During the February 2, 2024, episode of WWE Smackdown, Cody Rhodes appeared to step back, allowing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson a chance to confront Roman Reigns for a match at WWE Wrestlemania 40. Nevertheless, Cody ultimately selected Reigns as his Wrestlemania opponent during the Kickoff event.

According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE initially deemed the Smackdown segment on February 2 as a hit, largely due to the audience's enthusiastic response to The Rock's face-off with Reigns. Yet, it soon became apparent that The Rock was perceived negatively by some fans. Meltzer commented on the decision for The Rock to adopt a villainous persona following the backlash:

“A few people have said that the heel turn was necessary claiming that a combination of the bad publicity Johnson got from Black Adam and a bad content marketplace right now with the exception of sports and documentaries, and with Young Rock being canceled, the decision was made that it wasn’t good for Johnson to be booed heavily as a babyface, which is why he made the choice to go heel, feeling the booing can be explained as him playing heel wrestler and he’s even said he is very happy to do that.”

Moreover, Meltzer revealed that in the days following the controversial Smackdown segment, The Rock concluded it would be more appropriate for Cody to challenge Reigns at Wrestlemania. Reportedly, The Rock proposed his villainous transformation and a tag team match featuring himself and Reigns against Cody and Seth Rollins for the first night of Wrestlemania. WWE reportedly welcomed this new narrative direction, subtly indicated by Logan Paul's "We want Cody" post on Twitter/X.

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, Ben Jordan Kerin Feb 15, 2024 03:01PM