Nick Khan said WWE never changed its WrestleMania 40 plans, but that claim does not hold up.
While speaking at the Sports Business Journal World Congress of Sports, Khan claimed the plan for Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, The Rock, and Seth Rollins was always what fans saw play out in Philadelphia.
“By the way, the plan was always how it ended up in Philly two years ago. Sometimes it’s a predetermined outcome in wrestling. You want to throw the fans off. You want to let things bake and then boom, it ends up the way that we wanted it to end up. It never changed.”
That was not true. Ringside News can confirm that WWE’s WrestleMania 40 plans absolutely changed after The Rock entered the picture. Around the start of 2024, The Rock returned to WWE programming, and at that time, we were told he had communicated to Cody Rhodes that he was not looking to interfere with Cody’s planned path to finally winning the World Championship.
By the Royal Rumble, things had changed and word had gotten around that The Rock would be working WrestleMania. Merchandise was already being prepared, and Cody Rhodes had been informed that adjustments had been made to the WrestleMania plans. That led to the WWE television angle where Cody appeared to step aside for The Rock. WWE also had the Las Vegas press conference planned for the following week. Then the backlash hit hard.
Fans immediately rejected The Rock sliding into Cody’s spot against Roman Reigns. The “We Want Cody” reaction took over, and WWE changed course back to Cody beating Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Championship.
So if Khan had said Cody beating Roman was the original plan, that would have been accurate. The problem is that Khan said the plan never changed, and that is where the statement falls apart. WWE’s own WrestleMania 40 documentary also admitted several times that things changed. There was no original plan for the Night One tag team main event with The Rock and Roman Reigns against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. That match came together after WWE pivoted away from The Rock simply taking Cody’s spot. The documentary itself was also delayed significantly before release, with changes made before it finally came out.
Vince Russo also pushed back on Khan’s claim during The Coach and Bro Show. Russo pointed to a Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns segment where Cody said he would take everything from Roman except the title. Russo said that line made it clear WWE was going in a different direction at the time.
“I clearly remember guys during that time there was an in-ring between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes and Cody said to Roman Reigns, ‘I’m going to take everything from you except your title.’”
Russo said anyone could go back and watch the segment because, in his view, the change was obvious.
“Anybody can go back and watch it. There was clearly a change in direction.”
Cody Rhodes and others have also said publicly and privately that if fans knew what the actual WrestleMania 40 plan was for Cody, they would have been even angrier. The full version of that plan still has not been completely revealed, but it was not the version fans ended up seeing in Philadelphia.
Khan can say WWE never responded to social media criticism, but the timeline tells a different story. The Rock moved into Cody’s spot, the fan reaction exploded, and WWE went back to Cody finishing the story. The final destination may have been Cody Rhodes beating Roman Reigns, but the road to get there changed. Nick Khan’s claim that it “never changed” simply is not true.
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