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Recap of what happened at the WWE Wrestlemania 40 Kickoff press conference in Las Vegas

Aaron Rift

The WWE Wrestlemania 40 Kickoff press conference took place tonight in Las Vegas, NV at the T-Mobile arena. Here are the highlights from the event…

* CM Punk, Big E, Pat McAfee, and Michael Cole discussed the situation surrounding Cody Rhodes, The Rock and Roman Reigns leading into Wrestlemania. Rock’s comments from The Pat McAfee Show were brought up. There were dueling chants from the fans in attendance. Punk said, “Roman Reigns wants the Rock but The Rock didn’t throw me out of the Royal Rumble!”

* Paul Heyman was interviewed backstage.

* Triple H came to the stage and discussed the first Wrestlemania and what the event became. Triple H said “you ain’t seen nothing yet” and Wrestlemania 40 will take WWE to a whole new level.

* Bianca Belair spoke to fans and while she doesn’t have a current path to Wrestlemania, she vowed to figure out her road to the event. Bianca brought up making history with Sasha Banks at Wrestlemania 37.

* Rhea Ripley was the next person to speak. Rhea questioned why Bayley chose to face Iyo “Shirai” instead of her at Wrestlemania. Rhea talked about facing Nia Jax at Elimination Chamber but then her promo was interrupted by Becky Lynch. Lynch said she will win the Elimination Chamber match and challenge Rhea for the women’s title at Wrestlemania. Becky said Mami will find out what it’s like to be on the bottom because that’s what happens when “The Man” comes around.

* World heavyweight champion Seth Rollins came out to speak. Rollins reacted to the fan ovation with “still a pretty big pop I say.” Rollins called out Cody Rhodes to make a decision for Wrestlemania but Roman Reigns appeared instead. Rollins said Reigns finally showed up to work and Reigns said Rollins showed up to work in his wife’s shoes. Reigns called Cody Rhodes “Mr. Hesitation” and said Cody’s moment is going to move on. Reigns said he has chosen The Rock as his opponent for Wrestlemania.

* The Rock came out to confront Reigns and Rollins and got a mixed reaction. Rock asked fans who they think is going to win between him and Reigns. The crowd started a dueling “we want Cody/no we don’t” chant. Rock introduced everyone to the “Cody crybabies” and then showed a graphic of The Bloodline family tree. Rock said if that isn’t proof there is only one dominant and royal family in pro wrestling then it doesn’t matter what you think.

* Cody Rhodes finally came out and said it’s “bullshit.” Cody said Reigns doesn’t dictate who challenges for the title at Wrestlemania. Cody then revealed that he has chosen Reigns at Wrestlemania. Reigns said nobody cares about Cody finishing the story and he’s irrelevant just like his dad. Cody responded by saying it doesn’t matter who is head of the table when neither Rock nor Reigns have been cooking for two years. Cody said Reigns’ grandfather would be ashamed of him.

* Rock responded by saying when Cody talks about Reigns’ family, he’s talking about Rock’s family and they have a problem. Rock then slapped Cody and officials had to separate them. Rollins was irate and yelled profanities at Rock. Rock yelled profanities back at Rollins.

* Backstage, Rock warned Triple H to fix things and they aren’t going to allow Cody to “talk shit” about the Bloodline. The panel then discussed what happened but still seemed uncertain about the main event for Wrestlemania.