Add as a preferred source on Google Nick Khan, WWE president and TKO board member, once again denied that the company changed plans for the WrestleMania 40 main event after negative fan backlash.
Appearing at SBJ On Stage, Khan said the ending seen in Philadelphia was always the outcome WWE had planned. According to him, the idea was to let the uncertainty build until everything reached the intended result.
“The plan was always how it ended up. Sometimes, it’s a predetermined outcome in wrestling. You want to throw the fans off and let things bake, and then boom, it ends up the way we wanted it to end up. It never changed. That was just online rumors and gossip that we were changing it. It never changed. We convinced Dwayne Johnson to come back. He’s on our board of directors. It was a tag team match. He was in phenomenal shape. He did everything we asked of him and then some, but that was always the result we were looking for.”
The discussion exists because, during the Road to WrestleMania 40, Cody Rhodes appeared to step aside from his match against Roman Reigns, clearing the way for The Rock. Fan reaction, however, was heavily negative, and the match shifted back to Rhodes vs. Reigns.
On WrestleMania 40 Saturday, The Rock and Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, meaning Sunday’s match would be contested under Bloodline Rules.
The next night, Cody defeated Reigns to win the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.