WWE finally aired “WrestleMania XL: Behind the Curtain” documentary tonight, featuring The Rock, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins & Triple H. Below are the highlights:
– In December 2021, The Rock talked to Nick Khan about a match against Roman Reigns for the first time ever. The match was even teased on Young Rock in April 2022.
– After the WWE-UFC merger, The Rock began talking with Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, who has been his business partner for 20 years, about how he can bring more value to the company.
– The Rock appeared on The Pat McAfee Show in September 2023 and revealed for the first time that him vs. Roman Reigns was locked in for WrestleMania 39, but there was something missing, so they didn’t do it. Rock then teased this match for WrestleMania 40. The Rock returned to WWE programming after 4 years on the same day on SmackDown and felt that everything was right and falling in place.
– On January 1, 2024, the main event of WrestleMania 40 on paper was Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes. However, The Rock was recommended to test the waters that night on RAW. After the overwhelming positive reaction, Paul Heyman said they had another option on the table for the main event of WrestleMania XL – The Rock vs. Roman Reigns.
– Triple H said you could argue that The Rock vs. Roman Reigns is a bigger match than Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes II.
– HHH said they agreed to continue to run the Roman vs. Rock storyline adjacent to the Roman vs. Cody storyline, because that’s important, but also start to explore what this other main event could look like.
– On the day of Royal Rumble 2024, Triple H told Cody Rhodes that the match between Roman and Rock at WrestleMania 40 is becoming more of a reality. Nobody outside of Cody knew about this.
– Triple H said he felt like if Cody lost here, it damages him. HHH said Cody had to win the Royal Rumble and they’ll see the reaction, and then go from there.
– HHH confirmed that the initial plan for Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40 was to face CM Punk, but Punk got hurt at the Rumble. So, at the time of RAW after Royal Rumble, both the Men’s World Titles matches at WrestleMania were up in the air.
– On the February 2nd episode of SmackDown, when Cody handed his WrestleMania spot to The Rock, Roman Reigns vs. The Rock was set internally. After this, Triple H wasn’t sure what Cody would do at WrestleMania.
– The Rock said they had marketing strategies planned for his match against Roman that would’ve pulled the outside world to the WWE product. Rock said this would’ve been the “first chapter of a few”, thus hinting at multiple matches against Reigns. However, The Rock didn’t want to do it if there was even a segment of fans that didn’t want it at WrestleMania 40.
– Rock knew that the choice was essentially his – either they truck through this and do this main event, or they don’t. Rock then pitched the idea of Cody finishing his story.
– Bruce Prichard said they were able to pivot because they never officially announced The Rock vs. Roman Reigns for WrestleMania 40 after the face-off on SmackDown.
– Brian Gewirtz then pitched the idea of a tag team match on Night 1 with a stipulation that would impact the main event of Night 2.
– Rock then informed Nick Khan and Ari Enamuel that they are going to see Rock 10.0 now with “The Final Boss” character. Nick said “love it” and Ari said “f**king love it, go for it”. Rock this was the most gratifying decision that he has ever made.
You can watch the complete documentary below:
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