Three times WWE changed their WrestleMania main event plans as Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns III officially scrapped

At the culmination of Survivor Series, WWE started planting the seeds for their WrestleMania 42 main event: Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns III. The two iconic superstars were clearly at odds with each other on that November night in San Diego, and their argument was the final image before the show went off the air. Usually, that is the clearest telltale sign of where WWE will be heading with their next program. 

The story seemingly told itself. Then WWE Champion Rhodes would hang on to his title, while Reigns would win the Rumble, setting up arguably the biggest trilogy of all time. This time, the Tribal Chief would not have his Bloodline stable behind him and would have the fans on his side. However, despite all roads clearly pointing to the trilogy to end all trilogies, WWE would surprisingly change course. 

With fans beginning to turn on Rhodes, he would drop his title to Drew McIntyre. Reigns would indeed win the Rumble, but opted to face World Heavyweight champion CM Punk instead of his long-time rival. Cody has since reclaimed Championship gold, defeating the Scottish warrior on a recent episode of SmackDown. But he will now face former mentor Randy Orton as opposed to Reigns as expected. 

Why the change? Well, one can only speculate. Was it because of the fans’ indifferent reaction to Rhodes post-Survivor Series? Was it because a shock heel turn for the American Nightmare would be more impactful opposite Orton as opposed to Reigns? Right now, we do not know. One thing we do know, however, is that WWE has changed its WrestleMania plans plenty of times in the past. Here are the most notorious of them. 

John Cena turns heel early 

Heading into last year’s WrestleMania, online betting sites made John Cena the favorite to defeat Cody Rhodes and claim a record-breaking 17th world championship. The Bovada sports betting odds on the eve of the contest had the Leader of the Cenation positioned as the clear -250 frontrunner against the +175 underdog American Nightmare. Those odds proved to be entirely correct, and Cena ultimately left Las Vegas with the title and the biggest record in the game. 

But did you know the closest images from Allegiant Stadium were supposed to be far different? 

John Cena was initially supposed to complete his shocking heel turn in the main event itself, using dirty tactics to claim the gold in front of a stunned Vegas crowd. Instead, however, he turned to the dark side two months prior, with WWE President Nick Khan and board member Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson both feeling that something huge was required to close out the Elimination Chamber premium live event in Toronto. 

That “something huge” was ultimately the shocking Cena heel turn, but would his bad guy run have been more successful had the turn happened on the Grandest Stage of Them All? We will never know.

Cody Rhodes forces The Rock onto the sidelines 

Throughout the back end of 2023 and early 2024, WWE fans were fully invested in Cody Rhodes’ march to the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. The American Nightmare had been beaten in controversial fashion by Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles, with the Tribal Chief continuing in his three-plus-year reign as champion, much to the dismay of the WWE Universe. When Rhodes won the Royal Rumble for the second year in a row in February 2024, it seemed for all the world that the rematch was on. 

However, earlier on that day, WWE Head of Creative Triple H informed Rhodes that while he would be winning the Royal Rumble, he wouldn’t be facing Reigns. Instead, The Rock would be returning to face off with his real-life cousin Reigns in a blockbuster clash years in the making. What WWE didn’t expect, however, was for fans to rally behind their hero. 

#WeWantCody was the top trend on X – formerly known as Twitter – for 72 hours straight, garnering tens of millions of posts, likes, interactions, you name it. As a result, WWE was forced to change course. Rhodes would indeed face Reigns, winning the title in Philadelphia and ending the Head of the Table’s record-breaking reign at a whopping 1,316 days. The Rock was forced into an unexpected role, aligning with Reigns and joining the Bloodline as opposed to facing him in the main event as planned. 

The Yes! Movement

Throughout 2013, Daniel Bryan emerged out of nowhere to become the darling of the WWE Universe. The submission specialist shockingly beat John Cena for the WWE Championship at August’s SummerSlam pay-per-view, only to have the title ripped away from him by Randy Orton and the Authority. Throughout the rest of the year, he would chase Orton for the gold, only to be screwed out of the championship on each occasion. 

When the calendar ticked into 2014, behind the scenes, WWE was hoping that the “Yes! Movement” would quietly fade away. Fans were hoping Bryan would win the Royal Rumble, but he didn’t even compete, resulting in the beloved Rey Mysterio receiving the worst reception of his career when he appeared at number 30. When Batista went on to win the match, the reaction got even worse. 

Twitter became overrun with livid fans, with threats of supporters literally hijacking episodes of Monday Night Raw. That noise became too much for WWE to ignore, and they would duly change course. Rather than facing Sheamus in a throwaway match at WrestleMania 30 as initially planned, Bryan would face off and defeat Triple H. That win propelled him into the main event against champion Orton and Rumble winner Batista, and Bryan would emerge victorious again to claim the World Heavyweight Championship. 

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