Rocky Rhode to WrestleMania: Three Solutions For WWE’s Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, and The Rock Situation

WWE has swerved over three lanes without using its blinker on the road to WWE WrestleMania 40. This past Friday on WWE SmackDown, Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes confronted Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, seemingly poised to make their headlining WWE WrestleMania 40 rematch official. Instead of declaring that he would be using his guaranteed title shot on the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, Rhodes brought out Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Rhodes and Rock shared a bitter embrace before the American Nightmare exited the ring, leaving the Brahma Bull to stare down the Tribal Chief as WWE SmackDown went off the air.

While this pivot was cheered by the live crowd, social media roared with frustration. #WeWantCody trended worldwide all weekend long. WWE’s YouTube upload of Rock and Reigns’s stare down became the company’s most disliked video of all time. Prior to this, Rhodes was already WWE’s top babyface, but his surge of support this past weekend positioned him to a place reminiscent of Daniel Bryan’s groundswell in 2014.

As WWE “monitors” the situation, there remains time to swerve fans once more.

The Rock Referees Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes

WWE flashed a press conference graphic as WWE SmackDown concluded. It has since neglected to create any artwork for The Rock vs. Roman Reigns. While the current expectation is that Rock vs. Reigns will be made official at the aforementioned presser on Thursday, what if Rock’s role is not as a participant in the match, but as referee?

Much of this idea lies in tandem with the upcoming WWE 2K24 video game. WWE 2K24 not only features Cody Rhodes as the cover star but is marketed around the idea of “finishing the story,” and will be released just one month before WWE WrestleMania 40, seemingly dropping simultaneously with Rhodes “finishing the story” in real life.

If WWE is set on really doubling down with WWE 2K24 running parallel to WWE WrestleMania 40, it could be tapping into another element of the video game: special guest referee mode.

On Friday’s WWE SmackDown, Rhodes detailed that he sought counsel from a number of WWE legends with how to proceed with his WWE WrestleMania 40 decision. It would make much more narrative sense if the advice that The Rock gave him was not to let him take his spot, but rather let him don the pinstripes to ensure a fair fight.

Rock could rationalize that he has willingly sat on the sidelines and allowed Reigns to proclaim himself the Tribal Chief, but his string of title “defenses” coming thanks to interference from Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso has left him no choice but to intervene. He can say that he wants Reigns to prove that he can actually be Tribal Chief on his own. Rock fends off WWE WrestleMania 40 interference from Solo and Jimmy, giving way for Rhodes to get the clean victory. 

The following night on WWE Monday Night Raw, Rock declares that Reigns failed to prove his worthiness as Tribal Chief of the Anoa’i family, and as a result he is now coming for that title at WWE WrestleMania 41. This gives Rock that “long game” build he’s been raving about, allows Rhodes to “finish the story,” and sets both WWE WrestleMania 40 and WWE WrestleMania 41 up for success.

Rock vs. Reigns Night 1, Rhodes vs. Reigns Night 2

Old reliable when it comes to Roman Reigns and WrestleMania compromises.

Aside from the “long game,” The Rock has been set on doing something that’s “never been done before” when it comes to his inevitable showdown with Roman Reigns. That could be accomplished in having two of the biggest WWE storylines of all time run simultaneously.

Rock could challenge Reigns at WWE WrestleMania 40 Night 1 before Rhodes gets his crack at the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion at WWE WrestleMania 40 Night 2. WWE has fed multiple legends to Reigns throughout this historic title run (Edge, Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, etc) with the ultimate endgame being a babyface defeating the Tribal Chief at his max power. 

In an effort to make him as mighty as possible going into his downfall match, Reigns could defeat Rock and cement himself as the undisputed Head of the Table just 24 hours before losing his championship to Rhodes in the final moments of WWE WrestleMania 40 weekend.

The Rock Endorses Cody Rhodes

Or we go back to the original timeline.

WWE has one chance to do The Rock vs. Roman Reigns right, and that won’t happen under these circumstances. Fans have clamored for this familial clash for years but do not want it to come at the cost of the company’s top babyface fulfilling his lifelong storyline. Rock vs. Reigns happening this year will get hijacked with boos and “we want Cody!” chants. Just look at the last time a Philadelphia crowd responded to those two sharing a ring.

Rather than insert himself into this match in any capacity, Rock could take the time at Thursday’s press conference to simply endorse Cody Rhodes ahead of WWE WrestleMania 40. Add in an ominous “I’ll be watching closely” to tease that future Rock vs. Reigns bout, and let the story finish without any Brahma bulls–t.

The WWE WrestleMania 40 kickoff event goes down this Thursday, February 8th.