WWE Told Cody Rhodes He Would Be Facing Roman Reigns At WrestleMania 40

A new update on the saga between The Rock, Roman Reigns, and Cody Rhodes over the main event of WrestleMania 40 has emerged.

Cody Rhodes looked set to main event WrestleMania 40 and challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship following his Royal Rumble win. That all changed on last week's edition of SmackDown, however, after Rhodes stepped aside for The Rock, claiming that he did so because he wanted to take everything from Roman Reigns and not just his title. The Rock then had a staredown with Roman Reigns to end SmackDown.

It emerged following SmackDown that The Rock had "pushed hard" to main event WrestleMania 40 and his backstage politicking was backed up by TKO executives, who wanted The Rock vs. Roman Reigns to main event WrestleMania 40 instead of Cody Rhodes. It has since been noted, however, that the deal for The Rock vs. Roman Reigns was made back in early January when The Rock agreed to join the TKO Board of Directors and WWE decided to book Cody Rhodes to win the Royal Rumble anyway. 

Fans immediately revolted against The Rock vs. Roman Reigns and The Rock has been booed at every WWE event since SmackDown, with "Rocky Sucks" chants filling Monday Night Raw, reportedly to the surprise of WWE. Reports have since claimed the situation has turned into a work, with WWE looking to turn Cody Rhodes into the new Daniel Bryan. 

In the latest update from Fightful Select, it has been claimed there were meetings in WWE dating back to January 1 and others that have taken place since that 'indicated to Cody Rhodes that the creative direction had not changed, and he was slated to face Reigns at WrestleMania." A select group of people were then informed over Royal Rumble weekend that the plan had changed. On the day of the Royal Rumble, several people within WWE creative were told The Rock vs. Roman Reigns was the plan and merchandise had been made to promote the WrestleMania match. 

Fightful further noted that Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, WWE creative, producers, and others in WWE were not told an elaborate work was the plan. Ahead of the Royal Rumble, CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins was the plan for Mania and that was relayed directly to CM Punk. If the whole situation is a work, Fightful noted, it didn't involve any of those parties ahead of the Royal Rumble. 

The decision for The Rock vs. Roman Reigns over Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns reportedly goes all the way up to Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro, even above Nick Khan and Triple H. 

Since SmackDown, WWE have been heavily monitoring the response to The Rock vs. Roman Reigns and "there were options being discussed moving forward." One report, however, has suggested that The Rock will "100%" be facing Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40. 

All will seemingly be revealed on Thursday during the WrestleMania press conference.