This year saw WWE try one of the strangest and most hated twists in WWE history when Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes came to SmackDown that week and said he would not be fighting Roman Reigns for the undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 40. Instead, he called on The Rock to face the Tribal Chief, which led to an uncomfortable conversation that left Rhodes looking like a hostage. This became the most disliked WWE YouTube segment of all time and a quick return to the original plan. Recently Cody Rhodes talked about the time he found out that he was not going to complete his story.
Cody talked about his emotions
In an interview with a Radio, The American Nightmare talked about the moment he got to know about giving up his WrestleMania spot to The Rock and said, “I found out about the matchup of The Rock vs. Roman Reigns on the day of the Royal Rumble. I had to leave that room, head up, and make sure no one knew what could happen and this was probably one of the hardest days I’ve had in the wrestling business, but how could I complain when you’re winning the Royal Rumble and you’re pointing at the sign. It was such a high, such a low.”
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Everything that happened on the SmackDown segment was weird, from the idea to Cody Rhodes’ facial expression. Recently, the personal writer of The Rock, Brian Gewirtz, revealed that Rhodes was excited about the idea but was not able to hide his true feelings. This was understandable, but one can wonder how The American Nightmare had to keep his emotions intact during the Royal Rumble, even knowing that his win was going to mean nothing.
WWE was highly criticized by the fans
After facing intense backlash, WWE was forced to go back to the original plan of Rhodes vs. Reigns at WrestleMania 40. However, fans criticized Dwayne Johnson for forcing himself into WrestleMania, allowing The Final Boss to turn heel and give one of his best character performances. The WWE universe also got to see The Rock and Roman Reigns take on Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins at Night One of WrestleMania 40. At the end of the second night, when The Rock got a chokeslam from The Undertaker, and Cody Rhodes finally completed his story by winning the undisputed Champion, it was what made the event fun and iconic.
