PWInsider.com is told this wasn’t done to target and politic Cody out of his main event out of malice, but out of the belief that Johnson was the best idea to make money now and respect his new position with the company’s parent company. This was a strategic move to give Johnson more political power overall and to show Endeavor’s faith in his involvement and that even Paul Levesque, who has done an admirable job as the Chief Creative Officer, would “lose that power struggle with Johnson at this point”, as one source surmised.

  • JelloBrains@kbin.socialOP
    3·
    5 months ago

    Continued from Above:

    I don’t think anyone, especially privately, would deny that within WWE forces beyond Rhodes’ control changed the board game - and that’s the reality of the new WWE. The old rules don’t matter and Endeavor is going to do what they believe will maximize their business, and their choices may prove to be correct, even if they are unpopular with the audience that has been ravenously following Cody and supporting him the last several years.

    The reality is this: while the story was primed to climax at Wrestlemania 40, there were already some in the company openly talking about the idea of Cody winning the World Heavyweight Championship and then challenging the winner of Roman vs. Rock for Summerslam in a title unification bout so that Cody could finally, really, we promise this time, finish the story.

    That sounds nice in theory but given there is a young audience currently in love with the WWE product and in Rhodes in particular, not giving them what they want - a Rhodes vs. Reigns showdown that they have been all but promised for a year, is quite the creative choice and leap - and one that could prove to be the moment where WWE disenfranchises some of their fans. For all the things that upset fans in the last week, rightfully, about the company, none of the complaints were about the storylines, but overnight, that has changed drastically.

    Several years ago, WWE fans in Philadelphia rejected a Roman Reigns Rumble win because they wanted Daniel Bryan. Even with The Rock making a surprise return to endorse him, Philly booed what was forced upon them. Now, in 2024, WWE has primed Cody Rhodes and will instead walk back into Philly with Rock vs. Roman. Under any other circumstance, that’s a spectacle and an attraction that most fans would celebrate, but in this instance, WWE may have booked themselves into the one scenario where fans don’t want it - because they wanted WWE to finish the story they had already expertly written.

    In 2014, WWE found themselves in a bind when CM Punk walked out of the company. They had no choice but to go with Daniel Bryan, who the audience badly wanted to be the main eventer that year, and it led to some great moments at Wrestlemania 30 when the company just embraced what the audience wanted. This year, the company has done the opposite. They had the hero the audience wanted to embrace and then removed him from that great moment the audience wanted. Whether they will attempt to rectify that for the fans that are let down this morning, possibly by reconfiguring plans again to maneuver Cody back in the mix with Rock and Reigns or just stay the course they have now laid out remains to be seen, but one thing is obvious.

    It doesn’t matter what The Rock’s name is. To a big part of the audience, if the name isn’t Cody, it’s not going to matter, because that’s not the story they want to see.

    But, to others on the outside, it will matter, because it’s The Rock, and that’s what Endeavor and The Rock are counting on - that Dwayne Johnson’s star power will empower the company to the biggest Wrestlemania of all time.