At last year's WrestleMania, Cody Rhodes failed to dethrone Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns due to interference from Solo Sikoa. From there, he spent several months feuding with Brock Lesnar before squaring off with The Judgement Day and Shinsuke Nakamura.
All signs have pointed to him eventually getting a rematch with Reigns to become WWE Champion and "finish the story," and the stage was even set for that at last month's Royal Rumble.
After winning the 30-man match, Rhodes pointed at Reigns and made it clear he was coming for him. However, after World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins' expected challenger, CM Punk, was injured with a torn triceps, Monday's RAW saw Rollins implore Rhodes to challenge him at the Show of Show instead.
Fans in the building chanted "No, No, No!" and we'd expected Rhodes to officially choose Reigns during last night's SmackDown.
During a brief exchange, he made it clear he wants to take Reigns' title and everything he holds dear in WWE from him...but confirmed he'll no longer do so at WrestleMania. Instead, he's sought counsel from someone who knows Reigns well and, with that, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson made his way to the ring.
After an awkward handshake which saw the actor pull Rhodes in for an unwanted hug, a clearly disappointed American Nightmare left the ring. He was trying to put on a brave face but it's blatantly obvious Rhodes is unhappy about a) losing the WrestleMania main event he wanted and b) not winning the title he's spent his career chasing.
The Rock then stared down Reigns to chants of "This Is Awesome!" The response online, however, tells a very different story. Fans across social media have voiced their disappointment and disgust with WWE's decision and the YouTube video featuring the full segment currently features over 156,000 dislikes compared to 48,000 likes.
It's said Johnson pushed hard for the match in recent weeks and, with CM Punk injured, Brock Lesnar essentially fired, and the Vince McMahon scandal still dominating headlines, WWE chose to go with The Rock vs. Reigns instead of Rhodes vs. Reigns II.
This is a massive misstep on WWE's part and a significant blow to Rhodes. He was the logical choice of challenger to take down the Tribal Chief but for him to give up that for The Rock both weakens his character and makes little sense. It appears WWE is trying to sell the notion that Rhodes wants The Rock to take Reigns' status as Head of the Table from him first and that he'll usurp the heel's place by becoming the face of the company as World Heavyweight Champion.
And, uh, then take his WWE Championship somewhere down the line?
The whole thing is baffling and while regular crowds seem enamoured by The Rock's star power, we'd bet on the hardcore fans at WrestleMania booing the Brahma Bull just as they did when he battled Hulk Hogan on the Grandest Stage of Them All in 2002. Ultimately, it's Rhodes we feel sorry for and while it's hard to get excited about him facing Rollins after he beat The Visionary three times upon returning to WWE, we've no doubt he'll try to make the best of this.
As for The Rock, fingers crossed he's heading to the WWE Performance Center to shake off his ring rust seeing as he couldn't even pull off a Spinebuster and People's Elbow without winding himself last month.
Here are some highlights from the divisive SmackDown segment: