The Rock reportedly wanted Cody Rhodes to turn heel for WWE Wrestlemania 41 but the idea was turned down

As seen during the 2025 WWE Elimination Chamber PLE, John Cena officially turned heel against Cody Rhodes and “sold his soul” to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Cena will now challenge Cody for the WWE Championship at WWE Wrestlemania 41.

In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com noted the following about the storyline…

“Dwayne Johnson legit, when he wasn’t going to wrestle, and decided to be a part of the Mania build, wanted to be aligned with Rhodes with Rhodes going heel. There are those in the company who believed the only thing that could have hurt the company would have been a Rhodes heel turn at this time. The feeling is that this current crowd is Cody’s crowd. There is the argument you don’t mess with a successful formula.”

Meltzer added that Cody turned down the idea and WWE went with John Cena as the second choice. Meltzer was told that it never came down to CM Punk as an option since Cena agreed to the plans.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com confirmed Meltzer’s story by writing “this is true” on Twitter/X.

Earlier this week, Meltzer commented on the situation via Twitter/X in response to NoDQ columnist Wrestle G but deleted the post.