Roman Reigns vs. The Rock is happening at WrestleMania 40

Cody Rhodes came to Friday Night SmackDown this week to make his decision on what championship he would be challenging for at WrestleMania 40, something he earned the right to do by winning the Royal Rumble for the second year in a row.

It seemed clear he would be choosing Roman Reigns, because finishing the story would mean defeating him to win the WWE Universal championship. It would be everything. It would mean the world.

But that’s not what is going to happen.

No, he said he talked it over with quite a few folks, and one of those folks is someone who knows Reigns very well. And while he still plans on finishing the story, it won’t be at WrestleMania 40. And that’s because another man is going to be there.

If ya smell...

The Rock walked out, shook hands with Cody in a moment that sure looked like Rhodes giving Rock his blessing to take his place, and then turned his attention to The Tribal Chief, The Head of the Table, the leader of The Bloodline.

They slowly, ever so slowly, stepped to each other.

The big staredown came as the show was going off the air, with a huge promotional banner appearing underneath them announcing a WrestleMania 40 Kickoff press conference for this Thursday. You know what it’s going to be all about now.

Wow!

It’s worth noting that the crowd didn’t turn on this at any point, with a huge pop for The Rock upon his entrance, a big cheer for the endorsement from Rhodes, and an appropriate “this is awesome” chant for the big in-ring staredown with Reigns. It felt every bit as electric as WWE surely hoped it would.

Here we go.