So, what do you want to talk about?
Ugh.
I have faith in whatever Triple H wants to do.
With that said, I thought the outcome of the Wrestlemania 39 match between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes was polarizing. Yes, Cody managed to turn the downside into an upside when he became the first back-to-back Royal Rumble winner since Stone Cold Steve Austin. Still, back then, we were expecting the Raw after Mania to have Rhodes finally finishing his story.
Here too.
After winning his second straight Royal Rumble, we expected a better and more dangerous version of Rhodes to fight Reigns for the second time. In this version, Rhodes is going to win and everything wrong in 2023 will finally be erased in 2024.
However, Triple H again has other ideas.
Maybe this isn’t a Triple H call, but suddenly we saw Rhodes saying the right words and then ceding the opportunity to The Rock.
The handshake and the hug were the craziest part of this segment. The problem with Cody Rhodes is that it feels like he was bullied by The Rock to give up his spot. Again, when he said that he wanted the belt before giving it to The Rock, we thought he would challenge Reigns.
When he was looking at The Rock while he was walking back to the backstage area, he had an aura of regret.
That’s the problem.
It also didn’t help that Roman Reigns wasn’t begging for Rhodes to choose him. Reigns was goading him. So the mere fact that Cody was giving his spot to The Rock is like Cody realizing that he can’t beat Roman so he is allowing the better wrestler. The problem with The Rock is that aside from that he’s a part-timer, he is already in his 50s. This is like when Kevin Owens lost his spot to Goldberg or Kofi Kingston lost to Brock Lesnar in under 15 seconds.
Hell, this is like Hulk Hogan going after Yokozuna in an impromptu match after "saving" Bret Hart from a beatdown.
I know The Rock is a larger-than-life personality but it feels like it’s some board member's power trip.
Yes, Vince McMahon's scandal has a lot to do with the card change, but the more they hide it by planting in The Rock, the more we realize that this is the way the old authority operates. The more Rock wants this match, the more we realize that The Rock is pretty much politicking a la Hulk Hogan.
Cody Rhodes deserves to finish his story and it’s not Seth Rollins. He already finished that feud when he teamed with him at Survivor Series. A battle to make the belt respectable isn’t as enticing as a lifelong dream. Reigns thumbed down at that belt’s prestige when he said that the World Heavyweight Championship is the loser belt. If Rhodes is just going to challenge Rollins to make the title respectable, he can, but he’s also going to accept the fact that he went for the champion that he can beat instead of the title holder that he couldn’t.
Hopefully, there is a method to their madness.
Actually, in some ways, I think Triple H knows this as well.
And in some ways, I feel that this is a Triple H boss move.
Before The Rock came out, Roman Reigns attacked Seth Rollins and the belt that he held.
WHY WOULD THE ROYAL RUMBLE CHAMPION GUN FOR THE LOSER'S BRACKET CHAMPIONSHIP?!
He would then enumerate all of the reasons why he is the superior champion and why his belt is better.
Oh, and by the way. Roman kind of channeled Dusty Rhodes when he was licking his lips.
And then, Cody comes out enumerating the reasons why he needs to fight Roman and why his belt is the one with the most history.
And then he cedes the opportunity to The Rock.
Forget why CM Punk is a clairvoyant.
We just need to respect Shinsuke Nakamura for trying to stop Rhodes from getting hurt!
Yes, I am repeating the start of this blog but this is where it gets interesting.
The Rock will always have the arena cheering for his existence, but the moment the fans realize what just happened, the boos are going to rain down on him. Let's think of CM Punk losing his Wrestlemania spot to The Rock, or why Daniel Bryan was inserted into the Mania that was supposed to be Batista's moment. This is basically Triple H telling Rock "Fine, you get what you want, but be careful what you ask for."
Triple H has been involved in too many bad Wrestlemania main event matches, as well as main event problems and he has at least two more months to straighten things out.