You Would've "HATED" WWE's Original Plans For WrestleMania 40
The Rock's right-hand man paints GRIM picture of original WWE WrestleMania 40 plans.
WrestleMania 40 played out as many WWE fans had hoped - with Cody Rhodes finishing his story, felling Roman Reigns, and becoming Undisputed WWE Champion - but the promotion's original plan for the super shoe was something many people would've hated.
"Hated more than anything in life itself," in fact.
These are the words of Brian Gewirtz, the former WWE writer, current creative consultant, and SVP of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's production company, Seven Bucks. Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Gewirtz stated that with WWE originally looking to run The Rock vs. Reigns at 'Mania 40, he found Rhodes winning the 2024 Royal Rumble "problematic". Instead, he wanted CM Punk to take that honour.
Said Gewirtz (h/t Yahoo):
“The idea of Cody winning the Rumble, I saw it as problematic. To be in full transparency I said even in San Diego in that meeting, I thought the cleanest thing to do if we’re booking Rock and Roman is to have Punk win the Rumble and challenge Rollins. Just because there’s a difference storyline-wise, in my opinion, of Cody wanting to finish the story and having earned the right to finish the story by winning the Royal Rumble."
Continuing, Gewirtz said that, without revealing all the details, WWE's original WrestleMania 40 plans would've been reviled. That Punk ended up tearing his triceps during the Rumble changed things, though:
"I can say this with 100% certainty that the original plan is something that you Dave and many, many more people would have hated more than anything in life itself. I can’t overstate that or understate that. I can’t state that any more clearly. But Punk gets hurt, and the dominoes start falling, and things start shifting. Then we get to a point where the WrestleMania press conference is coming up. We need to promote something, a main event of some sort. And now we get to the infamous Birmingham, Alabama promo.”
Punk was largely restricted to a WrestleMania 40 commentary role due to his injury, though he got physical with Drew McIntyre following the Scot's World Heavyweight Title win over Seth Rollins, allowing Damian Priest's successful Money in the Bank cash-in.
Rock's WrestleMania role saw him pin Rhodes during his and Roman's night one tag team match against Cody and Rollins. On night two, the 'Final Boss' was one of many main event interferences as Rhodes battled Reigns, succumbing to a Chokeslam from the Undertaker. The following night's Raw then saw WWE plant seeds for an eventual Rock vs. Rhodes match.