Roman Reigns and The Bloodline closed out tonight’s episode of SmackDown, but they weren’t alone. The Rock, Cody Rhodes, and Seth Rollins were also in the building, and they all headed to the ring for a tense face-off. Tense is probably an understatement, as throughout the segment some big shots were thrown by all four superstars, and even more stakes were added to the match at WrestleMania. Rock revealed that if Rhodes loses, this is the final shot, and he won’t get another one against Roman again. Rollins accepted the challenge, and then Rock brought up Cody’s family and called him a mistake, which earned him a slap to the face to close out SmackDown.
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After Reigns, Rock, Solo Sikoa, Jimmy Uso, and Paul Heyman made their way into the ring, Rhodes and Rollins entered through the crowd, which explains why Nick Aldis couldn’t find them earlier backstage. Rhodes started things off, saying “I know it’s a little tense, a lot of bad blood, but if I’m being honest, I feel very lucky to be standing in this ring. I think perhaps the four of us should take a moment, feel this, right here in a sold-out Dallas Texas.”
The Cody chants began. “Rock, I have heard your challenge, and I’ve heard the stipulations that come with said challenge for a match, this match, a tag team match at WrestleMania. I gotta ask, do you have the authority to make that stipulation? I mean, I’m only asking because I believe it was last week that you acknowledged Roman as your Tribal Chief,” Rhodes said. “I think we can cut through all this. You wanted an answer about WrestleMania, you wanted it face-to-face. So here’s our answer.”
“Yeah yeah yeah, you shut your mouth boy,” Rock interrupted. “You shut your mouth, and you walking clown show you shut your mouth before you even start talking. And before you say something stupid and accept this challenge in front of the world, let The Rock drop some gospel right here right now. The Rock acknowledged him as tribal chief because that’s what family does.” Rock recapped the stipulations and some Diarrhea Dwayne chants broke out. Rocky chants then came in. Rock was continuing to recap the stipulation when Rollins cut him off.
“Will you shut up the hell up! For once in your life, will you shut the hell up,” Rollins said. “We know the stakes. The future of the industry is on the line. We get that. But you listen to me and you listen to me good Mr. Mid-Life Crisis. You had your time. You had your time. You damn sure can’t have ours. You want your answer, we accept!”
It was then Roman’s turn. “You must be an idiot. You must be from Teas or something. You gonna let this crossdresser make your future decisions for you? C’mon. This is it right here,” Reigns said. “This is your future. When I beat you at WrestleMania, this is it. You don’t get another shot. It’s done for you now.”
The Rock added, “If you don’t win. If you don’t complete your story, you will never get another shot again.” Then Rock decided to bring up Rhodes’ family. “The American Dream, one of The Rock’s heroes, is looking down. Isn’t it true that you’re the youngest of three? And isn’t it true that your sister was a cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys? And isn’t it true that your brother, your brother is a Hall of Famer, future Hall of Famer. Yeah, and you’re 20 years younger than your siblings, is that right? You know why? Because you were a mistake.”
That’s when Rhodes was clearly angry, and after thinking about his next move for just a second, he slapped Rock across the face. The four entered a staredown to close out SmackDown.
What did you think of SmackDown and Cody and Seth’s response to The Rock and Roman? Let us know in the comments and you can also talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
