Courtesy of the better-late-than-never arrival of WrestleMania XL: Behind the Curtain, WWE fans saw one of their most popular theories come true—the initial plan for WrestleMania 40 was for Roman Reigns to take on The Rock in the main event.
Like the delayed documentary, WWE can deliver greatness by going with that plan again at WrestleMania 41.
That would instantly help next year’s event leapfrog its predecessor and nearly any before it, too.
Fans had a pretty good grasp on how things went during the build to ‘Mania this year before the documentary, of course. Cody Rhodes, one year removed from losing to Reigns, won the Royal Rumble and then appeared to bow out, handing his rumble triumph awkwardly over to Rock.
Then, after the nonsensical development earned major backlash, WWE pulled a big pivot, attempting to make it a “family” matter in which Rock actually sided with Reigns against Rhodes and friends.
The result was a super-predictable triumph for Rhodes and a tag match to close Night 1 that merely felt shoved in there to get Rock on a match. Sure, some of the interferences were fun (though Undertaker over “Stone Cold” Steve Austin will always smack strange for some), but the lines were simply far too blurred for it to work as well as it could have.
Still, last year’s fumbles potentially boost Reigns vs. Rock in a big way, and it would appear that’s where things are heading right now.
It’s certainly not hard to book for WWE, though we could have said that last year before the weird curveballs, too.
Either way, the penciled-in plan is simple—Reigns returns as a massively over babyface opposed to supposed Tribal Chief Solo Sikoa. WWE gets huge bonus points if he’s returning to make the save on say, Jey Uso, should things steer in that direction for the Yeet man himself.
Then, near ‘Mania season, pull back the proverbial curtain on the fact Sikoa and the new members of the Bloodline have been taking direct orders from Rock himself, undermining Reigns. Wham, the two clash at WrestleMania and don’t even need a belt to do it.
Meanwhile, it’s not as if the rest of the roster suffers because of this. The matchup doesn’t need a title. Rhodes can keep doing his thing and Gunther or somebody else can have the other top men’s title while Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan and others give us unforgettable stories elsewhere on the two nights.
One really can’t write a bigger match that will draw in lapsed and even non-wrestling fans than that. So much so, it encouraged WWE to get sloppy with the Rhodes booking last year while attempting to go for it.
But now that there is some serious familial storytelling potential organically built into it, too, the whole angle becomes an even bigger ideal. So much so, when Reigns comes back as a good guy fighting to save family members and potently wrestle control away from a very real corporate heel Rock he’ll earn those massive positive crowd reactions WWE so desperately wanted for years and never earned.
As always, WWE could go a totally different direction at WrestleMania 41 and angle for Rock to fight Rhodes. There’s some natural storytelling there, too, at this point, yes. But Rhodes putting his very real title against Rock’s “People’s Champion” title is, well, about as corny as it sounds. The outcome, even for pro wrestling, is a little too predictable too, because it’s not like the part-timer is going to make the rest of the roster look ridiculous by winning the title—and they just exhausted all of their good storyish interferences and things on the tag match.
With all respect to Rhodes and the rest of the roster, it’s the Bloodline that has been the exclamation point on this new golden age, a testimony to what storytelling in the medium can be. And it has been at its very best when it is a family-based tale, with Sami Zayn the big exception.
As such, keeping it in the family with Reigns and Roman fighting for control is the natural point WWE must seize upon. It just so happens that this is the combination that will generate more eyeballs than any other ‘Mania in history, too.
