Backstage News On WWE Shifting Away From Cody Rhodes Vs. The Rock WrestleMania Match

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-- Last year after WrestleMania 40 concluded, almost everyone expected that the main event (or one of the main events) of WrestleMania 41 would be Cody Rhodes vs. The Rock, however, it has quickly become apparent that that is not the direction that WWE will be going, perhaps largely in part due to The Rock's unavailability. In more recent weeks, it has been revealed that Rhodes vs. John Cena is now the working plan.

-- Fightfulselect.com reports that the plan to pivot to Cena vs. Rhodes started as far back as November and it is a match that people close to Rhodes had hoped would happen in past years. The report adds that WWE began discussing this match when it became apparent that The Rock couldn't commit to WrestleMania and many within the company didn't expect him it to happen.

-- WWE moved forward under the assumption that the Rock was out as they had Cody Rhodes at the Moana premiere where the two filmed something. With the match now likely off the table, sources within WWE state that the footage "may never seen the light of day" but that the general theme was that it "squashed things" between them, presumably to mean that the footage would have shown that the two wrestlers ironed out their differences. Fightfulselect.com further reported that what was taped at the premiere was along the lines of what played out on WWE Raw this past Monday.

-- The huge caveat here of course is that there are still over three long months left until WrestleMania and it's still possible that the Rock's schedule could open up and he ultimately does end up wrestling but for now, WWE is proceeding forward without including him in any matches.