Brian Gewirtz gives more insight into the road to WrestleMania XL.
On the February 2 episode of WWE SmackDown, Cody Rhodes told Roman Reigns he was going to take everything from him. Just not at WrestleMania. Rhodes, who won the men's Royal Rumble, then introduced The Rock who confronted Reigns and seemingly set up a bout between the two at WrestleMania XL, with Rhodes stepping aside.
Fans rallied behind Cody over the following weekend, and less than a week later at the WrestleMania XL Kickoff, the direction of WrestleMania XL changed with Rock aligning with Roman instead of opposing him.
Speaking on the Masked Man Show, Seven Bucks SVP Brian Gewirtz said the plan of Cody's promo looked different on paper.
"Cody is a human being who is genuine and real, and he wears his heart and emotion on his sleeve. In Alabama [February 2nd WWE SmackDown], certainly, even if you tell me, 'that would never work, it's stupid to propose it.' The idea was supposed to be, it's like the Nixon-Kenedy debate a little bit where you read the transcript, you're like 'Nixon kicked his ass.' If you watch the actual footage, 'Oh, he was a sweaty terrible mess.' Cody, it was supposed to be, in some form, 'Yeah, Fuckin A! Go get em Rock! You're going to get your ass kicked, Roman! Let's do this!' and this uplifting promo. Instead, he looked like someone shot his dog in the face in the parking lot. Just look at his expression. By the way, someone else, even when the team wins, looks forlorn and upset and despondent. Julius Randle [laughs].
"That, I don't think, helped matters. It might not have changed or affected anything. Certainly, on paper, and I don't blame Cody for that, he's real and one of the realest people I've ever met. He said what he had to say in the promo, but you couldn't mask what he was really feeling, and I think the fans felt that a lot. They felt like 'he doesn't mean a word of this. This is being forced for him to say.' He's despondent. He's literally doing the Michael Cera-Arrested Development, Charlie Brown walk out of the arena when he's supposed to be on cloud nine. I think that had a lot to do with it."
Rock would take on the persona of The Final Boss, teaming with Reigns to face Seth Rollins & Rhodes at night one of WrestleMania XL.
Elsewhere during the interview, Gewirtz gave an update on the WrestleMania XL documentary. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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