When Cody Rhodes handed over his WrestleMania 40 match to The Rock, his initial reaction was not the same as it was originally written. It doesn’t matter now because fans believed that the storyline made no sense. During an appearance on The Masked Man Show, The Rock’s personal writer Brian Gewirtz stated that “The American Nightmare” should have reacted differently when he gave up his WrestleMania match spot, which he earned by winning the Royal Rumble.
Fans were surprised with Cody
Fans will remember Rhodes shaking The Final Boss’ hand and the Hollywood star whispering something in Cody’s ear, but Rhodes seemed less thrilled about leaving his spot. That reaction caused a wave of backlash throughout the WWE Universe, leading to Cody being pushed and the main event of WrestleMania 40 being changed.
He was meant to be excited about this
According to Gewirtz, how that segment went down drew anger from WWE fans, who called the storyline change inexcusable and illogical, saying Cody’s reaction should not have happened. Cody was supposed to react excitedly to the fact that The Rock was going to make Roman pay for his underhanded tactics.
“Cody was supposed to be, ‘Yeah, get ‘em Rock! You’re going to get your a** kicked, Roman! Let’s do this! And this uplifting promo. Instead, he looked like someone shot his dog in the face in a parking lot. I don’t think it helped matters. I don’t blame Cody for that, he’s real and one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met,” said Gewirtz.
The company didn’t explain the storyline properly
Gewirtz’s suggestion here is that Rhodes could not get over the disappointment that he was removed from the match and despite his belief that it should have hyped the change, Cody was indifferent and unimpressed. It’s hard to blame “The American Nightmare” here. Not only is his real reaction understandable but for him to be excited about giving up his WrestleMania match doesn’t make sense. If the company had actually explained why he was willing to do this, how the segment came out would have made sense. However, WWE did not provide any clarification regarding the conversation between The Rock and Cody until much later. And even when they did, it wasn’t really made clear how “The Great One” manipulated Rhodes into giving him his title shot.
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