Original Plans for The Rock & Cody Rhodes Storyline for WWE WrestleMania 41

As noted before, this past Saturday’s WWE Elimination Chamber 2025 event featured John Cena making a surprise heel turn after attacking Cody Rhodes and aligning himself with the “Final Boss” The Rock.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that the original plans for the heel turn moment was for Cody Rhodes to be the one to turn heel.

Meltzer reported that when Johnson knew he was not going to wrestle but still wanted to be part of the build for WrestleMania 41, he came up with the idea of wanting to be aligned with Rhodes and Rhodes turning heel.

Rhodes reportedly turned down the idea leading to WWE officials choosing John Cena as the second choice instead.

Meltzer reported that several people within WWE believed the only thing that could have hurt the company’s current hot momentum would have been a Rhodes heel turn at this time. Meltzer also reported that the current feeling within WWE is that the current crowd for shows is Cody’s crowd in terms of top star.