Original Plans For Roman Reigns Vs Cody Rhodes Revealed

WWE had different plans for Cody Rhodes.

After returning to WWE at WrestleMania 38, Cody Rhodes engaged in a heated rivalry with Seth Rollins which saw him sustain a torn pec. The injury caused him to miss several months of action, but the star returned to win the Royal Rumble before going on to challenge Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39.

However, despite overwhelming fan support, Rhodes lost to Reigns and was forced to wait until WrestleMania 40 to finally finish the story.

While discussing Vince McMahon’s lasting impact on WWE storylines, and a belief from some that he laid the foundations for Triple H’s recent success, Dave Meltzer noted it was McMahon’s decision to have Rhodes lose at WrestleMania 39. However, that’s not to say he overruled The Game to make it happen.

Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer explained how the original plans came together, and why they were changed.

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.

Roman Reigns Making WWE Impact Despite Absence

While Rhodes has dominated WWE programming since his emotional win, The Tribal Chief has been absent. However, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been having an impact on recent storylines.

According to a new report, Roman Reigns will continue to have “substantial creative input” on Bloodline storylines, during his time away.

There is no word on when Reigns will be back in action. At present, he’s not advertised to appear until the SmackDown before SummerSlam.