12 Biggest "What If" Scenarios In WWE WrestleMania History
2. WrestleMania 40: What If WWE Doesn’t Pivot?
Cody Rhodes’ return to WWE has been driven by one central quest that fans came to know well: Finish the story. It was his entire purpose, a quest he set out on immediately and came close to completing at WrestleMania 39. When that failed, he soldiered on toward WrestleMania 40.
…Until The Rock happened.
The story is well known and was the subject of a WWE-produced documentary, so there’s no reason to explain recent history in excruciating detail. But what would have happened if WWE didn’t switch gears and stuck with The Rock facing Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, with Cody taking on Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship?
Quite simply, it wouldn’t have worked. Fans had invested two years of following Rhodes’ journey, which is an eternity in today’s wrestling world, and they likely would not have had any patience for being baited-and-switched again. There could have been a Daniel Bryan-level fan hijacking of the product, like we saw in 2014 heading into WrestleMania 30. Or fans could have thrown their hands up and just tuned out.
Maybe The Rock and Reigns would have made magic – or at least chicken salad out of chicken sh**. But Cody likely would have been done as a conquering hero – at least to a segment of the fanbase. His aura would have been greatly diminished, as fans already were peeved at the brief shift post-Royal Rumble. That sentiment only would have deepened.
There’s a very real question of whether there would have been serious backlash against WWE had they pushed Rhodes aside for The Rock and charged ahead regardless of fan reaction. Anticipation heading into WrestleMania 40 in the “prime universe” was at an all-time high. Fans could have “taken a walk,” or at the very least their investment in the product would have been blunted.
In actuality, one could write an entire alternate history where CM Punk doesn’t get injured at the Rumble and Rock takes Cody’s spot. Try booking that WrestleMania 40…