An update has emerged on the call to have Cody Rhodes lose to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39 in 2023.
After returning from a torn pectoral injury to win the 2023 Royal Rumble match, many fans believed that Rhodes was set to finish his story and win the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship in April 2023.
Roman Reigns ultimately retained his title following interference from Solo Sikoa, which at the time sparked outrage.
While Cody Rhodes went on to finally defeat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40, some fans have argued that Rhodes should’ve won the gold at WrestleMania 39 for a variety of reasons.
Per Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Vince McMahon made the call for Reigns to defeat Rhodes in April 2023, but Triple H was on board with this decision and didn’t disagree.
Noting that the original plan was for Rhodes to win at WrestleMania 39, Meltzer explained:
“Regarding the perception from the outside that it was Vince who made the call not to put Rhodes over at last year’s Mania, a call which now internally has been credited for the record setting nature of this year’s show, Vince did have the final say at the time. But it was noted Levesque agreed to that as well, and it would have happened either way.
“It is true that the original plan last year was for Rhodes to win. Both McMahon and Levesque were on board with the return from pec surgery and the title win, after the injury telling a story not altogether different from the HHH return from quad surgery and title win at the 2002 Mania.
“A lot happened behind the scenes, with the key points being argued and eventually agreed by all parties it would be stronger a year later. It was also argued that keeping Reigns as champion would open up a key storyline to make Jey Uso into a major singles star and merchandise draw as a babyface.
“While Vince did make the call, Levesque was on board with the call and there were no significant issues with the decision. It was said that it was absolutely not Vince overruling Levesque and forcing the decision.
Seth Rollins played a big part in Rhodes winning the WWE Undisputed Title this year, teaming with Rhodes to face The Rock and Roman Reigns on WrestleMania 40 Night One and distracting Reigns in the closing moments of the WrestleMania 40 Night Two main event.
Rollins has now been spotted for the first time since WrestleMania 40, amid his WWE hiatus, which you can read more about right here.
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