Fans were left speechless at WWE Elimination Chamber when John Cena shocked the world by turning heel and aligning himself with The Rock. The jaw-dropping moment became even more surreal with the surprise appearance of rapper Travis Scott, who ended up legitimately injuring Cody Rhodes by bursting his eardrum with a slap. As it turns out, the slap was not entirely Scott’s idea, it was apparently encouraged by none other than The Rock.

During a panel discussion at The Ankler’s Business of Entertainment program at the NAB Show, WWE executives Nick Khan and Triple H gave some behind-the-scenes insight into the incident. Khan explained that after the cameras stopped rolling, Triple H approached Scott to comment on the intensity of the slap.

“It was insane and Paul did tell Travis after, like, ‘Hey, you know, that was a pretty hard slap. We’ll show you how to pull your punches a little bit,’” Khan said.

The reason behind the stiff slap soon came to light. According to Khan, Travis Scott admitted he was simply following instructions from The Rock himself.

“Travis said, ‘Dwayne Johnson told me you better slap the sh*t out of him, or people are gonna think that you don’t have it. So I just did that’ and Paul chuckled and I chuckled. It was a pretty big moment for us,” Khan added.

Despite the injury, Cody Rhodes was apparently unfazed. Triple H said Rhodes never complained and only cared that the moment looked authentic. He also praised Travis Scott’s enthusiasm during the event, describing him as “like a kid in a candy store.”

“It was incredible. Ironically, the only person that didn’t complain about the slap was Cody Rhodes. He just wanted it to look good and so, like I said, Travis is like a kid in a candy store in that thing. He’ll be at WrestleMania, a lot of people will be at WrestleMania and there’s a saying here that everything in Vegas stays in Vegas but, this will be the one event that whatever happens in Vegas over WrestleMania weekend will be heard worldwide,” said Triple H.

As WrestleMania approaches, fans are now wondering what role Travis Scott might play and how far this alliance between Cena and The Rock will go.