The Rock surprised the WWE Universe today with an unexpected appearance on SmackDown. Cody Rhodes, the winner of the 30-man Royal Rumble match, was expected to challenge Roman Reigns, but he handed his ticket to main event WrestleMania 40 to The Rock.
Rhodes has been the favorite for the past year, to main event WrestleMania 40, ever since he lost to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39. But the WWE fans are unhappy to see the Rock taking his opportunity and they started to express their support for The American Nightmare.
Fans fuming over The Rock taking Cody Rhodes’ WM main event spot
The Rock’s unexpected return on Raw Day 1 changed the entire landscape of the WWE, when he issued a challenge to the WWE Undisputed Champion, Roman Reigns. The fans were happy to see the return of the Rock to WWE, but they were disappointed, as the Brahma Bull challenged Reigns. Since then, Cody’s plan for facing Reigns at WrestleMania 40, looked to change.
Rhodes’ chances for main eventing WrestleMania 40 came almost confirm, when he won the 2024 Royal Rumble match. But, the chances shattered today in Smackdown when, Rhodes announced he will not challenge Reigns at WrestleMania by saying, “I am coming for you Roman Reihns.. But not at WrestleMania.”
Rhodes said he had consulted with someone who knows The Tribal Chief very well and introduced The Rock to today’s SmackDown, then left the ring silently, leaving WWE fans disheartened.
WWE posted the video of today’s Smackdown segment, but the response was unexpected as the video received more dislikes than likes. The fans were not pleased with this turn of events, and they have expressed their displeasure on social media.
Many fans feel that The Rock is stealing Rhodes’ spot, and that he does not deserve to main event WrestleMania 40 after being away from WWE for so long. They are very upset that the possibility of The Rock main eventing WrestleMania 40 might take away Rhodes’ deserved moment as the face of WWE.
The Rock’s last WM appearance
The Rock was one of greatest WWE Superstar during the attitude era of WWE. The Rock has made his presence in 8 continuous WrestleMania events from Wrestlemania 13 to WrestleMania 20, but his hollywood career, stopped him to be a full time wrestler in WWE. However, The Rock made a huge return to WWE at WrestleMania 27 as the host of the show.
After this, Rock appeared in several WrestleMania events and also main-evented two back-to-back events. Rock’s last appearance was at WrestleMania 32 in 2016 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Rock made his entrance with a flamethrower in hand and burned up a giant sign that spelled out his name.
However, The Rock’s celebration was interrupted by The Wyatt Family, led by the late Bray Wyatt. Rock then challenged Wyatt to a match, but Eric Rowan accepted and entered the ring to face the Rock. The match was the shortest in WrestleMania history, as The Rock hit Rowan with a Rock Bottom and pinned him in six seconds.
After today’s SmackDown episode, the showdown between Reigns and Rock is almost confirmed and the greatest of all time will headline the WrestleMania 40 to make it more electrifying than ever.
