Last night’s WWE Friday Night Smackdown ended in a shocker as The Rock made his stunning return to confront the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and it seems that there is yet another major change in plans. As it indicates, Cody Rhodes will not be “finishing the story” at Wrestlemania 40 in Philadelphia, PA.
It has come to light that the decision to go with The Rock vs. Roman Reigns Mania weekend, expected to be officially announced this Thursday in Las Vegas and it was a push by The Rock to move into the Mania main event, backed by top TKO Group Holding execs.
PWInsider reported that it wasn’t done to target and politic Cody out of his main event out of malice, but out of the belief that The Rock was seemingly the best idea to make money now and respect his new position with the company’s parent company.
“This was a strategic move to give Johnson more political power overall and to show Endeavor’s faith in his involvement and that even Paul Levesque, who has done an admirable job as the Chief Creative Officer, would “lose that power struggle with Johnson at this point”, as one source surmised.”
The outlet further noted that former Senior Vice President of Development at Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions, Brian Gewirtz will be in the mix as the voice representing Johnson in the WWE Creative process going forward.
Some believe Gewirtz, who at one point was one of the longest tenured WWE Head Writers, will be around physically at least for major shows going forward, could even be there as a “Plan B” if Endeavor ever needs to pivot WWE’s direction and go with a Johnson-backed creative team down the line.
