The Rock sends a heated message to Cody Rhodes.
The Rock has become a key player on the road to WrestleMania 40. After Cody Rhodes won the Royal Rumble match, he took a step back as he seemingly agreed to let The Rock face Roman Reigns instead. At the WrestleMania 40 Kickoff Press Conference, Cody changed his mind and confronted Reigns. The Rock then slapped Rhodes and aligned with Reigns.
On March 1, The Rock took to social media and delivered a lengthy message about the road to WrestleMania.
“[Laughs] It has been a big week. It has been a big week in the world of professional wrestling. It has been a big week in the world of the WWE. It has been a big week in the world of The Rock, in the world of ‘The People’s Champion’, in the world of ‘The Great One’, and in the world of ‘The Most Electrifying Man’ walking God’s green earth, daddy. It has been that kind of week. To quote the legend, one of The Rock’s heroes, what’s causing all of this? It’s been that kind of exciting week. Pro wrestling is exciting once again. It’s been decades. Pro wrestling is cool once again. It’s been decades. Pro wrestling is undeniably exciting once again. It’s unpredictable, it’s disruptive because of one man, and that is The Rock because The Rock came into pro wrestling, came back to pro wrestling, a business that The Rock loves, an industry that The Rock was born into. Took professional wrestling, turned it on its head, disrupted the shit out of it, and it will never, ever be the same again. It feels good. It feels so damn good. Whether you like The Rock or you don’t like The Rock, it doesn’t matter because it feels good. Pro wrestling is back on top, and it feels good. But you know what? Here’s the thing. You know what doesn’t feel good? The Rock will tell you what doesn’t feel good. What doesn’t feel good is all the bullshit that The Rock has gotta deal with. All the bullshit that The People’s Champion has got to deal with. All the Cody crybabies out there still running their mouths that The Rock has got to deal with. All the jabronis in the locker room still running their mealy mouths that The Rock has still got to deal with. Cody crybabies, take a look," The Rock said.
The video then played a clip in which Dave LaGreca of Busted Open said he loved Cody and despised The Rock. The Rock responded and sent a message to the Cody crybabies.
"So you see, this is the level of absurdity and bullshit that The Rock has got to deal with. The Rock doesn’t know who that guy is, but he knows what he is, and that’s a goof. An idiot. Another pro-wrestling Cody crybaby jack-off idiot who thinks he knows everything but doesn’t know shit. The guy is sitting in his basement with a bathrobe and. Cody Rhodes t-shirt on, and he’s talking about how much he hates The Rock. You don’t give that guy a podcast. You give him a straitjacket. How much he hates The Rock? [Sarcastically cries, laughs] It has nothing to do with the Board. It has everything to do with common sense, you idiot. To all the Cody crybabies who are grown-ass men, who think you know it all when you don’t know shit, you listen up to The Rock right now, and it has nothing to do with the Board, it has nothing to do with the fact that The Rock owns everything as it relates to The Rock, ‘The People’s Champion’, full ownership, which means that The Rock is the boss. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with common sense," The Rock said.
The Rock explained that the first time Roman Reigns said "head of the table", it was meant to set up an eventual match with him. He then brought up Cody Rhodes' loss to Reigns at WrestleMania 39 as he noted that Cody had his chance.
"Let The Rock drop some gospel on you. Here’s the common sense. When Roman Reigns, years ago, dropped the words, ‘Head of the Table’, those words were specifically and solely set up and created so one day, Roman Reigns, the champion of the WWE, would come face-to-face with his cousin, The Rock, ‘The People’s Champion,’ and together, combined, they will make the biggest WrestleMania of all time. The biggest match of all time. The biggest match in the history of professional wrestling. When Roman Reigns said those words, that’s why he said it. Because that is Roman Reigns’ story. That is The Rock’s story. At one time, that was Cody Rhodes’ story. But it was last year. What happened last year at WrestleMania? What's the technical term? [Laughs] Oh, he shit the bed. That’s what happened," he said.
Moving forward, The Rock brought up his return at WWE Raw: Day 1 and noted that he was testing the waters for a potential match against Reigns. He then highlighted how Cody won the Royal Rumble, but he agreed to take a step back so The Rock could have his WrestleMania match against The Rock.
"Then The Rock comes back on January 1 of this year. It’s a big year. You know it and The Rock knows it. It’s an exciting year, you can feel it in the air. You can feel the mana. 2024, we’re gonna kick it off the right way. The Rock goes out there in front of that crowd and said exactly what he promised he was gonna say because we had an agreement, and that agreement was, The Rock was gonna go out there, and he was gonna test the waters, and he was gonna see how the crowd reacted. Where should The Rock sit? Should The Rock sit in a booth? Crowd didn’t know where I was going. Should The Rock sit at a bar? Ah, a bigger reaction. Yeah, The Rock loves the bar because The Rock loves to have some tequila. Or should The Rock sit at the head of the table? The crowd that night exploded. around the world exploded. Just as sure as The Rock has chills on his arm, the world exploded. Because they knew after all these years, they were finally getting The Rock versus Roman Reigns. The biggest WrestleMania of all time. What happens? Cody Rhodes, he wins the Royal Rumble. Fair and square, works his ass off, and he wins that Royal Rumble, baby. Yeah. He going to WrestleMania. Yeah, good for him. Good for him. The Rock was happy. But what happened? The Rock called Cody Rhodes, had a conversation, but it was a conversation that a few have had with Cody Rhodes before. Because Cody knew the biggest match of all time was looming. The Rock talked to Cody. ‘You know you love this business, The Rock loves this business. You were born into this business, The Rock was born into this business. Roman Reigns was born into this business. The three of us, born into this business. You know, Cody, you got the biggest WrestleMania main event of all time right here. You have an opportunity to bring this business up to places it’s never been before. You can always, with all due respect, finish your story another time.’ You agreed. You agreed. ‘Rock, it stings, but I agree. It stings, but I’m a team player. It stings, but I want what’s best for the business.’ Good man. Good man," The Rock said.
With that agreement in place, The Rock recalled his return on the February 2 episode of WWE SmackDown, where Cody stepped back as he introduced The Rock. The Rock noted that Cody did not root him on. Instead, he looked at him as if The Rock ran over his dog.
"Then what happened? Birmingham, Alabama. A city we selected because of its rich history and we knew we were gonna make history. It was to it job, Cody, to introduce The Rock, thus setting up the biggest main event of all time. What’d you do? You did exactly what we agreed on. Brother, you introduced The Rock, and that place went crazy. The Rock came out, and he dapped you up, he pulled you in and gave a big hug. I whispered something in your ear. ‘Let’s put on the biggest WrestleMania of all time. Let’s do it for ‘The American Dream’. Let’s do it for ‘The Soul Man.’ I gave you a hug, you hugged The Rock back. What’d you do, Cody? You walked out of that ring on live TV. You turned back and you looked at The Rock. Instead of looking at The Rock and saying, ‘Yeah, go get him! Let’s make history.’ Instead of that, you gave The Rock a look, and ya the same look you gave the world, like The Rock went out and ran over your goofy-ass dog. That’s the look you gave. Then sometime from that moment on, until Las Vegas, you changed your mind. You know what? That’s no problem. You can change your mind. You have that right, and The Rock accepts that. Everybody has a right to change their mind. The Rock accepts you changed your mind. But here’s what The Rock doesn’t accept, is how you did it. To all the Cody crybabies and all the goofs out there and the idiots who still complain, Cody, you had a right to change your mind, you won the Royal Rumble. But what The Rock doesn’t accept is how you did it," he said.
The Rock then brought up the WrestleMania 40 Kickoff Press Conference and noted that he saw Rhodes backstage beforehand, but Cody did not say anything to him. He recalled how Rhodes insulted his family and noted that this was where he messed up. The Rock also brought up how Seth Rollins got involved.
"I saw you in Las Vegas, saw you backstage, 20 feet away, Rock dapped you up, gave you a hug. Did you say anything to The Rock then? ‘Hey, Rock, I got something on my mind. I got something that’s eating me up inside.’ Cody, ho ahead, tell me about it. Let’s talk in private. Did you say any of that? No, you didn’t say a thing. But what’d you do? You waited until Roman Reigns walked out there and announced he’s facing The Rock. Then The Rock went out there, showed the entire family tree, proof of the most dominant family in professional wrestling, in entertainment, and in sports, in the world, and accepted Roman Reigns. Accepted the challenge, blood oath, and we were gonna put on the biggest WrestleMania of all time. What’d you do? Then you came out and you interrupted. You said it was bullshit. Yeah, it was bullshit. You can think it’s bullshit, brother. Not a problem. But you know where you really screwed up? It’s when you talk shit about my family. All the Cody crybabies, ‘No, he didn’t, no he didn’t.’ Shut your mouth. You talked shit about my family. What’d you call them, Cody? Then you spoke about Roman’s grandfather, you spoke about my grandfather, the great ‘High Chief’ Peter Maivia. I did to you Cody Rhodes in that moment what I would do to you a million times, which is slap the taste right out of your mouth. Then what happened? [Laughs] The Rock embarrassed you in front of the world, boy. Slapped the shit out of you. You had it coming. Talk shit about my family again. Said it to you then, I’ll say it again. I’ll say it forever. Talk shit about my family again, and I’ll do worse than that. Then what happened? Your new best friend, you got a new best friend, the walking clown show known as Seth Rollins. What did Seth do? The Rock slaps the shit out of you. Seth steps to The Rock. The Rock pushed him back, gave him a little love tap. Get back. Get back, boy. You don’t want any of this. The Rock doesn’t know you. You don’t know The Rock. You don’t want to know The Rock in that way. This is none of your business. The Rock doesn’t know Seth Rollins, never said a word about Seth Rollins, publicly, privately, doesn’t matter. The Rock has no idea," The Rock said.
The video then cut off, and it was subsequently deleted.
The Rock is set to appear on the March 1 episode of WWE SmackDown.
Fightful will have coverage of WWE SmackDown as it airs on March 1.
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