This is either a multi-billion dollar entity realizing what a mistake it’s made or the most elaborately meta storytelling in World Wrestling Entertainment’s history.
Or, maybe, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson really is that ego-maniacal, and things are actually as they seem.
When professional wrestling fans tell you that the best storylines are the ones that blur fact from fiction, the above mess of possibilities is what they’re talking about.
For the unaware, the Feb. 2 episode of “WWE Smackdown!” ended with a big reveal: The company’s top babyface — or good guy — Cody Rhodes appeared to be abdicating his well-earned position of competing in the WrestleMania 40 main event against the company’s top heel — or bad guy — Roman Reigns for the most prestigious championship belt in the company, to Johnson.
Goosebumps.#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/FoXPnDoyAx
— WWE (@WWE) February 3, 2024
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While the storyline dictates that Rhodes willingly gave up that coveted spot, many fans and pundits were swift to assume that Johnson flexed his real-world cachet as a member of the governing board of WWE’s parent company TKO to insert himself into the WrestleMania scene.
Bleacher Report even reported that the buzz around the controversial switch-up suggested that Johnson “lobbied for the match and had the backing of top executives in TKO Group Holdings, which was enough to get WWE to reverse course from what was seemingly the original plan of Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes.”
The outlet also reported that some speculation believed Johnson “politicked to have the match in order to ‘save WrestleMania’ since WWE won’t have two of its biggest stars in CM Punk and Brock Lesnar available for the show.”
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(CM Punk tore his triceps at the 2024 Royal Rumble event, and Lesnar has been connected to the shocking sex trafficking allegations aimed at former WWE head honcho Vince McMahon.)
B/R further added: “Other sources suggested The Rock was going to make the match happen at WrestleMania regardless since his $30 million stock payday after being named to the TKO board of directors is contingent on certain milestones, including returning to the ring in 2024.”
And because of all that speculation that Johnson was bumping out Rhodes from his WrestleMania match unjustly… WWE fans — generally Johnson’s most vocal and ardent supporters — turned their backs on the self-proclaimed “People’s Champion.”
The Rock & Roman Reigns’ segment from this past Friday’s episode of #SmackDown has now surpassed half a million dislikes in under 36 hours.
Extending its record as the most disliked @WWE YouTube video of all time.
4M Views. 97K Likes. 500K Dislikes. pic.twitter.com/5WcHyDzTFY
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) February 4, 2024
According to unofficial algorithms (YouTube hides dislike totals, but third-party resources can glean that information for you), the video of The Rock and Reigns is the most disliked WWE YouTube video of all time with 500,000. It was hated so much that Forbes even reported on it when the figure was just barely over 280,000.
It’s easy to see why fans are so upset.
Imagine a live-action Batman series. The first season ends with him humiliatingly losing to his archrival. The second season spends a year building Batman back up to his former stature — only for Batman to suddenly call Superman in during the penultimate episode. It makes no narrative sense and is a disservice to any fan who’s invested any modicum of emotion into Batman (or Rhodes, in this case) getting his win back.
Rhodes lost to Reigns at WrestleMania 39, and this year, all signs pointed to him getting his ballyhooed rematch (and win) against Reigns at WrestleMania 40. Until Johnson, apparently, interjected himself into that match.
Fans were justifiably upset. The social media hashtag “#WeWantCody” was a top social media trend in the United States for much of the weekend.
But it wasn’t just the terminally online wrestling fans that were mad at this. During WWE’s first nationally televised show since Johnson’s return, the fans in St. Louis, Missouri, revived a chant not heard since Johnson was a WWE neophyte:
— @LuigiWrestling (@luigiwvideos0) February 6, 2024
“Rocky sucks!” chants (which Johnson endured during his early WWE days as “Rocky Maivia”) boomed from a very pro-Rhodes crowd on Monday — and WWE appeared to acknowledge it. And when WWE acknowledges something, that’s usually a telltale sign that this is part of the script.
As of this writing, WWE fans appear genuinely split on what’s really happening.
Is The Rock really willing to risk alienating his fans — fans he’ll need if he ever pursues his oft-rumored career in politics — to “save WrestleMania”? Is WWE suddenly course-correcting after fans were so demonstrably upset? Or was this all a well-scripted ruse to make Rhodes the biggest babyface in WWE history?
You can bet that WWE fans will be watching with bated breath when WWE has its official WrestleMania 40 press conference on Thursday.
