Roman Reigns and The Rock’s Face-Off: How to Watch WWE WrestleMania 40 Kickoff Event

The road to WWE WrestleMania is making a pit stop in Sin City. This past Friday on WWE SmackDown, Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes seemingly stepped aside from his expected Undisputed WWE Universal Championship clash with titleholder Roman Reigns, making way for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to step in instead. This controversial pivot led to an uproar from fans, with #WeWantCody trending worldwide all weekend long. Rock and Roman’s stare down became WWE’s most disliked YouTube video in company history as well, passing 500,000 downvotes in record time. Regardless of the backlash, WWE is expected to make Rock vs. Reigns official this Thursday at the WWE WrestleMania 40 Kickoff event in Las Vegas.

WWE WrestleMania 40 Kickoff How to Watch, Start Time

WWE WrestleMania 40 Kickoff goes down this Thursday, February 8th at 7 PM ET, streaming live on WWE’s social and digital channels as well as Peacock. The event is free to attend and will open its doors at 5:30 PM ET.

WWE WrestleMania 40 Kickoff Announced Lineup

• Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson come face-to-face
• WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque speaks
• WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley, Cody Rhodes, and Bianca Belair appear for post-event interviews
• WWE Monday Night Raw announcers Michael Cole and Pat McAfee host

Will WWE Address the Cody Rhodes Variable?

Despite what transpired on WWE SmackDown, fans have not accepted WWE’s pivoted WWE WrestleMania 40 main event plans.

The #WeWantCody groundswell has drawn comparisons to the Yes! Movement that propelled Daniel Bryan into the WWE WrestleMania 30 main event ten years ago. Back then, fans regularly hijacked episodes of WWE Monday Night Raw with chants supporting Bryan, eventually forcing WWE’s hand to slot Bryan into the WWE Championship clash between titleholder Randy Orton and Royal Rumble winner Batista. WWE is said to be “monitoring” the #WeWantCody situation. There is no word on if the company is willing to change plans again or if it has a contingency option in its back pocket.

While Rhodes will be at the WWE WrestleMania 40 kickoff event, there is no word on whether he will actually appear on the broadcast or if he will solely be available for post-show interviews.

WWE WrestleMania 40 Kickoff goes down this Thursday, February 8th at 7 PM ET.