Dwayne Johnson Turns Heel, Cody Rhodes Chooses Roman Reigns: WrestleMania 40 Kickoff Results, Recap & Highlights

Are we really about to witness The Rock vs. Roman Reigns, a matchup that was highly touted for several years, at WrestleMania 40? If that’s the plan, the promotion would be making the match official by snubbing Cody Rhodes’ ultimate dream. Or does WWE plan to add more drama to the narrative and end up doing justice to The American Nightmare? To dig for answers to these crucial questions, we moved forward to the WrestleMania 40 Kickoff media event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Here is all you need to know about what transpired at the hyped-up event.

The WrestleMania 40 Kickoff Show threw down the gauntlet for a plethora of things to come

Michael Cole welcomed us to the WrestleMania 40 kick-off show as we saw the footage of bigwigs like Triple H, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman, and The Rock hitting the town for the event. We went down to the show live with Pat McAfee, Big E, and CM Punk on the commentary desk. Big E had some solid jabs for Punk, digging up his controversial past in AEW.

The Second City Saint also had a solid retort by suggesting that he didn’t suffer an injury affecting his mouth and hence can still pick apart people verbally.

Paul went big on The Tribal Chief in a backstage interview. He noted everyone is talking about The Rock and Cody Rhodes, but the hype is about who gets to fight Roman Reigns and share his spotlight. That’s Roman Reigns’ “mood”. The Wise Man then made it clear that Reigns didn’t want Cody Rhodes as his opponent. WWE head honcho Triple H arrived and recounted the tale of how WrestleMania’s journey has evolved over the years. He promised a whole new era in the business and asked the fans to buckle up.

We saw Bianca Belair enter the fray next. The EST showed off her passion and drive to carve out her WrestleMania moment this year despite not having a title right now. Belair will participate in a qualifying match on tomorrow’s SmackDown for the Elimination Chamber match.

Next up, the most dominant woman on the roster emerged. Rhea Ripley came down and then bragged that she was going to continue proving her status as the most dominant woman to hold a championship in WWE. She seemed sure about beating Nia Jax at the upcoming Elimination Chamber PLE. However, Becky Lynch made her way to the scene to set up a captivating confrontation.

Lynch said she would win the Elimination Chamber match to earn the right to challenge Ripley for the title at WrestleMania 40 and to make it a ‘Mami vs The Man’ match. She took a shot at Mami, saying she would soon feel how it feels to be at the bottom. Adam Pearce tried to get them out of each other’s faces, but Lynch retreated voluntarily.

It was The Visionary’s turn next, and he started with a little dig at Roman Reigns. They traded some barbs before the Tribal Chief shifted his focus to the American Nightmare, calling him “Mr Hesitation”. “If you hesitate, your moment is going to move on,” he declared. He went on to say it was no more Rhodes’ decision but his own decision to make. “I choose The Rock,” he stated, despite the crowd chanting Cody’s name. As soon as he chose The Rock, the superstar hit the house.

READ MORE: WrestleMania 40 Kickoff: Fans Drown Pat McAfee in “We Want Cody” Chants During Dwayne Johnson Reference

The Rock talked about Cody Rhodes and called his fans crybabies. He continued his attempts at silencing them by telling them it doesn’t matter what they think. The Brahma Bull then went on to reiterate the significance of the Universal Champion vs The People’s Champion as the biggest main event in the history of professional wrestling. He even labeled the clash as a match that was “bound by blood”.

Cody Rhodes soon showed up and tried to get the ball back in his court. After all, he’s the Royal Rumble winner. Despite initiating a family war, The Rock didn’t take kindly to the fact that the Royal Rumble winner was dissing his family. He swiftly took matters into his own hands and slapped Rhodes. “So now, we have a problem,” ‘DJ’ said before the slap. All the superstars present were pulled apart to avoid the situation escalating further.

“If you don’t fix it, we will”: The Rock said to Triple H

After the three contenders had a boiling war of words for some minutes, Triple H intended to set things straight in a backstage interview. But before he could finish his explanation, The Rock put him on notice, asking him to “fix” the situation. “It’s not out of line. Have them talk sh*t, if you don’t fix it, we will,” he said.

The situation here referred to was Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins being purposely disrespectful to the Bloodline. When they insulted Reigns’ ancestors and his bloodline, they also insulted The Rock’s ancestors and bloodline. And that is something he will not tolerate. So, can you smell a tag team match? Only time will clarify it, though.

Later on, Triple H confirmed online that Cody Rhodes would indeed take on Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40. And now the situation is even more confusing. On that note, the WrestleMania 40 kickoff show went off the air but left fans with more questions than answers. What are they cooking?

WrestleMania 40 will happen on April 6-7. The event in Philadelphia will air on Peacock in the U.S. and the WWE Network worldwide.

Watch This Story: Dwayne Johnson’s Daughter Simone to The Undertaker’s Daughter Kaia – Meet Daughters of Top WWE Stars