The decision to turn The Rock into a genuinely terrifying, but also consistently entertaining version of his ‘Hollywood’ heel character was an inspired turn by everyone involved.
Watching ‘The Final Boss’ cut riveting 20-minute Instagram promos on Cody Rhodes, his mom, and even his dog Pharaoh was absolutely electrifying. However, a secret problem began to arise as Rocky continued to deliver some of the best moments in recent WWE history.
As ‘The People’s Champion’ sucked the life out of ‘The American Nightmare’, roaring “look at you now!” in the pouring rain and generally feeling like the biggest threat in the business, one thought probably crossed every fan’s mind.
Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes was not the match they needed to see. Rocky vs. Cody was the real money blockbuster.
Although Reigns vs. Rhodes II certainly turned out to be a magical rematch, and a nice way to end Cody’s story after Roman and his family took the belt from him a year earlier, Rock’s captivating participation and taunting of Rhodes. The grudge match were the real highlights of that version of ‘Mania 40.
And it was that fact that secretly and inadvertently took some of the shine off the main event of the Second Night of this year’s ‘Show of Shows’.
