CM Punk, The Rock & McMahon: How Cody Rhodes Lost His Spot Against Roman Reigns

Cody Rhodes is on the Road to WrestleMania 40, but his final destination won’t see him face Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. 

On the February 2, episode, The Rock confronted his cousin Roman Reigns in the closing moments of the broadcast. Prior to this, Cody Rhodes spoke about what it means to ‘finish the story’ and added that though he’s coming for Roman Reigns, it won’t be at Wrestlemania 40.

How Cody Rhodes Lost His Spot

On the forum board of F4W Online, Dave Meltzer explained that The Rock pushed hard for the match with Reigns. He added that the blockbuster showdown between the Hollywood megastar and the Tribal Chief will hopefully turn attention away from the ongoing Vince McMahon scandal. 

“Dwayne pushed super hard for it. Read last week’s issue and this week’s. The card changed when Punk & Brock were out and all the dominoes fell. Dwayne already wanted it and they felt they now needed it as well. Felt this was better to change the news flow away from Vince.”

Meltzer added that Rhodes was supposed to face Reigns at WrestleMania in the original plan and that a showdown with The Rock was set to happen at a later date. It was also stated that CM Punk’s injury was a decisive factor in WWE’s change of plans.  

“Cody was the plan. Dwayne was going to face him later, maybe next year’s Mania, maybe Saudi. Shit happens with Vince and Punk, the Vince thing ends up worse than they thought and they changed the plan. I literally didn’t know until yesterday that it could change and then I was told it’s under lock. But 100% it was Punk vs. Seth and Cody vs. Reigns until Punk got hurt.”

This massive change of plans as seen on SmackDown has had the wrestling world talking… 

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