News regarding the backstage fallout from The Rock’s return to WWE for Elimination Chamber

As seen during the February 21st 2025 edition of WWE Smackdown, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson said he wanted Cody to be HIS champion and told Cody to make a decision at the Elimination Chamber PLE. It was reported that creative changes for Smackdown to include Rock came together “very late.”

In regards to the segment, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com was told the following from a person within WWE…

“Writers were confused and thrown for a loop. The six man (on Smackdown) had to change. This was not as last minute as some are trying to say it was, but it did happen rather quickly.”

One person in the company noted to Meltzer that the segment came across as diminishing the value of Cody’s WWE championship. The thought process was that the title “is nothing compared to movie roles and such and Rhodes isn’t a star at the level of Rock even on the show he is supposed to be the star player on.” Several people internally were also said to have been upset when the main Elimination Chamber advertisement with multiple WWE stars was replaced with just Rock by himself.