The big return of Dwayne Johnson to the WWE and then claiming the new gimmick The Final Boss as he turned heel, the big bad of WWE changed almost everything. On the other spectrum of the story, Cody Rhodes was on the rise— his story was being written as the making of a hero and his Royal Rumble win changed the dynamics of the narrative in WWE.
The original plan for The Rock to get into the feud for the Universal Title against the then champion and his cousin Roman Reigns seemed kind of a dream match. However, Rhodes was in the picture as well, and The Rock was heavily criticized by fans for snatching the match from the Royal Rumble winner. The Rock’s head writer, Brian Gewirtz revealed that the original plan for Rhodes at WrestleMania 40 would have been hated by fans.
The Original Plans For Cody Rhodes Would Have Ruined WrestleMania 40
Cody Rhodes, with the natural and inherent flow, eyed the Universal Title on Roman Reigns’ waist following his Royal Rumble win. The WrestleMania 40 was spectacular, one of the greatest in history as claimed by many fans and critics but the original plans for Rhodes would have ruined the biggest WWE event. Appearing in a Busted Open Podcast, Dwayne Johnson’s head writer Brian Gewirtz confirmed it.
I don’t want to say everything but I will say and I could say this with 100 percent certainty that the original plan is something… many many more people would have hated more than anything in life itself. I can’t, I can’t overstate that or understate that I can’t state that any more clear.
Gewirtz did not detail the original plan in the podcast but it certainly indicated the Reigns vs The Rock match and also it could have involved CM Punk. “But Punk gets hurt and the dominoes start falling and things start shifting,” the writer continued.
“And then we get to a point now where the Wrestlemania press conference is coming up we need to promote you know something a main event of some sort.”
His comment seems to be a clue that Punk would have had a big role in the final match in WrestleMania 40 but his injuries altered the original plans. Regardless, things took a different turn and the classic The Bloodline vs Rhodes came into the picture and Rhodes got to finish his story.
Dwayne Johnson Helped Shifting The WrestleMania 40 Narrative
Johnson was heavily booed despite returning to WWE as a babyface with a potential The Tribal Chief vs The Rock in the picture but fans were more invested in Rhodes’ story than his match with Reigns, again with Johnson’s irregular WWE appearances, the match would have been a one-sided win for The Tribal Chief.
But the wrestling legend had an idea which he proposed at 4 in the morning. “And then the next thing that happened after that basically changed the course of WWE history in a way,” Gewirtz said in the Busted Open Podcast.
I got a voice message from Rock that weekend so Smackdown was Friday I got it I think he gave it to me late like 4 o’ in the morning his time he was in Hawaii uh on Saturday I got it Sunday morning and he left me a voice message saying, ‘okay hear this one out what if I turned heel I’m just saying what if I turned heel what if we completely flip this thing on its ear and we go in an entirely different direction?’
Later, The Rock proposed the iconic tag match as he teamed up with his cousin to beat Seth Rollins and Rhodes but the writer said that it was necessary for The Final Boss and The Head Of The Table to win for the “emotional release” and asserting the suspense for the night 2 of the big event. Finally, Rhodes won the title.