Huge Loss for Roman Reigns After Fans Favor Cody Rhodes as The Rock’s Return Opponent in Potential Comeback to WWE

The 2023 Royal Rumble is in the books. The event ended with Roman Reigns and the Bloodline decimating Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. However, earlier, the finish of the Men’s Royal Rumble match seemed to squash the rumors of the return of a beloved Attitude Era wrestler.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has long been rumored to be making his WWE return in 2023. Fans and dirt sheets speculated that the Brahma Bull would be taking on his real-life cousin, Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania. However, the ending to the men’s 2023 Royal Rumble seems to have poured water all over this prospective dream match.

Cody Rhodes, the American Nightmare won the Men’s Royal Rumble. And as per the match’s stipulation, Cody will have the chance to receive a title shot of his choice at Wrestlemania 39`. Since the WWE’s world titles have been unified by Roman Reigns, it is safe to assume that Dusty Rhodes’ son will be taking on the Tribal Chief at WrestleMania 39.

Cody vs Reigns is not a dud by any means. But the match between Reigns and The Rock was sought after ever since the former shield member turned heel and adopted the “Tribal Chief” gimmick.  Surely, missing out on the two Samoans going at it will greatly disappoint fans.

Will The Rock fight Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 39 despite Cody Rhodes’ Royal Rumble win?

Earlier, Dave Meltzer had reported that The Rock was not going to appear at the Royal Rumble because he wasn’t in the best of shape. However, Triple H seemed to dismiss this at the post-Royal Rumble press conference. Hunter cited the Great One’s busy schedule as the reason for his absence.

However, there might still be a chance that the Rock and Roman Reigns face off at Wrestlemania 39. And there are a few ways that the WWE could still book this match. The simplest of these solutions is to book a triple threat at Mania 39.

The Rock can simply waltz onto the scene and demand a match against Reigns at WrestleMania, given his insane popularity. And if there’s something that has proven to be a guaranteed hit, it is a triple-threat Wrestlemania main event. Wrestlemania 20, 30, and most recently, 37 have all had triple threats in their main events and every single match has been excellent.

Another route the WWE could take would be to have Roman Reigns fight twice on the WrestleMania card, a la Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania 30. With Wrestlemania now being a two-day affair, this will also be much easier for Reigns to manage.

Even so, Reigns vs Rhodes for the unified world titles at Mania 39 seems to be the most obvious outcome. However, fans will hope that the dream match between the Tribal Chief and The Rock does happen somewhere down the line.