WWE Scrapped Plans To Make The Rock World Champion

The Rock was almost the man to dethrone Roman Reigns.

While it seems impossible to many that WrestleMania 40 could have ended with anything other than Cody Rhodes standing tall over Roman Reigns, that outcome nearly happened.

It had previously been reported there was a pitch for Rhodes to be involved in an injury angle as a way of moving The Rock into position to face Reigns at the specular. In a new report in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer has now offered more details, explaining a pitch for Rock to become World Champion.

At one point there was an idea that Rock would win the title from Reigns, and then give up the title to go to Hollywood and end the streak, but always call himself “The People’s Champion,” which is where that idea and belt came in, which was long before the Hall of Fame ceremony.

The idea that many were fighting against was the title win, and then Reigns after losing getting it back and then losing again to Rhodes, feeling that would greatly hurt Rhodes’ eventual win, and Rhodes was the guy who was going to have to carry the company in 2024 and 2025.

Others were strongly against that, saying no matter what happened as far as Rock getting the match, he could not win the title and Rhodes had to be the one who beats Reigns first and wins the title first.

Some Backstage Frustrated By The Rock

Meanwhile, it’s been reported there was a level of resentment backstage with some upset that The Rock tried to take credit for “making wrestling cool again.” The report added there were even some who felt Rock came back to WWE in search of a win and some positive publicity after a couple of high-profile projects ended in failure.

It’s previously been suggested that The Rock will be back in WWE in time to face Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41.