Tag: Roman Reigns

WrestleMania 40 Night 2 preview: Why Cody fans are taking solace in ‘Avengers’ movies

Cody’s Avengers, assemble? Here’s why some WWE fans believe that’s what awaits on Night 2 of WrestleMania 40.

Right before Night 1 of WrestleMania 40 went off the air, there were some great shots of Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins sitting and mulling over their loss in the main event. Both men wore looks of dejection, as Rhodes now has to head into his rematch with Roman Reigns knowing it will be fought under Bloodline Rules.

That means anything goes, and with The Bloodline, that means the numbers game. The Rock has already promised he’d interfere liberally if given the chance. One can only assume Solo Sikoa is licking at the chops to help his Tribal Chief, and Jimmy Uso will be looking to rebound after losing his Saturday match.

Rollins likely won’t be able to help Rhodes since he has a very difficult title defense against Drew McIntyre. As is often the case with top babyfaces, Cody just doesn’t have enough friends. All is lost.

Or maybe not.

Rhodes fans have been putting faith in a theory that centers upon one of Marvel’s most popular franchises, one that they think will play out on Night 2 when Cody is facing his darkest hour.

What is the Avengers theory?

Put simply, the Avengers theory is the idea that a group of extraordinary individuals will come together to do what others can’t. OK, so that specific language is borrowed from Nick Fury, but the idea is the same: a team will assemble to help Rhodes battle The Bloodline on Sunday night.

The theory has been floating around for months, but it’s taken on new life ever since Rhodes needing help under Bloodline Rules became a possibility. It’s perfectly fine since Bloodline Rules work both ways. Any number of people could come to Cody’s aid, and it wouldn’t affect his ability to win the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship from Reigns.

Who might be in Cody’s Avengers?

There are actually two lines of thought here. The more fun one is that WWE legends will come to the rescue. There’s even been some suggestions that the clues were there for the whole world to see during The Rock’s infamous rain-soaked beating of Rhodes on the March 25 episode of Raw.

Specifically, a WWE production truck could be seen in the background, with the faces of two specific legends on it, both of whom have been active at WrestleMania within the past two years.

Yep, that’s John Cena and Stone Cold Steve Austin. WWE hasn’t advertised or confirmed that either man will be present in Philadelphia for Night 2, but there have been teases and rumors floating around for some time. Cena even posted something on Instagram that directly implied Austin would pull up for WrestleMania.

Cena has a history with Reigns so his motivation wouldn’t even need explanation. And Austin, despite his penchant for giving both good guys and bad guys a Stone Cold Stunner on occasion, has been a friend and admirer of Rhodes for some time.

Failing that, there are plenty of others who have a score to settle with The Bloodline already on the roster. Jey Uso is an obvious candidate since his ties to the group run deep. Sami Zayn is another, and would be free since he wrestled Saturday (unlike Kevin Owens, who will vie for the United States Championship on Sunday).

Or it could be a mix of people past and present. The point is that on a day unlike any other, Rhodes wouldn’t have trouble rallying people to his cause.

Could this actually happen? The parallels between the downbeat ending of “Avengers: Infinity War” — where the evil Thanos has achieved an unthinkably total victory — and Night 1’s main event have been pointed out by many fans.

If the Avengers theory is correct, Sunday night could be reminiscent of “Endgame,” where a host of heroes unites to join in one triumphant final battle. That could lead to the most spectacular feel-good ending in the 40-year history of WrestleMania, one that will surely help fans disappointed at the end of Night 1 bounce back quickly.

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The Rock and Roman Reigns def. Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40: Best photos

Check out these photos from The Rock and Roman Reigns’ victory over Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia.

Check out these photos from [autotag]The Rock[/autotag] and [autotag]Roman Reigns[/autotag]’ victory over [autotag]Cody Rhodes[/autotag] and [autotag]Seth Rollins[/autotag] at WrestleMania 40 Night 1, which took place April 6 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, setting up the “Bloodline Rules” stipulation for the main event of Night 2. (Photos by Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports, Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

WrestleMania 40 results: ‘Cody is screwed’ as The Rock, Roman Reigns triumph

A People’s Elbow finished Cody Rhodes and meant the Night 2 main event of WrestleMania will be Bloodline Rules.

Cody Rhodes rises from the floor to start his ring walk and plenty of pyro to boot. As befitting his role as WWE’s top face, he gives a fist bump to a young fan along the ramp.

Seth Rollins manages to outdo himself with his entrance gear, which is hard if you’ve been following his career.

The graphics for The Rock are unreal, playing off his Final Boss moniker more than ever before. He stands in a flaming version of the Brahma Bull tattoo and holds up the People’s Championship he was given by Muhammad Ali’s widow at the Hall of Fame ceremony.

Pat McAfee enthusiastically discusses Roman Reigns while he makes his usual deliberate walk down the ramp. Samantha Irvin does the intros for each of the four combatants one by one.

After the bell rings, there’s plenty of discussion among the two duos before we end up with Reigns and Rollins starting out. Seth gets an early taste of Roman’s power, and the Tribal Chief laughs about it with The Rock.

Rhodes tags in and gives us the first preview of tomorrow night’s main event. Roman gets the first shots in, backing Cody into the corner with a clothesline and right hands. Michael Cole puts the idea forward that everyone but The Rock is risking injury for their Night 2 matches.

The Rock reaches out and enters the WWE ring for the first time in eight years. He circles with Rollins before locking up, tossing Seth backwards with ease. The first shot from Rollins gets the fans to sing, to which The Rock only gives a little nod — and fans start chanting “Rocky” in response.

The famous “just bring it” gesture is done toward Rhodes, who asks for and gets a tag from Rollins. The noise really gets loud as dueling chants break out for Cody and Rock, with Rhodes getting in a series of offensive moves in the corner. A tag is made to Rollins for some double team offense, and Reigns gets a Sling Blade from Rollins when he attempts to lend a hand.

The ref tries to settle things down with all four men in the ring, so the battle simply moves outside. Rollins drinks some Prime and spits in Rock’s face right in front of The Rock’s mom. The beep-out guy is asleep at the wheel as The Rock drops an f-bomb on the ref.

Rhodes suplexes Reigns on the stage as The Rock continues battling Rollins elsewhere in the crowd. The Rock gets some water and spits some in Seth’s face for some payback.

Rollins comes off the barricade and hits The Rock with a double axhandle. They fight back into the ring, where the Final Boss has the upper hand. He wraps Rollins’ left leg around the post more than once. Are we going to get back to a real tag team match? Maybe as Reigns tags in.

Continuing the assault on Seth’s left knee, Reigns grabs a half crab. Roman smacks him with strikes, but he takes a moment to knock Rhodes off the apron and gets sent to the floor.

Roman pauses to throw one finger in the air for acknowledgement. The Rock is back in now, and Rollins is still getting ragdolled. He finally hits a neckbreaker on Roman when the Head of the Table is once again legal, but The Rock tags himself back in and drags Seth to the enemy corner. Rock hits a blatant low blow on Seth, and the ref apologizes to Cody claiming there’s nothing he can do about it.

Unable to get a tag, Seth ends up in a Sharpshooter from The Rock. Rhodes wanders in and smacks The Rock, and the good guys double team until Rollins hits the Stomp on the Final Boss.

Rollins finally makes the hot tag to Rhodes, who opens up for a flurry on the Tribal Chief that ends with a powerslam. A Disaster Kick and Cody Cutter land, but Reigns kicks out at two.

Reigns gets a near fall of his own with a Superman punch. Roman rushes in for a spear but gets countered by a springboard shoulder tackle, and Rollins tags in and hits a top rope splash for a near fall. Paul Heyman complains about the fans singing for Seth, and Reigns recovers to powerbomb his old Shield teammate.

The faces hit a series of superkicks, a Stomp and Cross Rhodes in quick succession, but The Rock pulls the ref out of the ring when Cody looks like he’s got it won. Michael Cole is especially disgusted now.

Reigns locks Rhodes in a guillotine choke, and when The Rock flaunts his immunity to the rules by pulling on Cody’s leg from the floor, Seth hits a Stomp on Roman to break the hold.

The Rock gets his weight belt and starts yelling at Mama Rhodes, who gives it back to him. Cody gets the belt shortly and the ref disposes of it. Rhodes hammers Rock with punches and a Bionic Elbow, but The Rock responds with a spinebuster on the Prime bottle.

A People’s Elbow is countered by a Cody Cutter, and Reigns returns to the fray as well. Reigns has a spear lined up, but Rhodes moves and The Rock takes the move. Cody and Seth hit stereo Pedigrees, then both go to cover, but Reigns and The Rock kick out at the same time.

Rollins comes off the top and takes out Reigns on the floor while The Rock clears the Spanish announce table. Rhodes ends up giving The Rock a Rock Bottom from one announce table through the other, and Reigns spears Rhodes through the barricade right after that.

Reigns and Rhodes are legal once again, and Cody is getting peppered with right hands. Now they stand and trade, with the fans responding on each shot. Rhodes has his super finisher charged, but when he goes for the third Cross Rhodes, The Rock slams Cody with his weight belt from the floor.

Roman spears Cody before tagging his cousin back in. Rock Bottom drops Rhodes, and The Rock makes a throat slash and The Bloodline ‘1’ before hitting The People’s Elbow. “Cody is screwed,” says Cole as the ref gets to three.

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WrestleMania 40 Night 1 results: All matches, winners from Philadelphia

Keep up with all the action from WrestleMania 40 Night 1 with results and live updates from Philadelphia.

The big day has finally arrived. The first of two big days, to be precise, as Night 1 of WrestleMania 40 invades Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. A completely sold-out crowd is expected to watch seven matches, culminating in what WWE is calling the biggest tag team match in WrestleMania history.

Considering the main event at WrestleMania I was a tag team match, that’s really a matter of opinion. There’s no question that it has real stakes, however, as it can shape the all important stipulation for the Night 2 main event.

Roman Reigns and The Rock have so far managed the two-alpha problem in The Bloodline just fine, and if they defeat Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins tonight, they’ll ensure Reigns has Bloodline Rules on his side against Rhodes on Sunday night. That will certainly make Cody’s second chance at finishing his story a lot harder.

The main event has attracted the lion’s share of attention, but there are several other great matchups on Night 1. The expected opener, Becky Lynch vs. Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship, is definitely one of them. So, too, is the battle of brother between Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso.

The Six-Pack Tag Team Ladder Match should also be a spectacle where any team can win — or maybe more than one team, since it appears the Raw and SmackDown titles could be separated again during the match. And we’ll see the bona fide debut of Jade Cargill, something fans have been anxiously awaiting.

We’ve got multiple people on the ground in Philadelphia, and we’re ready to get this rolling.

WrestleMania 40 Night 1 results from Philadelphia:

(please click on any match with a link to see full details)

  • Coco Jones performs “The Star-Spangled Banner” to kick off the show
  • Triple H welcomes the crowd to a new era
  • Rhea Ripley def. Becky Lynch by pinfall to retain the Women’s World Championship
  • Pretty Deadly gives their own unique takes on the teams in the Six-Pack Ladder Match
  • Austin Theory and Grayson Waller and The Awesome Truth win the Six-Pack Tag Team Ladder match for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship; Theory and Waller grab the SmackDown titles, while R-Truth and The Miz grab the Raw titles
  • Andrade and Rey Mysterio def. Dominik Mysterio and Santos Escobar by pinfall, thanks in part to two masked figures who revealed themselves to be Philadelphia Eagles lineman Lane Johnson and recently retired center Jason Kelce
  • Jey Uso def. Jimmy Uso by pinfall
  • Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill and Naomi def. Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai and Kabuki Warriors) by pinfall as Cargill pins Kai
  • Sami Zayn gets a visit from his family and Chad Gable, who tells him that “you’ve got this on your own” but also says “don’t forget, you owe me a favor”; he also gets some last second encouragement from Kevin Owens
  • Sami Zayn def. Gunther by pinfall to become the new WWE Intercontinental Champion
  • Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce come to the ring to reveal tonight’s announced attendance: 72,543
  • The Rock and Roman Reigns def. Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins by pinfall, meaning the Night 2 main event will be Bloodline Rules

WWE WrestleMania 40 card: Both nights finalized

A look at the updated match card for WWE WrestleMania 40.

Anticipation is building for WWE’s grandest annual event, as it always brings massive hype. A month out, it seems fans know who will square off in some of the top matches of the two-day extravaganza at WrestleMania 40.

Bayley‘s Royal Rumble win propelled her to a title match at WrestleMania. While Rhea Ripley presented an intriguing matchup, once her Damage CTRL teammates turned on her, the Role Model chose to challenge IYO SKY for the WWE Women’s Championship instead.

In a surprising turn of events, Cody Rhodes told Roman Reigns on the Feb. 2 episode of SmackDown that he would not challenge for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. While it seemed like the logical continuation of Rhodes’ storyline, one wondered how much CM Punk’s injury changed WWE’s WrestleMania plans for the top title matches.

Nevertheless, Rhodes surprised the audience by bringing out The Rock to share a face-to-face moment with Reigns in the ring, closing the show. This comes just a month after the People’s Champion proclaimed on Raw that he would “sit at the head of the table.”

However, then came the WrestleMania Kickoff event in Las Vegas on Feb. 8. Rhodes, Reigns, The Rock and Seth Rollins were all billed for it, with a teaser that the American Nightmare made his decision on what he’ll do at WrestleMania despite what happened.

The Tribal Chief tried to take matters into his own hands at the Sin City show, declaring he’ll face the People’s Champion at WrestleMania. After a handshake agreement, Rhodes interrupted the festivities and told them he wanted Reigns at Lincoln Financial Field after all.

It sparked a fierce war of words, with The Rock snapping back at Rhodes and Rollins for talking about his family. Most comments were explicit and bleeped from the Peacock broadcast as the faces traded words with the Bloodline members.

For any questions about how definitive that event’s shenanigans were, Triple H confirmed on X that Reigns vs. Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

Rollins got his own challenger at Elimination Chamber, when Drew McIntyre outlasted five other men to earn his world title shot. Becky Lynch did the same earlier on the show, and will take on Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship.

But that’s not all. After the events of the first few shows of March, a huge tag team match has been set for Night 1. Rhodes and Rollins will team together to face Reigns and The Rock with high stakes for Night 2: If Cody and Seth win, the Rhodes-Reigns rematch will be one-on-one, but if they lose the tag team match, that rematch will be fought under Bloodline Rules, meaning anything goes.

WrestleMania 40 goes down on Saturday, April 6, and Sunday, April 7 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The full card looks set at this point, but we’ll update if needed all the way up to the weekend.

Latest update: April 5, 2024, 10:00 p.m. ET.

WWE WrestleMania 40 card:

Night 1:

  • Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Becky Lynch – Women’s World Championship match
  • Gunther (c) vs. Sami Zayn – WWE Intercontinental Championship match
  • The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor and Damian Priest) (c) vs. #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) vs. The Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) vs. The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) vs. A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory and Grayson Waller) vs. New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate) – Six-Pack Ladder match for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship (possible for the Raw and SmackDown titles to be split if two different teams retrieve them)
  • Jey Uso vs. Jimmy Uso
  • Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill and Naomi vs. Damage Control (Dakota Kai and Kabuki Warriors)
  • Rey Mysterio and Andrade vs. Dominik Mysterio and Santos Escobar
  • Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns and The Rock – If Rhodes and Rollins win, then all members of The Bloodline will be barred from ringside during Rhodes’s Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match against Reigns on Night 2; however, if Reigns and Rock win, then the championship match will be Bloodline Rules

Night 2:

  • Seth Rollins (c) vs. Drew McIntyre – World Heavyweight Championship match
  • IYO SKY (c) vs. Bayley – WWE Women’s Championship match
  • LA Knight vs. AJ Styles
  • Logan Paul (c) vs. Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton – WWE United States Championship match
  • The Pride (Bobby Lashley and Street Profits) vs. The Final Testament (Karrion Kross and Authors of Pain) – Six-Man Philadelphia Street Fight
  • Roman Reigns (c) vs. Cody Rhodes – Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match, stipulation TBD

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WrestleMania 40 guide for lapsed fans: Get up to speed quickly for WrestleMania

Hello there. If you’re reading this article, it’s probably because you know WrestleMania 40 is this weekend and WWE is hot again right now. There are all kinds of people who have watched in the past who are wandering back into pro wrestling in …

Hello there. If you’re reading this article, it’s probably because you know WrestleMania 40 is this weekend and WWE is hot again right now. There are all kinds of people who have watched in the past who are wandering back into pro wrestling in general, but there’s no question that this weekend’s event in Philadelphia is the biggest draw.

Maybe it’s caught your eye because The Rock is back. Maybe you just have friends excited about this year’s show and decided you should dive back in too and see what all the fuss is about.

But now you have a dilemma: You haven’t watched WWE in quite some time, and while some of the faces are familiar, you have no idea what’s going on outside the broadest of strokes. You can’t go to a friend’s house and watch WrestleMania and not know what you’re talking about, right?

We agree that’s less than ideal, but no worries. We’re glad you’re here and very excited you’ve chosen this point in time to reacquaint yourself with WWE. And we’re going to help you with this WrestleMania 40 guide for lapsed fans. It’s a primer that you can read and feel good about knowing the most important storylines and subplots going into this weekend’s Showcase of Immortals, presented in the time-honored FAQ style.

Let’s jump in!

It’s true. Cody Rhodes did his best to topple Roman Reigns last year in Los Angeles, riding a wave of fan support based on his compelling personal narrative: He wants to win the world championship his late, great father Dusty Rhodes never could. It was a surprise when he left WrestleMania 39 without the title, and lots of people wondered where he’d go from there.

What’s happened since then could fill an entire 1000-word article, but we’ll do the TL;DR version. Rhodes won the Royal Rumble in January, putting him in position to challenge Reigns again. Then The Rock became available, allowing WWE to do the Rock vs. Reigns match it reportedly wanted to do each of the last two years. But fans revolted and WWE was listening — something much more possible with Triple H now in charge of the company’s creative direction instead of the deposed Vince McMahon.

So The Rock turned heel and aligned himself with Reigns. That ended up giving WWE two huge matches for this weekend, as Rhodes and Seth Rollins will take on The Rock and Reigns on Saturday. If the good guys win, Reigns’ group, The Bloodline, won’t be able to interfere in the Sunday night match (as they did last year). If Rock and Reigns win Saturday, it’s Bloodline Rules on Sunday, meaning anything goes. The Rock has already promised to interfere liberally if that’s the case.

Call it the ultimate case of pivoting on the fly and landing somewhere better. The end result is a rematch from last year, yes, but with a lot more going on.

You’re really going to doubt The Rock? Actually, that’s a valid question, because it’s been 11 years since he last had a full WWE match (against John Cena at WrestleMania 29), and he suffered multiple injuries in that one. He was 40 then and is nearing 52 now.

Fortunately, both he and WWE know this, so they’ve taken some pretty impressive measures to get him ready. Also, he’ll be in a tag team match, which can be carefully plotted to avoid him having to go for like, 10 minutes straight. He’s also one of the best to ever do this. He’ll probably be fine.

Plenty. In fact, one of the reasons WWE has been firing on all cylinders again is due to the fact that it’s really been nailing the storytelling up and down the roster. The women’s championship matches for WrestleMania 40 both fall in that category.

The match that’s expected to kick off the show on Saturday features Rhea Ripley, the Australian Women’s World Champion who has become arguably the most popular woman in the company over the past year, against Becky Lynch. What’s fun about their dynamic is that Lynch has accomplished almost everything worth doing in the industry, but she still feels like an underdog because of Ripley’s incredible power and presence. They should get things off to a great start.

Some of the same undertones are in play during the Sunday title bout, where IYO SKY will defend her WWE Women’s Championship against Bayley. In this case it’s more pupil vs. teacher, as Bayley included IYO in her Damage CTRL group and helped her on her way to become champion. Alas, once IYO’s friends Asuka and Kairi Sane joined the team, they effectively started a coup and gave poor Bayley the boot — while turning her face in the process. A Bayley victory would cap this long-running tale and be very popular.

There are several, but two stand out for different reasons. Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso, the brothers who just happen to be one of the greatest tag teams of all time, have been important parts of the sags involving Reigns and The Bloodline over the past two years. They went their separate ways since last year’s WrestleMania, with Jey heading to Raw and pursuing a singles career while Jimmy stayed loyal to Roman and remained with The Bloodline on SmackDown.

Now they will face off this Saturday in a rare WrestleMania bout between brothers (it’s happened only twice before). Along with his surging popularity in his own right, Jey is tapping into some real Star Wars vibes here, even recording a “there’s still good in Jim” video this week. Except for the main events, this figures to be the most emotional match during the whole weekend.

Then for pure spectacle, there’s a six-team Ladder match for the men’s tag team titles that figures to be chaotic and wonderful. There’s also a chance that the two tag team championships, which have been unified for a while and we won’t get into here, could be split back up again in the process.

There’s certainly a chance for any or all of them to make an appearance, though nothing that’s been confirmed at the moment. John Cena has made multiple teases about doing something, then he posted something on Instagram Friday that made it seem like he was suggesting Stone Cold Steve Austin would show up. It wouldn’t be surprising if they appeared in some capacity, as it’s hard to bill something as the biggest WrestleMania of all time (though WWE tends to do that every year) and not have some of its top legends involved.

The most popular fan theory is that Rhodes and Rollins will lose their tag team match Saturday, meaning the very real threat of The Bloodline simply overrunning Cody on Sunday will loom over his match. When that happens, however, Cena, Austin and maybe The Undertaker will come to even the odds, kind of like all the heroes popping out of the portals in the climax of “Avengers: Endgame.”

Could that happen? Sure, and it would send the fans at the Linc into pandemonium if it does. For now, it’s just a theory.

It would hardly be a WrestleMania without stars from adjacent areas of sports and pop culture, right? Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill will be on hand, and will likely perform a song at some point. Lil Wayne is also going to be in Philly and has suggested he will debut a new track at WrestleMania. R&B star Coco Jones has been announced as the national anthem singer on Saturday night as well.

There have also been reports that Jason Kelce, the popular and recently retired All-Pro Philadelphia Eagles center, has been approached to appear. He likes wrestling and has the oversized personality for it, plus he’d get a crazy reaction from the fans in Philly, so it makes perfect sense.

We’ve already discussed The Rock, and we’d be worried indeed if you didn’t know him.

As for other performers you should recognize even after an extended absence, let’s do it this way …

If you’ve been away from WWE for five years …

There has been some turnover since WrestleMania 35, to be sure, but still plenty of talent will be in Philly who were also at the Meadowlands in 2019. Among them are The Miz, who will be in the six-team ladder match Saturday, and AJ Styles, who is set for a grudge match against LA Knight.

Drew McIntyre challenged Reigns five years ago but will hope for a better outcome when he tries to win the World Heavyweight Championship this year from Rollins on Sunday night.

If you’ve been away from WWE for 10 years …

We talked about Rollins, who was still part of The Shield alongside Reigns back at WrestleMania XXX. There’s also Naomi, taking part in a six-person tag match this year on a team with Bianca Belair and much-hyped newcomer (to WWE, anyway) Jade Cargill.

If you’ve been away from WWE for 20 years …

Believe it or not, there are several other wrestlers on the card other than The Rock who competed at WrestleMania XX in 2004. Randy Orton will be part of a three-way match for the United States Championship, while Rey Mysterio will team with Dragon Lee to take on his son, Dominik, and Santos Escobar.

WrestleMania 40 preview: What if Roman Reigns wins again?

Think WWE couldn’t let Roman Reigns beat Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania for a second straight year? Think again.

When the main event of WrestleMania 39 arrived a year ago at SoFi Stadium, I was sure Cody Rhodes was walking out with the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship that had for so long remained tightly in the grasp of Roman Reigns. WWE had signaled as much all along the way, hinting that it would be a night where Rhodes culminated a journey he was making not just for himself, but for his legendary late father as well.

We all know what happened.

The same matchup is slated for this Sunday at WrestleMania 40. WWE has done an incredible job not only making people want to see Cody and Roman run it back, but adding additional layers into the narrative so it’s not just a rematch.

Common sense suggests there’s no way that Rhodes loses again. History does too, as the last time two editions of WrestleMania had the exact same main event — WrestleMania 28 and 29, pitting John Cena against The Rock — the loser of the first match won the second meeting.

The difference between 2012-13, or really between now and almost any other time in WWE history, is the incredible hot streak the company is on. For more than a year, there’s been a steady cadence of sold out shows. Gate records seem to be falling monthly — and as recently as this week, when Raw at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was the highest-grossing Monday night show WWE has ever held.

That kind of success gives WWE the kind of creative freedom it doesn’t usually enjoy. While Vince McMahon might have zigged where people expected him to zag just out of spike, Triple H and his team have so much earned trust that they can do the unexpected and not have to worry about fans abandoning the product in droves.

Thing like Reigns emerging from yet another WrestleMania with his title reign intact.

To be clear, I still expect Rhodes to be the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion at the end of the night, soaking in the adulation from the fans at Lincoln Financial Field. I just won’t be quite as shocked this year if he isn’t.

Let’s examine why.

Cody Rhodes vs. The Rock is now the biggest money match WWE could make

WWE isn’t like its corporate partner, UFC, at least for the time being. It doesn’t need to put together the best possible pairings to ensure shows are packed. WrestleMania 40 sold most of its tickets long before any of the matches were finalized, because the brand itself is on fire. There’s a reason even the biggest of the company’s stars have been saying recently that things would roll on even without them, and that’s because it’s true.

But the popularity of WWE extends to metrics beyond ticket sales, which means it still behooves the creative team to find ways to try to hook people who aren’t following its programming regularly. It has that now thanks to The Rock.

The man who’s now dubbed himself the Final Boss is one of the most recognizable entertainers on the planet, someone who appeals to more than the weekly audience. It’s been apparent since he’s embraced his heel turn with The Bloodline during his current stint: The Rock still has a unique star power that no other current WWE talent can match.

And a funny thing happened along the way. Whereas once The Rock vs. Roman Reigns was the biggest match WWE could put on, it’s now pivoted ever so slightly to The Rock vs. Cody Rhodes.

That’s not an indictment of Reigns in any way, but simply an observation based on the build to WrestleMania 40. Fans want to see Cody get some payback on The Rock in a one-on-one situation. The tag team match on night 1 will undoubtedly scratch that itch to a certain degree, but it may also just stoke the desire for a singles showdown even more.

There are many ways to get to that, of course, but the most direct one is to have The Rock play an instrumental role in preventing Rhodes from winning on Sunday night. The catch would be if The Rock is unavailable, as he’s expected to return to shooting movies right after WrestleMania 40. There’s also no reason he couldn’t just roll back into WWE ahead of, say, SummerSlam and challenge Cody if the American Nightmare does win in Philadelphia.

So a hypothetical Rock-Cody match isn’t contingent on Rhodes facing defeat for the second straight year, and it may not even be possible given extenuating circumstances. The fact remains that it’s now a tantalizing dream match that no one was even considering a few months ago, and a Cody loss would hint heavily that it was coming down the road.

Not everyone will be mad if Roman Reigns wins in Philly

For longtime WWE fans, it’s hard to forget the 2015 Royal Rumble and the way the crowd in Philadelphia treated Reigns. Even with The Rock on hand to try and give his cousin the rub, the fans that day were so upset that Daniel Bryan didn’t win the Rumble match that they booed the crap out of Roman.

I was there in person, and there was something in the air even before fans piled into the Wells Fargo Center. It was hard to describe, but it was palpable.

Things have changed a lot for Reigns since then. He hadn’t even dreamed up the Tribal Chief persona, and The Bloodline was still years away. Reigns now is what WWE was hoping he’d be nine years ago, but he hadn’t made “The Leap” yet, as Bill Simmons might say.

Reigns has been the unquestioned top star in the company for several years, in ways that go beyond his lengthy Universal title run. He’s also not your stereotypical top heel, as he has plenty of fans (even young ones) who would be thrilled if he somehow manages to pin Rhodes for the second straight year.

On top of that, while WrestleMania 40 is taking place in Philadelphia, it won’t be a strictly Philly crowd at Lincoln Financial Field. People journey to the WrestleMania host city from all over the world, so that element is also different than that infamous Royal Rumble.

Will lots of fans be heartbroken if Rhodes loses again? Yes. Will some still cheer Reigns, and will pretty much all of them tune in for Raw to see what’s next? Also yes.

Fans aren’t just going to abandon Cody Rhodes

Rhodes is one of the savviest performers in the business today, one who simply understands the craft at the highest level whether it’s inside the ring or representing WWE in the media. So when he was making the rounds this week suggesting that he has to win this time or fans won’t have his back, it’s some 3D chess-type stuff.

On “The MMA Hour” this week, Rhodes suggested that he’d be a “joke” if he didn’t beat Reigns this time.

On the surface, that seems like Cody saying there’s no way people would continue to support him if he comes up short again. And maybe a few will jump ship, as that’s always a risk.

This is wrestling, however, which means there can always be extenuating circumstances to help save face. It’s possible they might even be the same ones for the second straight year, since it’s possible and maybe even probable that Rhodes and Seth Rollins lose the tag team match on night 1, making Rhodes-Reigns a Bloodline Rules affair on night 2.

Cody’s supporters will be angry if he loses again, no doubt. They might even channel some of their dismay toward WWE, just not enough to stop them from watching.

They might not even be outraged that Reigns is still the champ, which is the ideal situation if that’s the direction WWE is headed. In a best case scenario, Reigns continues his run, giving more legs to The Bloodline saga. People are clamoring for a Rhodes-Rock match, and The Rock is actually free to do it sometime over the next year. And business continues to boom in the meantime.

Maybe that’s not where all this will end up. Maybe Rhodes will have his hand raised and we’ll get to retire “finish the story” so it can go out to pasture or to stud or wherever phrases go when they’ve run their course.

It’s just much easier to see WWE giving Reigns a victory since it’s dealing from a position of strength that it so rarely has enjoyed, even as the top wrestling promotion in the world for decades. I promise not to be as shocked this time.

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Roman Reigns tells Jimmy Fallon how far he’s come: ‘The lightest show I’ve ever done was 2 people’

Suffice it to say that the crowd at WrestleMania 40 will be thousands of times larger for Roman Reigns and The Rock.

When Roman Reigns and The Rock head to the ring on night 1 of WrestleMania 40 to take on Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, they’ll do so in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans. As they recalled while appearing together on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” however, it definitely wasn’t always that way.

The Tribal Chief and the Final Boss dropped in on Fallon to promote the upcoming Show of Shows at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, but the host started their chat by asking about the past. There was extensive discussion about the overall Samoan family in pro wrestling, and how the two men are intertwined not only with each other but many other past and present WWE stars as well.

Fallon was also interested in knowing what it was like when they were just breaking into the business, and Reigns said at that time you could have seen him wrestling almost literally anywhere.

“I mean it could have been anywhere,” Reigns said. “We could have done it in a parking lot, we could have in a used cars parking lot, it could have been a fairground, an armory.”

Fallon followed up by asking about the “crowds” in those days, to which Reigns explained that was using the term about as loosely as possible.

“The lightest show I’ve ever done was two people,” he said. “Just two, yeah. It got so bad that I was like asking for requests. ‘What do you wanna see?’ So it’s been bad, but we’re in a really, really good place right now.”

That’s a massive understatement, as WWE is on a hot streak the likes of which it hasn’t experienced for years, consistently selling out shows. Check out what The Rock had to say to Fallon about breaking records together with Reigns and going from making “40 bucks a match” to where they are today.

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Triple H on WrestleMania plans changing with The Rock: ‘We always have to call audibles every single week’

Triple H won’t hesitate to call an audible when the reactions warrant it, even if it involves the main event of WrestleMania.

The Rock‘s transformation from fan favorite to villain on the journey to WrestleMania 40 was swift. Seemingly poised to headline the event against Cody Rhodes, The People’s Champ found himself despised by WWE fans, viewed as attempting to wield his corporate power for a greater role ot the Grandest Stage of Them All.

Instead of Roman Reigns and The Rock fighting, which WWE never officially announced, the two Bloodline leaders will team up to face Seth Rollins and Rhodes in the main event of night 1 of WrestleMania. Reigns and Rhodes will then battle for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on night 2.

It reflects a new era where storylines are increasingly shaped by fan input, a trend embraced by Triple H, who heads WWE’s creative team. When questioned about altering the WrestleMania storyline involving The Rock, The Game emphasized in an interview with ESPN the need to make adjustments on the fly, acknowledging that they call audibles every week.

Now it’s a different time, and the way I do things is slightly different. My career, I learned from being here, but there were things along the way that I always thought I would do differently. In this time now, I get to make those calls and with a large team of people. Whether people will want to believe it or not, I think we were sort of looking at this as here’s where we’re going to go to get this started and it has the opportunity of going this way or that way.

We always have to call audibles every single week. Everything you do is dependent on reactions. That’s what we do as an industry. … The beautiful thing with this group and with Cody and Roman and Rock especially, everybody’s got their ear to the ground. … And then we all just get together and figure the s–t out.

WWE’s pivot for WrestleMania created a red-hot storyline involving their top stars, coupled with The Rock’s return to a heel persona not seen in two decades, adding a refreshing twist. If similar situations happen in the future, it seems Triple H will evaluate all options if it’s best for business.

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The Rock has simple message to Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins before WrestleMania: ‘F–k them’

The Rock carried out a beatdown/profanity combo on Cody Rhodes for the second straight week on WWE Raw.

If The Rock has done two things consistently during his current run as The Final Boss of The Bloodline, it’s beat up Cody Rhodes and drop some four-letter words.

Monday night in Brooklyn was no different. The Rock and Roman Reigns combined to add to Rhodes’ misery, suckering him in perfectly during the night’s main event, a Bloodline Rules affair between Seth Rollins and Bloodline enforcer Solo Sikoa.

Even though Rhode arrived as Rollins’ Plan B to counter The Rock, the unexpected appearance of Reigns tilted things back in favor of The Bloodline. The show ended with The Rock and Reigns taking turns beating the good guys with Cody’s own weight belt, symbolically and physically imposing their will once again.

And just like the previous week on Raw, when The Rock beat Rhodes bloody, he didn’t just flip the switch off once the cameras stopped rolling. WWE posted a short but succinct video after the show, with just a few last words from The Rock: “F–k them.”

It’s an interesting little clip if for no other reason than the widespread fascination with The Rock being allowed more leeway with curse words than other WWE talent. It certainly fits his current persona perfectly, and though he uses some of the same language on TV, it’s bleeped out when he does.

This likely won’t be the last we’ll hear from The Final Boss ahead of the Show of Shows, with WrestleMania XL Kickoff and SmackDown in Philadelphia still looming on Friday. Rhodes probably won’t want to see or hear from him again, however, before they meet in the tag team match that will close out WrestleMania XL night 1 on Saturday.

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