• Triple H Opposed Major Roman Reigns Victory
The finish to WrestleMania 39 was not the result of a single, unanimous decision.
A new report from the Wrestling Observer outlines how Roman Reigns retaining the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship over Cody Rhodes came together, despite internal disagreement.
According to the report, Rhodes was originally expected to win the title at the 2023 event. That direction changed after Reigns personally proposed delaying the title change, arguing that a loss for Rhodes would make a future victory carry greater impact.
That approach was not immediately supported by Triple H. Paul Levesque reportedly preferred a clean shift in direction and viewed Rhodes as the right choice to signal a “change of eras across the board” in WWE.
Despite that stance, Levesque ultimately backed the revised plan. The report notes that it is unclear whether that support reflected agreement with the long-term vision or a desire to remain aligned with Vince McMahon, who still held final authority over creative decisions at the time, a fact later reinforced through court filings.
McMahon signed off on Reigns’ proposal, believing it was the stronger business move. WWE saw WrestleMania 40 surpass the previous year in scale, following Rhodes’ eventual championship win.
• Tony Khan Reacts To Cody Rhodes Feeling Disrespected In AEW
Before WWE SummerSlam 2025, Cody Rhodes appeared on The Bill Simmons podcast and said the following about his AEW departure:
“There’s clearly bad blood, but there’s also clearly respect and love. In the end, the way I see it is, if I felt disrespected ever at WWE, that’s one thing. That’s a company that was built… that’s the Yankees. That’s the flagship of it all. If I ever felt (at WWE) that I was a number on a sheet, maybe, but feeling disrespected at something I built with my friends. That we built. Feeling disrespected there, I wouldn’t stand for it.
Brandi and I both, I’m so blessed to have her. It was one of those where it was, f**k it. ‘I did way more here than you think, and you’re going to find out the moment I’m out the door.’ I don’t believe in the cold-hearted backstabbing type of revenge. The greatest revenge on Earth is success.
I felt like we were sitting on something wonderful. Something great. A huge, potentially, what I was doing with The American Nightmare, as a bad guy, as a good guy, something in between. We’re sitting on some magic. If I’m not going to do it in the house that I literally, with Matt, Nick, and Kenny built, then buddy, I’m going elsewhere.”
During an interview with Case Lowe of Q101, AEW President Tony Khan addressed Cody’s comments:
“He does a lot of interviews and I think when you have to say so many words so often…he works so hard, he has such a big schedule. To his credit, I bet he does hundreds of interviews a year.
I’m not sure I agree with that, but I also would give him the benefit of the doubt, I’ve heard him say a lot of positive things too. For somebody that doesn’t work here and that’s involved in a competitive promotion, he’s usually pretty gracious with the things that he says.
I’ve seen him since he’s been gone and it’s always been very positive and good. I have only good things to say about him and his contributions here.”
