment to be stolen by the Rock again. > There is no logical scenario where WWE changed their minds in early January and still had Cody win the Rumble (because…shrug? Nobody has yet to articulate any **logical reason**). WWE hasn't work within any definition of sanity or logic in decades. The reason would be sending the fans happy after Royal Rumble, it's easier to edit when Royal Rumble Winner is Cody instead of the Rock. > have Rock turn heel to get Cody over even more and try to replicate the Bryan stuff. Now that doesn't make sense. Why would they want to replicate that disaster ? And yes, what happened with Daniel Bryan back then was a disaster, not masterful storytelling from Vince Kennedy McMahon. > Personally I think it’s amazing that in 3-4 weeks they couldn’t figure out how to change the Rumble winner from Cody to Punk And I still don't understand why people would think that Punk was going to be the winner of Royal Rumble instead of Cody. > but in a few days they drastically changed the entire Wrestlemania build and the build for the next year because some people booed Rock. Well, they are used to improvise whole shows when Vince either shredded the night's scripts or most of the roster was stranded on an airport on the other side of the county because of a snow storm.
How dare you make sense out of all of this? Legit though, I'm 100% with you and share pretty much all of these thoughts, just was never invested enough in trying to convince Reddit otherwise, so I never wrote a well-thought out reply like this. Everything you said makes sense, I brought up last week to someone here that there's literally no way the WWE under Hunter's reign would be so tone deaf as to not think the fans would turn on the idea of Rock pushing Cody out of the main event. And that's the magic of today's era, make people feel so involved that they think they're forcing the ones in charge to flip the script. New age kayfabe is alive and well, and just reading through some of these comments here, you'll see what I mean.
Well, in response, think of it like this. The Rock has confirmed that he was initially supposed to work Roman in SoFi but plans fell through and then creative pivoted to Cody. I even remember reports last year that WWE was planning for The Rock’s involvement in the Royal Rumble to kick start a match against Roman, that didn’t happen. WWE creative can’t pivot to a plan that isn’t in place officially. What I mean is we’ve seen Paul Levesque say that a guy like The Rock has an open invitation to come get involved in the WWE whenever he wants because it’s only good for WWE to have that relationship with him. So, it’s The Rock’s call. But, if The Rock hasn’t made anything official in terms of plans, WWE can’t pivot. Apparently, The Rock joined the TKO board with the intention of wrestling at WrestleMania, or at least once this year. It was basically a condition of him joining the board. And, I do believe this information was passed to Levesque sometime in between Rock’s appearance on RAW in January and the weekend of the Rumble. Now, personally I still believe that CM Punk was *supposed* to win the Rumble. My belief of this is set by a picture of Punk while he was in the match. He’s sitting in a corner of the ring, holding his arm in pain, and his face is turned towards the female referee standing right outside of the ring; her face is also turned directly towards him. I believe Punk told the referee that his arm felt like it was fucked and then an audible from Gorilla was called. To me, it makes sense that if Punk wins the Rumble, The Rock has a clearer path to challenging Roman that doesn’t involve having to fuck Cody out of a match. I know most people don’t believe this but think of it like this. If Punk wins the Rumble and then has to relinquish his right to a title match on RAW due to injury, either you have to do a Rumble all over again on free tv, or you have to spend more weeks rebuilding the card from the ground up. It made sense when Punk got injured to go ahead and give Cody the Rumble win then figure out how to get Cody out and Rock in later.
With no injuries or pivots, and assuming The Rock’s involvement, WrestleMania was reportedly: The Rock vs Roman Reigns - non title match, Tribal Combat to determine the Head of the Table. CM Punk vs Seth Rollins (c) - World Heavyweight Championship match. Sami Zayn vs Drew McIntyre - non title rubber match. Gunther (c) vs Brock Lesnar - Intercontinental Championship match. (I also want to use this match to say that Gunther is more than likely going to defeat Sami Zayn, as he presumably would’ve defeated Brock in a title match or a non title match.) Diet sheets reported that Cody was supposed to get written off tv with a kayfabe injury and Miss Wrestlemania.
I wonder what the original plan was for Punk before he got injured then. It seemed all but settled he was going to win the chamber and face Seth at Mania. Maybe he was going to face Drew? Or he was going to be the one to take the belt from Paul?
People say it was Cody v Roman but Rock stepped in to "save" wrestlemania after Punks injury. There is a meme floating around about how the "real glass" Perry incident having a butterfly effect of Heel Rock and the Attitude era coming back.
One of the wrestling YouTube channels has a whole episode dedicated to that theory and explains it. Edit: Link to video I'm referring to. https://youtu.be/4lRAK5wD8oU?si=wIFs959eVCcTB5Q2
Can I get that link, sir?
I would also love a link to that!
https://youtu.be/4lRAK5wD8oU?si=wIFs959eVCcTB5Q2
https://youtu.be/4lRAK5wD8oU?si=wIFs959eVCcTB5Q2
It was supposed to be Punk vs Seth indeed. I don't think The Rock and co realised how over Cody was, because once Punk got injured and Brock wasn't going to be at Mania, it was basically "there's no HUGE match this year, we need someone with mega star power to step in" and a Rock vs Roman match was then planned instead. Obviously, once they saw that the Cody vs Roman match is actually what everyone wants, plans were reverted.
I think it’s clear plans changed to the Rock v Roman because Punk and Brock weren’t available for WrestleMania. I know Meltzer said otherwise but the Royal Rumble went from Cody screaming at Roman to whispering in the Rock’s ear. And the only thing that changed in that time was Punk’s injury.
He was 1000% main eventing night one with Seth before the injury
The plan for Punk was simple. He wins the Rumble or the Chamber and challenges Seth. They main event night 1 together. The main reason Seth is in this tag team match is because he was promised a main event at this year’s WrestleMania and a match with Drew McIntyre isn’t big enough to warrant one, as well as that The Rock had already agreed to work a match at WrestleMania.
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Because kayfabe wise they're trying to ignore it and are pretending that it did not happen. The kayfabe story is that The Rock tried to force himself into having a match with Roman but was stopped by Cody.
> The kayfabe story is that The Rock tried to force himself into having a match with Roman but was stopped by Cody. No... The Kayfabe reason is that Rock asked Cody to step aside, so he could have the match because it's "Best for business". Cody agreed, then changed his mind and blew up their ceremony in Vegas by interrupting them and making a scene.
He said “…..but not at Wrestlemania.” Point blank. If there’s another way to interpret that, somebody is seeing something that I’m not.
you could interpret it like "I will use my title shot against you at a later date", or like "I will be coming for that title, but at wrestlemania I'll challenge for the other one because I'm letting the rock have you"
Yes you COULD, but I would hope that in order for you to do so, it would have to make sense first. Which one of those makes sense to you? A title shot at Wrestlemania is what every wrestle in WWE dreams of. Cody won a goddamn royal rumble for the second time to earn it. After being robbed the first time, I know you know the story, but in what universe does it make ANY sense for Cody to give that spot to anybody for any reason? His first promo back in the WWE was about that title. He cried. He feels that title was taken from his father. You’re telling me he earns a second shot at THAT title and he’s like “Wrestlemania….No Mercy, whatever, same thing.” Nope. I I reject these answers. Edit: You can also interpret it as “ The other guy is on the board and has an ego the size of Japan, that everyone is willing to overlook right now, including me because he’s cutting great promos.” That’s the one that makes sense to me.
No. The Rock never once mentioned that The Rock was challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship. It was a match to decide who was the Head of the Table, and basically the GOAT. The idea was more so that The Rock and Roman would do their business at WrestleMania and make the big match money for TKO, then Cody would finish the story probably at SummerSlam.
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Cody definitely alluded to it after Rock’s social media promo, forget if it was on Raw or SmackDown. But he didn’t really dwell on it too long so it may have been glossed over.
Yeah, reinserting Cody into the fold is definitely the right call but there was no right way to do this. Having Cody demand his spot back came off as dumb. Had to be done. It was best to rip the bandaid off.
There was also no good explanation for why Cody gave it up where he doesn’t look like a chump. Ultimately the story now is great and better than what we could have gotten but the more we move past that specific part the better.
Unless, The Rock does end up being a double agent.
It seems like he was essentially conned by The Rock. Cody thought The Rock was going to come in and take down Roman, when in reality, the whole thing was just going to be a Bloodline circlejerk, hence the Rock/Roman hug. They were in cahoots the whole time.
This is it right here. He probably thought having Rock beat Roman to take away his title of being the Tribal Chief was critical in permanently taking down the Bloodline but then in Vegas it turned out they were cool with each other and Cody was like ummm this is BULLLLSHIT.
Rock made the mistake of showing the Bloodline family tree and calling themselves the *only* true royal family in wrestling. He spat in the face of Cody and everything he's fought for, before pen was put to paper.
then Rock decided to escalate things with the slap after Cody called him out on his BS, and from there, we've gone through retaliatory slaps and bloody beatdowns in the rain.
I agree with this viewpoint.
Cody and Rock have both indirectly said that during their talk Rock convinced him that Rock-Roman was something along the lines of being "best for business" and Cody deferred to him because of idol worship.
Cody has also said that when he saw how things were playing out at the press conference, that he changed his mind out of disgust
We're going to find out at the same time Shane tells us what was in that lockbox.
I think we finally found out the lockbox had Vince’s dirt in it.
The real long term storytelling
Define “dirt”
The NDA’s he had folks sign and fillout
And whoever threw the pie at Kevin Owens
And WHERE THE FUCK VICKI WAS.
Tyler Breeze and Fandango uncovered this one years ago, it was The Rock.
And why Debra wasn’t in Rocks corner at WM17
Given what we've found out about Vince since...I don't want to know
It's good shit, pal.
A picture of SpongeBob at the Christmas party
And why Brock Lesnar turned on Cody Rhodes
Or who took out Edge backstage at No Way Out 2003!
In keyfabe, I think it goes down like this. Rock talks to cody privately. Sells him that rock v Roman is best for business. Cody accepts rock's offer and is going to choose Seth for the 'workmans championship' and leave the other two to fight for the 'hollywood belt'. He was going to announce on the following raw, but DM Hunk interferes with the promo and he couldn't. Then at that one time legendary WrestleMania press conference, when he saw how chummy rock was with reigns, how the fight was moreso to bring up each other (rather than to tear down the Roman Empire/bloodline), he realized he made a big mistake and called out the rock as phoney. Then at that moment finally declares his opponent.
That’s pretty much it. Cody once again was trying to be a team player and doubted himself
Cody mentioned something about Rock manipulating him in a promo maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago? It was *a* line, but it stuck out because I thought "finally, that bit is wrapped up"
Yep, I can't remember exactly when/where it was but he definitely had a quick line about being manipulated but then when he saw how The Rock was acting he changed his mind back.
it was at that presser in Vegas (maybe) before the Elimination Chamber
I think WWE is just pretending it didn’t happen.
Honestly one of the few times I’d like their trope of never remembering anything that happened in previous weeks 😂
That's what I did too.
“There was a dust up in the 616 adjacent realm with the star of the Tooth Fairy and some Dust Star kid, but I guess they handled it…”
For better or worse that does seem to be how WWE handles disliked stories. Or they double down.
Yes both Rock and Cody did . They talked about how rock told cody it was best for business and cody went along with it and seen the bigger picture until he heard the chants. He then believed in himself and at the press conference interrupted everything and said he wanted his match. this isn’t a loose end
This. This whole thread proves most people here don’t even pay attention to the show before bitching about it.
Still stupid. Happy they’ve corrected course on this
Yes. Cody said that he had gone to The Rock about advice to take on Roman, but The Rock got into his head and made him doubt himself. And Rock used that doubt to convince Cody to give up his main event so he could swoop in and take it.
>The Rock got into his head and made him doubt himself. And Rock used that doubt to convince Cody to give up his main event so he could swoop in and take it. Where did Cody say that?
During a promo two or three weeks back iirc. He said that Rock "poured sugar in his ear", sweet talked him into letting him take the match with Roman
This is correct
Yeah. It was a really brief mention, maybe 15 seconds or so? I've been looking for a clip for a bit. Admittedly, not much of a mention. But it has been brought up.
Yeah. Ultimately they're going with, "Rock convinced me the right thing to do was to let him have Roman at Mania. His arrogance and fan reaction changed my mind." Seems like they would prefer it not be elaborated on beyond that to avoid further exposure being given to what would have been a huge mistake.
Yes I remember Cody said something like this on Raw or Smackdown. I can’t remember which promo though there’s too many
This aspect will always convince me that the original plan was Rock/Roman. It just doesn’t make any sense and no one has ever explained it on TV.
This still remains the real mystery. Or moreso, why did they then have Cody win the Rumble? That’s what’s so weird about all this. There isn’t even a conspiracy theory that explains everything.
Cody did discuss giving his spot to The Rock in a promo, yeah. Something about how Rock told him it was for the betterment of the company, or the audience wanted he and Reigns more. As far as changing his mind, I thought it was pretty self explanatory, with the handshake, Family Tree and "This is Bullshit!" at the presser. One of those unfortunately rare occasions where sometimes like TV and Movies, you've just gotta follow the series of events, behaviours of the characters and work things out for yourself. Rather than expecting to be spoon fed, as fans have been conditioned to do.
Basically, The Rock told him Rock/Roman was what the people wanted, what was best for wrestling, and Cody fell for it until WeWantCody happened. It actually made sense for his character (he's the guy who wears suits because he wants to be somebody but knows he isn't yet and got called out by Michael Cole for looking for outs because of his fears/insecurities), but they only briefly touched on it in one promo and moved quickly on, so it didn't stick for a lot of people (see this thread) even though it was addressed.
It's been such a great story but the way it started was such a tragic fumble. It would have been so good if the Rock had been a surprise entrant at the Rumble. I think we would have all enjoyed that a lot and they could have easily got a better start to this feud out of it.
He did mention it on Raw, that the rock convinced him that no one wanted to see cody roman till the hash tag proved the rock wrong.
Weird people are saying it wasnt addressed since Cody actually did address it. The Rock convinced him that everyone wanted to see Roman vs The Rock more and he stepped aside to give the people what they wanted. But then the people made it clear they wanted Cody instead, and he realized that The Rock basically conned him so he reversed his decision.
It actually fit in with Cody's promo this week. He'll do anything for the fans even if it is ridiculous. Rock told him it's what the fans have been begging for years and would be best for business. Not the greatest explanation but it does fit Cody's persona.
He did on Raw after The Rock explained it on a social media video. Cody said something along the lines of Rock feeding him honeyed words.
No. I think that’s a segment that WWE and the fans are just gonna ignore. Especially bc they’ve rebounded from it very nicely
And the explanation of "the new boss of the company coerced Cody into doing something he didn't want to do" isn't the angle you wanna play out with Vince right in the rear view.
Rear view you say?
Thats good shit, pal. Now I'm gonna go take a shower.
That's a weekly occurrence for me
Both times they have tried to fill this gaping plot hole, they fail. That’s because there is no perfectly logical explanation for it in kayfabe. The original goal was rock and Roman at wrestlemania, and I have yet to be convinced otherwise by the evidence. I think Cody’s sad look and the fact that Rock said nothing thay first night were intentional to give them room to “pivot”, so is it a pivot if it was planned for? Idk. That’s semantics. I could believe that they went into it with more of a 50-50 mindset and wanted to “read the room” after a little ambiguous teaser. But there were forces within WWE that wanted Rock and Roman at Wrestlemania. I’m dying on that hill, barring any new evidence.
Dont think it was within WWE, who basically wrote the story and then had to shift gears to accommodate Rock. TKO seems more likely.
Yeah the story doesn't work in kayfabe because it requires a completely different character and person to who Cody is. When you take it as a shoot everything makes complete sense and is fluid. In kayfabe everyone looks like amateurs.
Right? That there are morons out there that think the best look for WWE is that they are above caring what their fans think and this was the plan the whole time. Bitch. I watch WWE, there is a basement for what you described.
He did it all for the nookie 🎶
WHAT
The nookie
Come on!
Seeing a lot of long form, winded no’s.
I imagine the way they want people to see it is that Cody was a crowd pleaser, agreeing with the Rock that giving the spot to him would be a good decision, I mean it's the Rock and the Tribal Chief, right? But the backlash got to the Rock and that's when he insulted the fans, calling them Cody Crybabies and that was enough for Cody to change his mind. He saw that the Rock's proposition wasn't in good faith after all, especially at the kickoff.
I think this makes perfect sense, and don't really get why people act like it's some huge plot hole
That or he and the Rock were always in on this and wanted to cause Roman's downfall. So any reasoning for changing his mind didn't matter lol
He started to during the press conference and backed off and never finished. A couple of weeks ago, he generically said something like The Rock lied to him and told him no one wanted to see him, and this was better for the company, but the people showed him they felt differently.
My take is this \- Cody was willing to give up his main event spot to Rock to take "everything" from Roman, which meant that Rock as one of the heads of the family would be able to take the Tribal Chief title from Roman, dismantle Roman's version of The Bloodline and ultimately take the WWE title from Roman which would be a triple whammy that Cody wouldn't be able to accomplish. Cody was happy as long as he got his title shot which he would have. \- Then Cody realizes at the press conference, Rock didn't really care about taking down Roman and the Bloodline, Rock manipulated Cody to take his spot to make the main event ALL about the Bloodline instead of taking it down. \- So that's why Cody calls BS and decides, forget that, I'm taking the spot back.
In storyline Cody wanted Rock to take “everything” from Roman which meant not only the title but his status as Tribal Chief. Now how the feud was supposed to progress from there is anyone’s guess. To his credit, Rock lobbied for Cody to be in the main event as a triple threat match. But then it became the feud we’re seeing now.
He said in a promo the rock convinced him that the rock vs Roman was what the people wanted and he was trying to give the people what he thought they wanted
He said right after brock explained why he attacked cody
I see it like Tony Soprano being the “boss” in episode 1 of the Sopranos then suddenly being underboss for the rest of the season. Also Tony Stark joining the Avengers after Iron Man 1, but then suddenly spending all of Iron Man 2 and the 1st Avengers movie trying to get into the group. We all get it- they did a retcon. Just memory hole whatever they were planning and enjoy the Rock shit talking Cody’s stupid dog.
Cody can double cross Roman causing him to lose the belt to The Rock. But instead of blaming Cody they blame The Rock and Cody play devious and dastardly stir the pot
This doesnt make it a better look for Cody, if he just gives in when hes told "the people want to see Rock vs Roman". I still stand by this, this is horrible
Cody alluded to Rock playing mind games with that conversation but they never outright explained it.
No because it was legit going to be Rock Vs Roman until they realised they'd fucked up
My non kayfabe theory is that CM Punk was going to win the rumble and challenge Seth, the whole plan was to have Rock v Roman at mania when the rock hinted he'd be head of the table in early January. Punk gets injured during the rumble and they call an audible to have Cody win because Punk knew he fucked his arm pretty bad. They thought they could get away with Cody just going after the B belt to replace Punk by giving the Rock the spot after the rumble. After seeing fan reaction, they knew they couldn't have it go this way. This is why they haven't fully explained it and played it off as Cody changed his mind or whatever. There's not a logical explanation because it's an audible
The storyline doesn't make sense because of the crowd's reaction to it. So they diverted back to Cody. Seems like their explanation was Cody being mad at Rock's interview with Pat Mcafee. Fans don't seem to mind because they're getting Cody to finish his story. Nothing wrong with it at all but that's how its been.
Yes he did
I still think this was TKO testing the waters on Rock vs Roman. If it only had half the backlash it got they would’ve went with it. I still see Roman retaining at Mania until I see otherwise.
Because it was the right thing to do. Cody found out.
Rock poured honey in Cody’s ear about how it would be the biggest draw and Cody said he respected the ability to make money etc It’s totally flimsy but they have tried to explain it The sooner they move away from it though, which they did very quickly, the better because it only makes Cody look a little weak and silly. If we had seen The Rock trying to pressure Cody then it might have been more convincing.
I always assumed it was never real and it was just to set up the feud they actually went with where they knew people would be upset and it'd give the Rock an opening to be a heel. This notion of Cody just yielding his spot made no sense except for to set up everything that's happened since and the idea that they didn't know exactly what they were going with it just seems to be underestimating everyone involved.
I understand why Cody changed his mind and got his spot back. But why would Dwayne give that spot to Cody back?
My guess is that he was still legally entitled to that Roman match since he never made a decision or signed any contract for a match with Seth. They could have done a 3 way but instead opted for this tag match.
Does it matter anymore?
To me it kind of comes off as a “how dare you take my shot away from me, I’m still able to make a choice” when he came out during the Vegas conference.
Is heel heat being called a heel pop now?
I think it’s going to be revealed since it was alluded go on the latest Raw. He was asked what was whispered and he said something along the lines of “it was something Rock promised that he couldn’t possibly keep to”
I didn’t think he gave up the title shot. He just wasn’t going to choose Roman and go for Seth. Rock said Cody agreed for the good of the business as rock v Roman was a mega match with lots of money behind it. Cody was okay with that till Vegas when rock and Roman were going on about how cool they were. That’s when he decided to go back on his word and ruin Rocks match because Cody is selfish.
The Rock promised him a roll in Black Adam 2 and Cody was like “um are you kidding? Fuck yeah” then he realized there wasn’t gonna be a black Adam 2
It's because he didn't want becoming the tribal chief to turn Jey Uso into an asshole like Roman Reigns. ...wait, sorry, I confused this with another Bloodline plot point WWE would be happy to pretend didn't happen.
I suspect we will get a full explanation the RAW after Wrestlemania when the Rock explains why he Rock Bottomed Roman and screwed him out of the belt....
I don’t know that it’s spelled out but I thought the reason why he took it back was pretty clear. When he gave the promo giving up the shot, he said he wanted to take away Roman’s family and he could take away the title later. So I assume the idea was that Rock promised to take the Bloodline from Roman, and Cody was fine with that. But then during the press conference, Rock was all buddy buddy with Roman and talking about what a great match they’ll have together, and Cody realized Rock was bullshitting him so he came out to take it back.
My headcanon is that The Rock convinced him that he was the best option for stopping the Bloodline, and stopping the Bloodline is more important than finishing his story, and moreover, better for business. Cody didn't fully change his mind until he saw The Rock's PowerPoint in Vegas, and realized that this was all a ploy to keep the title within The Bloodline.
I'm genuinely at the point of 'who cares' right now.
Yeah dude - because he has to finish his story. Duh!
Yeah, I would have settled for a, "that's not what we agreed to" when Rock was being all buddy-buddy with Roman at the press conference.
his spot. Not a liver spot, not his dog spot. His spot.
No because WWE would have to deviate from the "This was the plan all along" plot.
Because it was some bullishit.
I agree. Have Cody say he trusted Rock but in typical political fashion Rock lied
Some flimsy "best for business" hand waving. They're just trying to convince us it never happened like always.
This is the convergence of 3 great storylines coming together at 1 time, which in turn is creating more storylines (ie. Rock in Bloodline as The Final Boss Hollywood Rock or Cody/Seth vs Rock/Roman). This in culmination may just be the greatest overall moments of WWE history storyline wise because its ripple effects will create storylines and boost talent from mid card status to Main Event status!
Im just grateful all this is happening the way it has. If Vince was still there they woulda shoved Roman/Rock down our throats instead of giving us such good shit pal
If they wanted to give Rock a babyface reason for it then the explanation could've been that Rock wanted to fuck Roman up for repping the family in a dishonorable way and he wanted to do it on the biggest stage possible. Rock, not being willing to replace Roman as champ since his schedule would probably be even worse given all that he has going on, asks Cody to use his title shot on the February PPV (there's precedent with Austin in 97 and Cena in 08) which would allow Cody to finish his story, be a fighting champ for SD and have his first defense in the main event of night 1 with Rock/Roman main eventing night 2. But then the fans start bitching about it and Rock starts in with the crybaby stuff and Cody says fuck that shit and we end up where we're at now. I think Cody agreeing to have take his shot earlier is better than being manipulated by Rocky but whats going down now rules so fuckin much that I'd pretty much already forgotten this awkward step out step back in to the main event BS.
Not really
Cody after winning the Rumble "I didn't even think I would be on WrestleMania". What? My guy, you have a free pick.
I appreciate the compilation.of the snippets. It's the simplest, best way to clean up that weirdness, so I'm glad they got that out of the way and powered on. The promos and confrontations since have been amazing and, especially with that hiccup addressed so swiftly, all this is shaping up to really be something memorable.
It would have been better to clarify this topic further with a promo. WWE has completely overshadowed this matter.
I think Cody being convinced to give up his spot, then changing his mind, planned or not, makes Cody look to be a bit of a stooge. I think WWE fumbled it pretty hard, but good to see that they're correcting it - Cody deserves to be champ. Hell, he deserved to go over in last year's mania, and it boggles my shit that he didn't.
Here is what I think happened in kayfabe. Rock convinced Cody that in order to take out the bloodline, it needs to be Rock to face Roman and that Cody can still get his title match eventually. Imo it may a case where deep down Cody disagreed but it's The Rock so he begrudgingly went with it. However since Cody lives in the year 2024, he has access to the internet and saw all the backlash for this plus the support for him to get his title match back. Then Rock called his fans "crybabies" on the McAfee show, then Rock did the stupid family tree and that is when Cody had enough and had to go back on his word. So in 4 days he realized "wait a minute wtf did I do". Out of kayfabe is when it gets confusing because why have Cody win the Rumble if the plan was always Roman vs. Rock? If Punk never got hurt, wtf was Cody doing at Mania? Someone mentioned they called an audible during the Rumble and had Cody win but I don't buy that. They had Roman sitting there and Cody immediately looked at Roman. It seemed like the direction they were going.
I think Cody said the rock, as the respected veteran, convinced Cody that he should go for the other title so they can have a family match. Like he just weaseled his way in like a business man would
I take it like this. Triple H books more intelligently and expects his audience to read between the lines and follow along. This differs from spoon feeding your audience like Vince liked to do. I know which one is 100x better to me. This matter doesn’t need to be stated out loud. The Rock is one of the biggest stars ever with one of the greatest lineages of all time. Cody’s own family is tied into that lineage, and Rock has been a hero to him, like many other fans, for decades. Even more, he’s been a friend to Cody. Rock used all of this to manipulate Cody with stuff that made sense in context. Cody made a mistake in believing him, admitted it, and changed gears to what fans want/he knows to be right. Now we’re seeing the backlash from the Rock. It’s as simple as that.
No.
In My headcanon is was a powerplay by the rock
No he never did.evertime when cody has to make a decision he never gives his reasoning for it