The Other Way: How Rock vs. Roman Reigns At WrestleMania Could Have Gone (And It’s Weird)

6 months ago 27

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BY Thomas Hall – ON May 4, 2024

Photo Courtesy of WWE

That could have been. We are about a month removed from WrestleMania 40 and the big story at the event was Cody Rhodes finally ending Roman Reigns’ WWE Universal Title reign after three and a half years. The match involved a variety of interference, including from the Rock, who had been a major focal point of the show. It turns out that there were different plans which would have gone rather differently.

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According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, at one point there was a concept discussed of the Rock defeating Reigns to win the title at WrestleMania but then give up the title to return to Hollywood. This would result in the Rock claiming himself as the People’s Champion while Reigns would get the title back, only to lost it to Rhodes down the line. There is no word on how far these plans got before they were changed.

Rock and Reigns do have a history. Check out what they were doing before WrestleMania:

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Opinion: What matters most is the fact that this isn’t the way WWE went, as it would not have gone over well in the slightest. Rock winning the title and then letting it go feels like something straight out of the Goldberg playbook and that isn’t a good thing. Rock facing Reigns is a good idea but Rock winning the WWE Title and then vacating it to give it right back to Reigns would have been a mess. Rhodes got the title in his big moment and that’s how it needed to go.