Heading into this year's WrestleMania, we'd heard the plan was for Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns to face Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Cody Rhodes, meanwhile, would have battled Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins for a separate world title, but plans changed, and the American Nightmare unsuccessfully challenged the Tribal Chief instead.
Recently, The Rock confirmed the match was "locked in" for WrestleMania 39, only for the plug to be pulled on it due to what sounded like creative issues.
While everyone was on board with the bout, Johnson explained that "the bigger thought was, 'What can we do for the fans in this business that we love that will where WrestleMania isn't the end of something, it's actually the beginning of something bigger?' So we got really, really close, but we couldn't actually nail what that thing was."
"So we decided to put our pencils down and then we agreed, 'Hey, listen, there's a merger coming up. Eventually, that will happen. There's WrestleMania in Philadelphia,'" he added. "I'm saying that's a potential, too. I'm open. But again, let's figure out what that is because the fans deserve something just incredible and unprecedented."
Now, Sports Illustrated has chimed in with an update and they make it clear a WrestleMania match will not be The Rock's decision to make. In fact, "the main event [is not] even a topic of substance...There are currently no plans for this to happen."
The site points out that everything from the risk of injury to The Rock's busy movie schedule is likely to put an end to the possibility of the match happening. Plus, based on what we're seeing online, as exciting as it would be to see him back in the ring after a 10-year absence, many fans don't actually want it to happen.
Why? Well, the more logical main event for next year's WrestleMania is Rhodes vs. Reigns II. There's nothing to be gained from The Rock dethroning the Head of the Table and Reigns wouldn't exactly benefit from vanquishing his A-List cousin either.
Rhodes still needs to finish the story and he can only do so by winning the WWE Championship. Having The Rock usurp his place on the Grandest Stage of Them All is unlikely to be embraced by wrestling fans and, honestly, it wouldn't be surprising if fans subsequently turn on the Brahma Bull!
We'll see what happens, but as always, you'll want to keep checking back here for updates.