The Rock & Cody Rhodes come to blows at WrestleMania 40 Kickoff: Main event still in flux

Brad Norton
The Rock and Cody Rhodes square off at WrestleMania 40 Kickoff

Push came to shove at the WrestleMania 40 Kickoff event as The Rock and Cody Rhodes came to blows on stage amid the ongoing main event turmoil.

WrestleMania 40 is drawing closer and yet with each passing day, we’re still no closer to learning its main event. Despite winning the Royal Rumble, Cody Rhodes seemingly opted not to challenge the Tribal Chief in a highly anticipated WWE rematch with Roman Reigns.

Instead, he all but gave the spot to The Rock during an extremely controversial segment on SmackDown. Now, with #WeWantCody trending for nearly a week, and chants ringing through stadiums around America, could plans be changing once again?

The WrestleMania 40 Kickoff show in Las Vegas was meant to clear some of the air. Though now that it’s in the books, after a fiery end that saw all parties exchange blows on stage, the main event is still left unresolved.

Following a brief moment where former Shield allies reunited on stage to throw barbs at one another, Roman Reigns claimed the onus was now on him to decide on a WrestleMania 40 opponent after Cody Rhodes ‘hesistated.’ “It’s not longer his decision, it’s the Tribal Chief’s decision.”

Soon after ‘choosing’ The Rock as his opponent, the man himself came on stage to a mixed reaction. While met with initial applause as, ‘The Great One’ was soon hailed with booes as “we want Cody” chants echoed through the arena.

“Do you think The Rock and Roman Reigns will be the biggest main event in the history of the WWE?” he questioned, before shutting everyone done with his trademark line: “It doesn’t matter what you think. “The Universal Champion vs The People’s Champion, whether you like it or you don’t like it.”

Interrupting family business, Cody Rhodes then made his entrance, simply stating “This right here is bullsh**.”

“I have made my decision,” he continued. “At WrestleMania 40, in the main event, I choose you Roman Reigns.”

Before long, tensions boiled over, Reigns mentioned Dusty Rhodes, Cody implied the bloodline’s family tree would be “ashamed,” and would you believe it, push them came to show.”

Defending his relative, The Rock threw the first blow, slapping Cody Rhodes before security, general mangers, and Triple H stepped in.

“If you don’t fix it, we will,” The Rock then said backstage to Triple H, swearing plenty in the process.

So for now, the WrestleMania main event picture remains cloudy at best. Will Cody get to finish his story? Will The Rock vs Roman Reigns be booed out the venue? Or will some mixture take shape to appease the vocal WWE universe?

We’ll just have to wait and see as the road to WrestleMania continues heating up in the coming weeks.

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About The Author

Brad Norton is the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. He graduated from Swinburne University with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and has been working full-time in the field for the past six years at the likes of Gamurs Group and now Dexerto. He loves all things single-player gaming (with Uncharted a personal favorite) but has a history on the competitive side having previously run Oceanic esports org Mindfreak. You can contact Brad at brad.norton@dexerto.com