The road to WWE WrestleMania XL was filled with unexpected twists and turns as The Rock laid the groundwork for a showdown with Roman Reigns.
Cody Rhodes won this year’s men’s Royal Rumble match, hinting at a title challenge against Reigns at WrestleMania 40. However, plans shifted when The Rock pushed for the match, leading to a change in the direction of WWE programming. It was changed to The Rock turning heel and aligning himself with The Bloodline faction.
This paved the way for a tag team victory for Rock and Reigns over Rhodes and Seth Rollins on night one of WrestleMania XL, followed by Rhodes capturing the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship from Reigns on night two.
Dave Meltzer reported the following in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
“Rhodes was always going to get the title, even after all this went down, but for a time it would not have been at Mania. The decision for Rhodes to win the Rumble was to set up a future title match after they would do an injury angle which would lead to Rock getting the title shot and Rhodes would get his shot and victory later. At one point there was an idea that Rock would win the title from Reigns, and then give up the title to go to Hollywood and end the streak, but always call himself “The People’s Champion,” which is where that idea and belt came in, which was long before the Hall of Fame ceremony. The idea that many were fighting against was the title win, and then Reigns after losing getting it back and then losing again to Rhodes, feeling that would greatly hurt Rhodes’ eventual win, and Rhodes was the guy who was going to have to carry the company in 2024 and 2025. Others were strongly against that, saying no matter what happened as far as Rock getting the match, he could not win the title and Rhodes had to be the one who beats Reigns first and wins the title first.”