The Rock addresses decision to change back to Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes at WWE Wrestlemania 40

As seen during the February 2nd 2024 edition of WWE Smackdown, Cody Rhodes seemingly stepped aside for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to face Roman Reigns at WWE Wrestlemania 40. Despite this, Cody ended up choosing Reigns as his opponent for Wrestlemania at the Kickoff event.

While appearing on the Wrestlemania XL: Behind The Curtain documentary, Rock addressed the decision to pivot from him vs. Reigns to Cody vs. Reigns. Rock said the following about a meeting he had with WWE officials…

“I said ‘here’s how I’m feeling.’ We can truck through this and we can put on this main event. The majority of the world, many of which who don’t watch WWE – who we do plan on pulling in in the execution of our marketing plan etc, they’re gonna love this idea of Rock and Roman and we’re gonna tell an amazing story. We could do that.

My gut says that I don’t like, even if it’s a segment of fans, I don’t like that they’re upset and it really bugged the shit out of me. It’s not how I’ve operated my entire career. I don’t like it. I knew that the choice essentially was mine. I believe we should go Roman/Cody, will Cody finish his story? Take care of those fans because it’s critical and important.”