Brian Gewirtz reveals how this Cody Rhodes promo changed WrestleMania 40 forever

When Cody Rhodes effectively handed off his main event match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40 to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson despite his Royal Rumble win, it left fans in awe.

Sure, Rhodes said all of the right things with the microphone in his hand, but his entire demeanor was sullen, as if he just lost out on his dream opportunity despite doing everything “right.”

Discussing this promo on the Masked Men Podcast, Brian Gewirtz, who effectively serves as Johnson’s personal writer, let it be known that Rhodes’ efforts did not go as planned, as he was supposed to hype up the crowd, instead of starting an unofficial “We want Cody” movement that changed the course of WrestleMania 40 forever.

“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 a**.’ If you watch the actual footage, ‘Oh, he was a sweaty terrible mess.’ Cody, it was supposed to be, in some form, ‘Yeah, F**kin A! Go get ’em Rock! You’re going to get your a** 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,” Brian Gewirtz told the Masked Men Podcast via Fightful.

“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.”

Whoa, now that is a pretty big admission. So was Rhodes actually supposed to hand off the baton to The Rock, with another match booked for him at the “Showcase of the Immortals,” only for his disappointed demeanor to change the promotion’s plans? If so, was his reaction genuine? Or did Triple H want him to be disappointed in the promo? Needless to say, this truly might be the most important WWE promo in recent memory, as it truly might have changed the main event of WrestleMania 40.