Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Roman Reigns win the WrestleMania main event on Day 1 – a move that sets up new blockbuster duels for WWE fans.
Megastar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is back in the WWE ring – and it doesn’t look like it was a one-off affair.
Day 1 of the WrestleMania 40 mega-show at Philadelphia’s Super Bowl Stadium ended with a veritable bang for the wrestling icon turned Hollywood star, with WWE sowing the seeds for several blockbuster matches in the future
WWE WrestleMania 40: The Rock in top form
As a reminder, The Rock had teamed up with Undisputed Universal Champion Roman Reigns before WrestleMania and joined his group Bloodline. The two battled World Champion Seth Rollins and Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes in the main event of the first night of WrestleMania. The Rock had his sights set on Rhodes in particular, thirsting for revenge for not giving him his WrestleMania title match against Reigns.
For Reigns and “blood brother” Rock, control of the Reigns-Rhodes match was at stake in the match. If Rhodes and Rollins won, the Bloodline including Rock would be banned from the ring, if Reigns and Rock won, “Bloodline Rules” would apply, i.e. no rules, Reigns could defend his title by any means (but Rhodes could win it by any means)
Rock – in physically captivating form and clearly enjoying his old passion – was built up for the showdown in his old role as the evil “heel”. The “Final Boss” teased the son of the late legend Dusty Rhodes with dishonorable attacks on his father and mother, who was sitting in the front row for the fight, among other things.
Cody Rhodes gets pinned by Rock
The turbulent and spectacular match took numerous twists and turns, including Reigns accidentally catching Rock with his Spear Finisher at one point.
Towards the end of the match, Reigns took out Rollins with a spear through the ring barrier, condensing the action into the Rhodes-Bloodline feud. Reigns intervened as Rhodes had also weakened Rock – he had given him the Rock Bottom, his own finisher, through the commentary desk.
A battered but determined Rhodes took control and appeared on the verge of picking up the win with three executions of his special move Cross-Rhodes. However, in a mirror image of the 2023 WrestleMania main event, Rhodes was stopped on the outside before finishing – this time by The Rock, who caught him on the outside with a whip-like belt shot. The “Weight Belt” is actually Cody’s trademark, but Rock had his own model made as a provocation and beat Rhodes up with it several times beforehand.
Rock then completed his work with a Rock Bottom and his acclaimed second special maneuver, the People’s Elbow. As a small salute to his old rival The Undertaker, Rock made the cutthroat gesture beforehand – and then the Bloodline salute, the upraised index finger.
BLOODLINE. RULES.@TheRock just pinned @CodyRhodes at WrestleMania XL and tomorrow night’s main event will be Bloodline Rules! pic.twitter.com/RbQPaGAUZF
– WWE (@WWE) April 7, 2024
WWE opens the door for more big Rock matches
The Rock picked up the win for his team, ensuring that he can also interfere in the Rhodes-Reigns title match. The commentators then portrayed Rhodes’ mission to end Reigns’ record reign since summer 2020 on Day 2 as hopeless – a hint that things might turn out differently.
For now, the show ended with Rhodes – just like last year – sitting dazed and pensive in the ring as Reigns and Rhodes triumphantly exited. Reigns held his title belt aloft, Rock a nostalgic recreation of his old “Brahma Bull” WWE title belt
Deja vu. WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/Sf6cUFTmxz
– WWE (@WWE) April 7, 2024
With the finish of the big match, WWE opened up several options for times to come: A singles match between The Rock and Cody Rhodes now looms – especially since the animosity between the two had already taken center stage in recent weeks, taking up more space than the title rivalry between Reigns and Rhodes. Reigns’ spear against Rock could also be interpreted as a subtle hint that the two will make up for their “Dream Match” at some point.
A title match between Reigns and Rock was actually planned for this WrestleMania and had almost been made official. However, because many WWE fans mutinied and instead demanded the completion of Cody’s long-built title hunt with the “We want Cody!” campaign, WWE changed its mind.
The Rock – since the beginning of the year also part of the management of WWE and UFC parent company TKO – had already hinted before WrestleMania that his comeback would not end with WrestleMania. At the press conference after his match, Johnson followed up by hinting that there “could” be more WWE matches from him.
