WrestleMania XL: Cody Rhodes to Face Roman Reigns for Undisputed WWE Universal Title; The Rock Slaps Rhodes (Watch Videos)

The WrestleMania 40 press conference in Las Vegas was nothing if not explosive. For the entirety of the men's segments, chants of "We want Cody", "let's go Rocky", and "Rocky sucks" reverberated off of the walls of the arena. Roman Reigns made the first move by announcing that he wants to face Dwayne Johnson, "The Rock", in Philadelphia. "The Rock" came out immediately after to greet Las Vegas. Johnson stood silent for several minutes as the audience continuously chanted boo's and off-handed comments. Once the crowd offered a moment of quiet, Johnson formally welcomed the many media journalists in attendance and introduced them to the "Cody Crybabies".

Johnson presented a picture of the extensive Anoa family tree. He spoke about how Amituana'i Anoa'i and Fanene Anderson (formerly known as Peter Maivia), Reigns' and Johnson's grandfathers, respectively, tied together their lineages in a blood oath to become aiga or family. Johnson leveraged the history of the Anoa'i clan and their contributions to professional wrestling in order to validate a match between him and Reigns at WrestleMania 40.

This is absolute madness. 😳@TheRock and @WWERomanReigns are NOT happy with @TripleH following the #WrestleMania XL Kickoff. pic.twitter.com/5bt0bYrvPB

— WWE (@WWE) February 9, 2024

Rhodes made his presence known with a little introduction and confronted Reigns and Johnson directly. He chastised Reigns for seizing the Royal Rumble victor's power to choose any champion at WrestleMania. Rhodes reclaimed that power and told Reigns, Johnson, Seth Rollins, and the entire world that he would be meeting Reigns in Philadelphia for WrestleMania 40.

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Reigns attempted to invoke Rhodes' father and his forgotten legacy to demoralise Rhodes. "The American Nightmare" shot back and invoked both Reigns' and Johnson's family-based reasoning. He claimed that Reigns did not care about family, given his treatment of Jey Uso, and that Reigns was just a "meal ticket". He also criticised the reasoning behind a match with Reigns and Johnson, claiming that the two men were fighting to be the head of the table, but neither had cooked or performed in two years. Rhodes told Reigns and Johnson that their grandfathers, should they be alive, would be ashamed of where their grandsons were.

Johnson did not take too kindly to Rhodes' comments, and reminded Rhodes that any attack on Reigns' lineage was an attack on his (Johnson). Johnson physically attacked Rhodes, and it took the efforts of multiple WWE officials to separate all involved parties. The fans chanted and whooped as Rhodes, Johnson, and Rollins hurled expletives at each other, and Rhodes was escorted off the stage.

The Rock Slaps Cody Rhodes:

THE ROCK JUST SLAPPED CODY RHODES OH MY GOD.#WrestleManiapic.twitter.com/Goh4HJEkpX

— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) February 9, 2024

While "The Rock" has expressed a strong desire to be an active participant in Reigns' WrestleMania 40 plans, his official place in the match has yet to be determined. As of writing, Rhodes has officially chosen to challenge Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania XL.