Roman Reigns at a WWE WrestleMania 40 Press Conference. (Photo Courtesy WWE)
Over the weekend, wrestling fans across the world were able to watch WrestleMania 40, which took place at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WrestleMania had two nights of amazing wrestling and entertainment. Athletes and entertainers such as Philadelphia Eagles players Jason Kelce, Lan Johnson, hip hop legend Snoop Dogg, and IShowSpeed all participated at WrestleMania.
Over the last two years, WWE superstar Cody Rhodes has been a fan favorite for WWE fans across the world, a class act at work, and outside the ring. Rhodes was born into the wrestling industry, as he is the son of WWE legend Dusty Rhodes.
At the 2023 Royal Rumble, Rhodes won the Royal Rumble Match to secure his spot for the main event at WrestleMania 39 to face WWE Undisrupted Champion Roman Reigns. Before WrestleMania 39, Rhodes told the world on an episode of Monday Night Raw that he must finish the story meaning for his family's legacy, himself, and for the WWE Universe. Rhodes lost at WrestleMania 39 and after the loss, promised to main event WrestleMania 40 and win the WWE Undisputed Championship.
For the second year in a row, Rhodes won the 2024 Royal Rumble Match to headline WrestleMania and challenge WWE Undisputed Champion Roman Reigns again.
Before the match was a done deal, Rhodes was considering options on who to challenge at WrestleMania: Fight WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins or WWE Undisputed Champion Roman Reigns. Before deciding, WWE legend The Rock returned and was permitted by Rhodes to challenge Roman Reigns to fight at WrestleMania 40.
WWE fans on social media reacted angrily towards The Rock for taking Rhodes's moment. WWE legend Paul Triple H Levesque who is the chief content officer of WWE right away made the decision and created a storyline for WrestleMania 40 of a feud of The Rock, Roman Reigns, and The Bloodline against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins.
This feud would result in WrestleMania’s Night One main event for The Rock and Reigns facing Rollins and Rhodes in a tag team match. The Rock and Reigns defeated Rhodes on Night One, where Rhodes' stipulation of facing Reigns would be bloodline rules. This meant any members of The Bloodline group could attack at any time during the title match.
In the main event for Night Two, the match lived up to the hype as The Bloodline of The Rock, Jimmy Uso, and Solo Sikoa, appeared to attack Rhodes. However, Rhodes received help from Jey Uso, Seth Rollins, John Cena, and The Undertaker. Rhodes then went on to win the WWE championship, end the 1,316-day title reign for Reigns, and start a new era in WWE.
Before Reigns' historic four-year title reign as champion began, Reigns announced in 2018 to the world on an episode on Monday Night Raw that since 2007 he was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Due to the return of this disease, Reigns, while champion at the time, relinquished the WWE Championship to focus on his health.
In 2019, he announced that he was in remission and ready to wrestle again. In 2020 in part due to the COVID–19 pandemic, Reigns left WWE due to health concerns, becoming immunocompromised due to his Leukemia disease. Reigns would return to begin the fourth-longest WWE Championship title reign of all time.
In 2022, Reigns signed a new contract with WWE which would make him be with the company for a couple of years and would allow him to work part-time. Reigns only wrestled 11 times, in 2023 which caused a reaction from wrestling fans. Fans have also questioned Reigns as a wrestler and tossed major conspiracy theories that his Leukemia disease was back knowing he is living with the disease, losing a lot of weight, and tossing more theories that after WrestleMania 40 that it could be his last time wrestling.
On Saturday, Reigns told the media, "I am still on oral chemotherapy. It's a medication I will have to remain on my entire life, most likely. That's a part of my personal battle. Thank God, I'm still able to perform. I think anybody in my position would say health is wealth, and as long as I can continue to perform, then you know that is at bay. We're good, still in remission, but it is something that is still a part of my life."
After losing to Rhodes on the second night of WrestleMania, Reigns walked out of the ring and hugged his ringside advocate, Paul Heyman. It has drawn social media and has had fans question if that could have been Reigns' last match in WWE and wrestling for the very last time.
Paul Triple H Levesque spoke about Reigns' future and the future of WWE stating, “Reigns is going to have a whole new story that is going to blow people’s minds, The Future of WWE now begins”.
A new era in WWE has started now with WWE Monday Night Raw being on Netflix in 2025. Paul Triple H Levesque is the creator of content, and Cody Rhodes is now officially the face of WWE.
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