12 Upcoming Wrestling Stories That Are Already Doomed

1. Cody Rhodes vs. The Rock

Brock Lesnar John Cena
WWE.com

Cody Rhodes and The Rock seem destined to go back and forth with one another per the latter's whims if the WrestleMania 40 and 41 builds are anything to go by, but it's precisely this reason why there will never be a pot of gold waiting for any of us by the time the pair take all of Dwayne Johnson's 20 steps (or however many it is now) to the end of the rainbow.

It's been three decades, and still, Rocky sucks. Enveloped in the idea of self-satisfied storyline "chaos" whilst instead just serving to legitimately tear through whatever plans happen when he's not around, Johnson is a rotten fit when he makes his creative presence felt. That's not to say good things don't spring forth from some of his interjections, with 2024's 'Final Boss' iteration in particular making good on perhaps his best ever temporary return to the weekly product. But he repeatedly sets or creates half-baked expectations that can't be met, is very clearly most concerned with the integrity of his own detached persona more than anybody else's, and effectively stands now as the figure of influence most reminiscent of WWE's creatively bankrupt nadir. 

Rock pinned Cody at WrestleMania 40, 24 hours before he became WWE Champion. Cody told Rock to "go f*ck" himself at Elimination Chamber 2025 when Rock wanted his soul, having put him over glowingly at the Raw Netlfix premiere just a month earlier. They will surely have a match down the line, but like everything else, it will reek of something else made up as they went along rather than a detailed, elegant story spanning years. 

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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett