'Cody was the plan': Was the Rhodes vs Reigns WrestleMania plan changed? Why did The Rock show up?

Friday Night SmackDown was a big day for the fans as Title matches for WrestleMania were supposed to be announced. While a Women's Championship match is in place, the Men's situation seems murkier. While Cody Rhodes did not announce his opponent for the Showcase of the Immortals, The Rock's arrival on the scene has given rise to a lot of speculations. It looks like the fans may be robbed of their desired Rhodes vs Reigns match in Mania.

3 Things you need to know

• Cody Rhodes won the Men's Royal Rumble Match in 2024
• Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is a part of the TKO Board of Directors
• The Rock stood face-to-face against Roman Reigns 

Also Read: WWE SmackDown Results: The Rock-Roman Reigns come face to face, Bayley selects Iyo as Mania opponent

Was Rhodes vs Reigns robbed from Mania? Why did The Rock show up on SmackDown?

There was a lot of backlash after Cody Rhodes revealed that he would come after Reigns, but not in WrestleMania. Eventually, The Rock showed up on the show, and Rhodes hugged him and went off the stage. The preferred match-up for WM40 looks like a dream now, and The Rock is seemingly behind the change of matches. As per the Wrestling Observer Board, Cody vs Roman was the Initial plan, but The Rock pushed for the segment after CM Punk was injured and Brock Lesnar is being slowly removed due to the Janel Grant lawsuit against Vince McMahon.

‘The Rock pushed super hard for it. The [WrestleMania 40] card changed when CM Punk & Brock Lesnar were out and all the dominoes fell. Dwayne already wanted it and they [WWE] felt they now needed it as well. Felt this was better to change the news flow away from Vince,’ reports say.

‘Cody was the plan. Dwayne was going to face him [Roman Reigns] later, maybe next year's Mania, maybe Saudi. The Vince thing ends up worse than they thought, and they changed the plan. 100% it was Punk vs Seth and Cody vs Reigns until Punk got hurt,’ WOB added.

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It is safe to say that the Vince McMahon drama led to the WWE going for better PR, leading to the change of the initial main events. While Punk's injury is partly responsible for it, the move was done to divert the fans from the lawsuit mess.