The press conference to kick off WWE’s WrestleMania 40 ended in epic fashion, with The Rock taking a shot at Cody Rhodes after a tense encounter on the stage. The Rock said that their family was the royal family of wrestling, which obviously drew Cody’s ire. Cody then called out Rock’s family line, and that led to Rock getting in his face and slapping him to cause a frantic brawl as the conference came to a close. Seth Rollins was right in the thick of all of it, and ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Rollins about what went down during the event and The Rock’s actions. That’s when Rollins took a shot of his own, saying that what Rock did felt like a Will Smith moment.
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“I mean, yeah, I push, I push the rock. I shove the rock, which, you know, he’s a member of the board. So, like, I don’t know if I’m going to get in trouble for that or not,” Rollins said. “But he deserved it, kind of. So I mean, it’s just gross. I just thought it was gross. I don’t know. I thought it was gross that it was like…it was like wielding power in a way that didn’t need to be, didn’t need to happen.”
“You know, I get it. You felt disrespected. Great. We’ve all felt disrespected,” Rollins said. “But like, it felt to me like a Will Smith moment, you know, I mean, that’s what it felt like was a Will Smith moment, and it just didn’t need to happen. So I’m pretty, I’m pretty disgusted by it.”
The good news is that if Rock does try to sue Rollins, at least there’s video of what happened and how started the confrontation. Rollins said, “Yeah. I mean, if it goes to court, they’ll figure it out, right?”
Rollins is of course referring to the infamous moment at the Academy Awards where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock after a joke was made about Jada Pinkett Smith. In The Rock’s case, it was after Rhodes refereed to Reigns and Rock’s grandfathers, but there was already some animosity between Rock and Rhodes leading into the event. There was also discord between Rock and the Cody Rhodes fan base after Rock labeled the vocal fans Cody Cry Babies.
“It was the Cody crybabies,” Rock said. “These are grown-ass men (starts typing) Cody’s gotta finish his story. He has to finish his story now, it’s like wait a second, hold on. Dad, you want to go outside and play catch with me? Not now, Cody’s gotta finish it and I’m upset. The wife comes in. ‘Hey honey, do you wanna go have sex? Not now I’m finishing the story!”
“At the end of the day, look. You’ve got the Cody crybabies and you have the Cody fans and then you have Cody himself and there’s a clear distinction between the three,” Rock said. “But The Rock says this. Those Cody crybabies, the ones with every 10 tweets they’re shoving a chicken McNugget in their mouth. For every 20 Tweets they’re shoving two McNuggets up their ass, The Rock says this. All you gotta do is sit back, know your role, shut your mouth, and enjoy the ride that The Rock is gonna take your candy asses on.”
“So hashtag that. Hashtag shut your b**** asses up. Hashtag Cody Crybabies,” Rock said. The Rock then added, “That’s the fun part of what we do. That’s wrestling. That’s pro wrestling. That’s WWE, and it’s awesome, and I can’t wait for this afternoon at T-Mobile.”
What did you think of Rollins’ comments on The Rock’s slap to Rhodes? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
