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Roman Reigns and The Rock are ready to close the book on Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40

Originally posted on ClutchPoints | By Matty Breisch | Last updated 4/5/24

Hey, have you heard that Cody Rhodes wants to finish his story against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40? If not, I’m not sure how you missed it, as he’s been talking about it pretty extensively since last January in darn near every promo, in interviews, and even on social media, where there’s even a special “American Nightmare” emoji attached to the hashtag on X.

Two people who are actively against Rhodes having to find a new schtick moving forward are Reigns and The Rock, the leaders of The Bloodline who are putting on a full-court press in order to keep the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in the family against one of the most persistent performers in the WWE Universe.

Stopping by the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to help promote the XL edition of WrestleMania, Reigns was asked by the former SNL head writer about Rhodes’ desire to finish the story, to which he let everyone know at 30 Rock that at this point, he’s ready to “close the book” on the “American Nightmare.”

“I think Cody is reading the wrong book at this point. We don’t care about his story. It’s funny because you [The Rock] told me this a long time ago,” Roman Reigns told Jimmy Fallon via Fightful. “In the wrestling business, there is no call sheet like ‘He’s number one, he’s number two,’ so everybody on our roster believes they are number one. It’s a shark tank. Everybody is trying to take each other out. This guy has been chasing me for two years now. I’ve beaten him. We’ve crossed this bridge already. This is where we close the book completely on this guy, and we display what the most powerful family in wrestling is all about.”

Asked for his take on the matter, The Rock agreed with his cousin, letting everyone watching NBC know that this is going to be a very big weekend for The Bloodline in South Philadelphia.

“Do I think that’s what’s going to go down? I know that’s what is going to go down. You have a guy named Cody Rhodes. Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins are bada**es in their own right,” The Rock noted. “I liken Cody Rhodes to Luke Skywalker. I liked Seth Rollins to the Joker. They are unique crazy guys, but at the end of the day, there can only be one. When there is only one, you have the Tribal Chief and Final Boss. I have the pleasure of getting back into the ring. I’ve been working my ass off. I’ve been working hard, he’s been working with me. The whole idea to bring us all together was, ‘what can we do to create a main event for WrestleMania that we could say is the biggest WrestleMania of all time,’ and so here we are.”

Mixed metaphor aside, as Luke Skywalker is a prototypical hero from Star Wars, whereas The Joker is a villain from DC, is this the weekend where the heroes of the WWE Universe finally blow up the Bloodline Death Star? Or will Reigns and Rock continue to oversee the galaxy like Darth Vader and a swole Emperor Palpatine? Fans, Fallon, and Philadelphia’s own The Roots will soon find out.

The Rock reveals when he decided to join Roman Reigns in WWE.

After spending the better part of a year preparing for a one-on-one match between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40 in the birthplace of America, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, how did The Rock end up joining the story to add depth but ambiguity to what should be a very straight forward storyline? Well, on the Will Cain Show, Dwayne Johnson explained how the whole plan came together.

“Back in January, I called Nick Khan, my friend,” The Rock told Will Cain, “And I said, ‘I have an idea, how about this. Why don’t we take care of the people, give them this story of Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns.’ Nick said, ‘Great.’ I said, ‘However, a little bit of a twist.’ ‘What’s that.’ ‘What if I became the greatest bad guy of all time.’ That was the intent and intention.”

Now granted, getting an absolute bag from TKO – plus sole ownership to all of his trademarks – to become a member of the Board of Directors probably helped to bring The Rock back to pro wrestling but in the end, becoming part of what very well could be the final chapter of Reigns final chapter as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship just feels right, as, after nearly four years of absolute dominance, getting into the ring with his Hall of Fame-bound cousin is the cherry on top of a generationally great sundae.