“Throw out the stats,” screams Dave LaGreca, self-described radio personality and longtime pro-wrestling fan, in an episode of the podcast Busted Open on February 5th of this year. “Throw out how the WWE was trending number one worldwide. Oh, what was the trend? #WeWantCody! Also, you want facts? You want stats? How ‘bout this? On RAW when [Micheal Cole] is throwing out all those stats, all those papers [he] has in front of [him], they got the stats – I want you to throw out this stat! I want you to throw out the YouTube video of The Rock coming out there on SmackDown was the most disliked video on YouTube in WWE history! Think about that! Show that stat, Cole! The number one most disliked video in the history of the WWE!”
Fans like LaGreca are clearly invested in the world of wrestling, but how did the passion grow to this point? What, exactly, makes him so invested in a sport that is known for over-the-top acting and pre-planned endings?
In 1985, wrestling was a very regional sport. It was not as mainstream as it is today. Part of the success of the World Wrestling Entertainment company – known as the WWE to many – was due to WrestleMania. The first WrestleMania took place in 1985, back when WWE was still WWF. Celebrities such as Cyndi Lauper, Muhammed Ali, Liberace, The Rockettes, and Billy Martin all made appearances on the broadcast. Their appearances and the marketing of the first WrestleMania helped draw in a new audience.
As the brand grew, it became known for its ‘Superstars’. One of their most popular Superstars is Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. He may have gotten his start in WWE, but his transition into the film industry has appealed him to a wider audience than ever before. For example, in 2023 the podcast Mostly Nitpicking, a podcast that nitpicks popular movies, devoted the entire month of October to The Rock’s filmography. As one of the WWE’s top-billed Superstars, it would ensure financial success for both The Rock and the WWE if he were to return and face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania for the Undisputed WWE Universal Title. In fact, it is reported that The Rock earned $30 million just for signing onto this deal.
At the WWE’s WrestleMania Press Conference, The Rock unveiled a robust family tree of the Bloodline. This family tree included great Samoan wrestlers such as Rikishi, Yokozuna, Jimmy and Jey Uso, and Roman Reigns. Roman Reigns is one of the WWE’s most popular modern superstars. He got started as a member of the Shield, a tag team featuring Seth Rollins and former WWE wrestler Dean Ambrose. Early in his career, he was a ‘face’ or one of the ‘good guys’, and it was easy for fans to root for the character when off-stage, Roman Reigns was battling leukemia. However, in 2020 when he returned, Reigns founded The Bloodline stable. This included Jimmy and Jey Uso, Paul Heyman, Solo Sikoa, and at least temporarily, Sami Zayn. Reigns established himself as the ‘Head of the Table’ or the ‘Tribal Chief’, shouting ‘Acknowledge me!’ as he entered countless arenas across the U.S.A.
With Reigns’ popularity, it comes as no surprise that he has held the title of Undisputed WWE Universal Champion for over 1,240 days. This makes it very possible for Reigns to beat Hulk Hogan’s record of 1,474 days as champion from 1984 to 1988. While this record isn’t the most impressive – Bruno Sanmartino held a title for 2,803 days and Bob Backlund held a title for 2,135 days – it is a motivator for the writers’ room to keep Reigns as champion post-WrestleMania.
What keeps the interest of many WWE fans is the storylines. Fans watch weekly to see the storylines continue. The reason the viewership for the WWE is still consistent despite the paywalled content and move to Peacock is fan investment. In the podcast episode “Cody Rhodes is Back in the Main Event of WrestleMania 40!”, Dave LaGreca and Thunderrosa, a pro wrestler, discuss this.
“Did you used to call ‘em your stories?” LaGreca asks.
“No, I used to be like, ‘I’m gonna go watch the novelas’ and that… So that’s exactly what I watched yesterday, straight up Mexican novela action… there’s two families fighting David… the premise of the best novellas I ever seen in my life. So if you don’t like novelas, don’t tell me you don’t like novelas. You are watching a novela every single week, three times, four times, five times a week,” she replies passionately.
Nowhere is this investment more evident than with WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes. Rhodes is part of a wrestling family that includes father Dusty Rhodes and half-brother Goldust, and that legacy is a large part of the fans’ initial reactions to Rhodes. He wrestled in WWE from 2006 to 2017 before leaving to pursue other career avenues. Rhodes returned at WrestleMania XXXVIII as a surprise opponent to Seth Rollins. One of his most notable matches was at WWE Hell in a Cell where Rhodes wrestled through a torn pectoral muscle. This moment was the moment that the fans truly began to rally behind Rhodes. He was viewed as a determined, hard-working champion; his motives were easy to understand, and the fans saw his grit as relatable.
‘Finish the story!’ is a phrase that frequently gets thrown around when it comes to Rhodes’ WWE character arc. In 2023, Rhodes returned from his injury to compete in – and win – the Royal Rumble, outlasting and defeating 29 other male Superstars. The winner of the Royal Rumble gains the right to challenge the champion. The story went all the way to WrestleMania XXXIX. Rhodes lost the match against Roman Reigns due to interference from Solo Sikoa, one of the members of the Bloodline. Fans were outraged. If you look at social media from around that time, the mixed reactions are evident, but the distress and shock from the fans prevailed.
Rhodes would go on to win the Royal Rumble for the second year in a row. However, on February 2nd of 2024, Rhodes’ storyline would be forever changed. On February 2nd of 2024, The Rock made his return to the world of WWE for the first time in over a decade.
The segment on SmackDown began with Roman Reigns ‘cutting a promo’ and trash-talking Seth Rollins and his championship.
“Cody, I’m not going to beg you like [Seth Rollins]. You can either be the very best number two in this industry, or you can take a crack at number one again. It’s your choice,” said Reigns. Suddenly, Rhodes’ entrance music blared through the speakers of the Legacy Arena. The crowd went wild. The camera panned to multiple fans with signs as they excitedly jumped up and down. As he entered the squared circle, the tension was palpable, and the fans chanted Rhodes’ name for a bit.
“So, Birmingham, Alabama! Roman Reigns!” The crowd grew vociferous with cheers as they were acknowledged and boos as Reigns’ name was spoken. “What do you want to talk about? You know, I imagined this conversation a little bit more private. If you’ll indulge me, perhaps we can have the ring to ourselves.” The other members of the Bloodline reluctantly left the ring. Once again, the ‘Cody’ chants could be heard. “So, I took a great deal of counsel this week. I talked to friends, family, legends… you know, you cheated me. I had you, more than anybody that you’ve been in the ring with. I had you, and I think you know it. Seth Rollins, he’s made a lot of amazing points this week, but one of them that I disagree with – he called [the Undisputed WWE Universal Title] the Hollywood title. You can call it whatever you want. That’s still the title that Bruno Sanmartino held. It’s still the title that was put into my father’s hands in Madison Square Garden and swiftly taken away. Again, call it whatever you want – I still want that title. Let me ask you: what is ‘finishing the story’? ‘Cause I’ve heard you say that all of this… is yours… [Everything belongs] to Roman Reigns, apparently. So, is finishing the story taking that championship from you, or is finishing the story taking everything from you?” Once again, a loud cheer echoed through the stadium. “Let me make it abundantly clear: I want that title. Matter of fact, I’m moving my own goalpost. I want that title, I want everything, and I am coming for it. I am coming for you, Roman Reigns… but not at WrestleMania. I mentioned taking counsel. Roman, one of the individuals I talked to, he knows you very well.”
At that moment, The Rock’s entrance music started playing. Once again, the stadium erupted. Rhodes stepped aside and gestured to The Rock. The Rock entered the ring and glared at Reigns until commercial break. The implication: the cousins would face each other at this year’s WrestleMania. The fan reaction: dismay and distress.
The fans reacted in a way practically unheard of in WWE, and it was amplified by the usage of social media. As LaGreca said earlier, the statistics illustrate just how invested these fans were. The YouTube video of the segment was the most disliked video in WWE history, and in just 12 hours, it had a ratio of 244,000 dislikes to 66,000 likes. Additionally, #WeWantCody was trending on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Almost instantly, fans flooded the site with posts complaining about the episode’s end. On Pat McAfee’s show, The Rock nicknamed this specific subgroup of WWE fans the ‘Cody Crybabies’. The Rock may be known as The People’s Champion, but in this case, the hatred for this storyline far exceeded any excitement for The Rock’s return. His return was exciting, but many fans were upset with the way things had played out. Cryptic tweets from The Rock and Rhodes implied that at the upcoming WWE WrestleMania Press Conference, something major was going to happen.
Something major did happen. Cody Rhodes revoked his previous statement and officially agreed to battle Roman Reigns. Chants of ‘we want Cody’ and ‘Rocky sucks’ prevailed throughout the event, a constant reminder of the intense fan investment in the storyline. Perhaps this was always in the cards, or perhaps the corporation was responding to the fan reaction; it wouldn’t be all that implausible, especially with the change in management after former owner Vince McMahon departed the company because of controversy. In any case, it satisfied the majority of the WWE’s fans. However, Roman Reigns still has his fans, and a matchup of The Rock vs. Roman Reigns has been a dream of many for a while. Some argue that Rhodes’ moment is, indeed, over, and that it is time for a new plotline to occur. This is certainly not the popular opinion, though, and ideally, The Rock and Reigns will have an opportunity to fight in the near future. The Bloodline’s storyline is filled with betrayals, and with wrestling, things are not always as they seem.
There are still some unknowns surrounding the match. Towards the end of the segment at the Press Conference, The Rock slapped Rhodes in the face. Rhodes had insinuated the Samoan ancestors would be ashamed of the Bloodline stable after Reigns commented on the relevance of Rhodes’ father. The camera then revealed a backstage discussion between The Rock and Triple H, former pro wrestler and current head of creative.
The Rock cursed out Rhodes, and Triple H shot back, “that’s out of line. You know it.”
“It’s not out of line… if you don’t fix it, we will. I’ll slap his f—ing teeth out.”
With one line, The Rock effectively established himself as a ‘heel’, or a bad guy, thus making a return to his roots with the company. On the episode of SmackDown that aired after this press conference, The Rock confirmed that he was on the side of the Bloodline, his family. With WrestleMania being split into two nights, some fans have speculated that Rhodes will have to fight both The Rock and Reigns. CM Punk, one of the WWE’s top wrestlers, had been injured. Seth Rollins, the initial planned opponent for Rhodes, still needs an opponent. Again, there is that record that Reigns is aiming to beat. The situation is far less clear cut than it was initially, and for a sport that’s almost entirely scripted, there’s a lot of intrigue and mystery surrounding this year’s WrestleMania and its ‘main event’.
Plus, there are still other matches, though as Dave LaGreca noted, “I was actually having this conversation with Paul before you came on this morning, Bully [Ray Dudley], where it’s like – not saying that it’s bad, I’m not saying that – but because we’re seeing something so great and so emotional and where we’re like, ‘we don’t know what direction it’s going to go in’, we’re confused by – in a good way that everything else is not forgettable. I don’t want to disrespect it and say it’s forgettable, but it doesn’t seem nearly as important. Now, I take notes during RAW. Listen, the Becky [Lynch and] Rhea [Ripley] stuff was very good last night. The Andrade video was very, very good. But I gotta be honest with you Bully, I don’t think, if I didn’t take the notes, I don’t think I would’ve remembered that.”
The most discussed WrestleMania programs have all had an intriguing, thrilling main event. WrestleMania III had Hulk Hogan up against Andre the Giant. WrestleMania XIX had The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin. WrestleMania XL will have Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns. Elimination Chamber, one of the WWE’s pay-per-view events, is still coming up, and episodes of RAW and SmackDown are being aired weekly. With WrestleMania XL being aired in April, new developments are bound to occur. After all, the road to WrestleMania is a winding one. Only time will tell how this story unfolds.
Resources:
https://www.wwe.com/superstars/roman-reigns
https://www.wwe.com/superstars/cody-rhodes
https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2023-04-02/roman-reigns-wrestlemania
https://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/1/celebrities
https://wrestletalk.com/features/the-bloodline-wwe-family-tree-explained/
