The Rock Hinders The Nightmare Part III: Tribal Rock
As we come closer to WrestleMania XL weekend, the storyline involving The Bloodline and Cody Rhodes goes even deeper as The Rock is now mainly involved. For the first time in roughly 20 years, The Rock plays a role as the bad guy or a “heel” which I personally see as a better version of his character in WWE than the cringe-worthy heroic babyface for the past years.
It’s a different story now for The Rock in WWE as he aligns himself with the Tribal Chief and promises the audience a potential “biggest main event” in all of sports, entertainment, and WWE as he mentioned in a promo segment on SmackDown. This heel turn of The Rock reminisce fans about his Hollywood Rock gimmick during the Ruthless-Aggression era of WWE, but now it is more on being a “Tribal Rock”.
This “Tribal Rock” thing means that The Rock plays the role as a “servant” to the Tribal Chief as he acknowledges Roman Reigns as his Tribal Chief, and he constantly points his index finger up in the air. Interestingly, The Rock made an “L” sign which potentially teases something big in the future to continue this complex storyline. A betrayal to The Bloodline during WrestleMania XL or anything that will shock the WWE Universe? Anything is possible.
The Rock in The Bloodline
I wanted to see Roman Reigns vs The Rock mega match at WrestleMania for the past years already but it did not happen because of The Rock’s Hollywood tapings. The time is right as the idea of making Cody Rhodes a bigger babyface will be beneficial to WWE, as the storyline’s relevance will continue in the long run. However, this storyline swerved a little bit as The Rock became a member of The Bloodline as he acknowledged Roman Reigns as his Tribal Chief.
My first thoughts after the happenings of the WrestleMania XL Media Event when they showed the family tree was that The Rock’s heel turn in 2023 is not the Hollywood Rock anymore, but he is now the Tribal Rock and being eager to defend and continue the great legacy of Anoa’i clan, rather than introducing himself as a tough challenger. But after calling himself the “Final Boss” during his past promos on SmackDown while addressing Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, that made sense that The Rock sent a subtle message to Roman Reigns that The Rock will be his real final boss.
On the past installation of The Rock Hinders The Nightmare series, I mentioned that The Rock seems to have his interest in “sitting” at the head of the table during his promo at Raw: Day 1, which pointing out to Roman Reigns. Maybe The Rock is playing mind games to the Tribal Chief because Roman might be the main target of The Rock after all. I think will be the biggest turn of events at this year’s WrestleMania XL if it happens. The question now is if Cody Rhodes will finally win the Undisputed WWE championship at WrestleMania XL?
WrestleMania main event shake-up
As the fans cry for Cody Rhodes to finish his story by winning the Undisputed WWE Universal championship, The Rock amazingly rode this clamoring of the people and eventually pulled the trigger by agreeing to turn himself heel to make this entire Cody vs Roman storyline better. And the war of words come in place. Top notch promos are being undoubtedly made by both sides on Raw, SmackDown, Premium Live Events, and even in their own social media accounts. Every platform has its own huge engagements which proves that WrestleMania XL is highly-anticipated.
Both nights of WrestleMania will have a main event featuring the one and only Roman Reigns regardless of the results. I personally want The Bloodline to beat Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins so that Cody crybabies will start some movement on either WrestleMania itself, Raw or SmackDown just like the “Yes! Movement” that happened 10 years ago that miraculously made Daniel Bryan the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion which might also happen to Cody.
On the other hand, the team of Rollins and Rhodes winning the tag team match on night 1 is not a bad idea too. Although, it just needs some explosive moments that could really solidify Cody’s babyface status even more. Maybe a heel turn from Rollins during or after the tag team match then Cody will cause Seth’s championship match at night 2? My eyes will be pleased to see that. I’ll also be glad to see Drew McIntyre win the World Heavyweight championship in front of 80,000+ people. Putting several layers into one grandiose and cohesive main event storyline is worth watching.
Cody Rhodes will not finish his story yet…again!
“This is not a prediction but it’s a spoiler.” Wise words from the wiseman and future WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman. Cody will still lose this year at WrestleMania XL regardless of them winning the tag team match against Roman and The Rock or not. WWE wants to break more records for this new generation of talents and fans, and one of those is making Cody Rhodes a Royal Rumble match winner for THREE consecutive years. Maybe a fourth win is a good idea either as no one ever set that record yet.
Unless Cody Rhodes wants to go back to AEW or other pro wrestling promotions before 2025, then I can still see him punching his ticket to main event WrestleMania 41 and fight against Roman Reigns for the 3rd time in a row. If WWE really wants to break Bruno Sammartino’s longest combined reign of 4,040 days as WWE champion, then fans of Cody Rhodes must be patient enough to wait for that record to be broken by the Tribal Chief.
The Rock Hinders The Nightmare Series Archives:
Part I – Will Cody Shoot His Own Version of The Pipebomb Promo?
Part II – Let the (Philly) Crowd Speak
Part III – Tribal Rock