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Why Did The Rock Turn Heel Before His Match Against Roman Reigns At WrestleMania 40? Find Out
The Rock’s heel turn ahead of WrestleMania 40 has perplexed many wrestling observers. Know why The Rock might have taken a heel turn and what motives the WWE might have behind it.
The Rock slapping Cody Rhodes at the WrestleMania 40 press meet, weeks after he hugged the same man on Friday Night SmackDown, speaks volumes of WWE’s plans for ‘The Great One’.
The slap to Rhodes was an iconic moment in WWE’s history as well as The Rock’s career because that cements his position as a heel face, a character he is set to return to nearly after 21 years.
But the question remains: Why would ‘The Rock’ turn into a heel ahead of his most probable last match in his WWE career at WrestleMania 40?
Here are 3 reasons why The Rock turned heel
Giving the WWE Universe what they want
As per WWE COO Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque’s promise, which is to ‘give WWE Universe what they want,’ it seems that the creative team built a new strategy to give a heel turn to The Rock’s character after ‘Rocky Sucks’ chants.
It was most probably an out-of-the-box reaction by the fans when they gave a thumbs down to The Rock vs Roman Reigns WrestleMania 40 match and instead backed Cody Rhodes for it. Maybe it was part of a strategy to push Cody Rhodes ahead of the marquee match at WrestleMania, as per some reports, or perhaps it was decided when an overwhelming response came against ‘The Rock.’ In both circumstances, the company wants to give fans what they ultimately want.
Reinvention of the character
It is well known that The Rock’s heel turn in 2003, when he wrestled Goldberg at ‘Backlash,’ and even Hulk Hogan at ‘No Way Out,’ was a huge success with the audience. ‘The Great One’ insulted the audience, and the WWE Universe bought it. Even though he lost against Goldberg, The Rock’s popularity with the WWE Universe remained intact.
However, The Rock turned a babyface in 2004 when he had a brief return to assist Mick Foley against The Evolution (Randy Orton, Batista, and Ric Flair) at WrestleMania 20. After that, The Rock got busy in Hollywood and returned as a babyface again in 2011, and his heel turn was never seen again.
Building Cody Rhodes ahead of WrestleMania 40
A big reason why Cody Rhodes could not ‘finish his story’ at WrestleMania 39 against Roman Reigns, despite winning the Royal Rumble, was because the company didn’t think he was prepared for it.
So, to prepare him for that in WrestleMania 40, it might be a strategy of WWE to use The Rock’s heelface to make Cody Rhodes become the biggest babyface in the history of the company.
According to journalist Dave Meltzer, ‘the company knew it.’ He said that WWE was well aware that replacing Rhodes with The Rock would have a negative reaction, and they might then use it to build Rhodes against Reigns for the main event of WrestleMania 40.
Now, since Rhodes is getting massive support from the fans, which is equivalent to what once Daniel Bryan had, the stage is all set for him to clinch the title from Roman Reigns.
What might happen on the first night of WrestleMania 40 might be that The Rock might face Roman Reigns, lose it, and then on the second night, Cody Rhodes beats Reigns to finally become the WWE Undisputed Universal Champion.
ALSO READ: The Rock Reacts to WWE Fans Sending Death Threats to Daughter Ava Over WrestleMania 40 Storyline
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