-- Former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz, who happens to also collaborate closely with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, was a guest on the Busted Open podcast and spoke about why The Rock vs. Roman Reigns was very close to happening at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles, but ultimately fell through. He also touched on how the wheels were put into motion on The Rock ultimately returning at WrestleMania 40.
"As you know, as Rock’s talked about with McAfee and everything else, Rock versus Roman was talked about for WrestleMania 39 in L.A. and I wasn’t a part of those talks but you know, I’ve heard just like everyone else and I’ve also sidebarred with Rock on it. It was very close to happening. It didn’t happen for a specific creative reason which isn’t my story to tell. That’s Rock’s story to tell one day."
"When WrestleMania 39 happened, I called my friend at WWE on the creative team and I just said, 'Hey, just so you know, I’ve been talking to Rock and similar to the Rock-Ronda tag match. There’s a chance, there's a good chance that Rock and Roman might be a possibility for WrestleMania 40.' This is a year before. I said 'What do you guys plan for WrestleMania 40?' And he's like 'Well, as you saw...' this was after WrestleMania 39, the day after. 'So, Cody lost. The idea is to give him a solid year to go through many trials and tribulations starting with Brock and then do the rematch at WrestleMania 40.' I said, 'Okay, great. Well, this might exist, just so you know. I’m just letting you know. You don’t need to change anything.' A year in advance, so many different things can happen. 'But just know in the back of your mind that he’s thinking about it and it might happen.' And it wasn’t just between me and the writer. It was, you know, within the inner circle would be like, 'You know what? That’s great. We’re gonna do our thing. You let us know on your end and if it gets to it, it's a great problem to have.' One storyline, great built WrestleMania and this other dream match that’s been talked about for a while."
