New details have emerged regarding the controversial finish to the main event of WrestleMania 39, where Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the decision to delay Rhodes’ victory was pitched by Reigns himself to Vince McMahon.
Meltzer reported that while Paul “Triple H” Levesque was the Chief Content Officer, McMahon still held the ultimate power during that period. Reigns, along with Paul Heyman, approached McMahon with the logic that a loss for Rhodes in 2023 would make his eventual triumph even more significant.
“It was Roman Reigns’ call… Vince had to approve it,” Meltzer said. “But Roman Reigns was the one who went to Vince with the idea, and pitched the idea that it would be better, would be more meaningful if he didn’t win the first time, we’d build do a bigger win the second time. And, explained it. I think Heyman with Reigns did that. I think they were very persuasive.”
Meltzer noted that looking back, the decision appears to have been the correct one given the success of WrestleMania 40.
“I think that the argument is very strong, with the benefit of hindsight, that they were right, because the second year was much bigger than the first year, but it was Vince’s,” Meltzer said. “Vince made the call, and Levesque was on board with the call, but Vince was the one who made the call. He had final say the whole time he was the chairman of the board again… he was in charge of the company, and he remained having the final say. Even though Levesque was in charge of creative Vince still had the final say until Ari Emanuel removed Vince from having the final say.”
Meltzer clarified that Emanuel’s decision to curb McMahon’s creative influence happened prior to the Janel Grant lawsuit being filed. Since his departure, McMahon has been completely absent from WWE events, including a major recent milestone.
“This is before the Janel Grant lawsuit,” Meltzer said. “And when that came out, he was gone… he wasn’t around. He still hasn’t been around, in the sense [that] he didn’t even go to John Cena’s farewell show. He hasn’t been at any show.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Dave Meltzer and Wrestling Observer Radio with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. You can listen to the show on the Wrestling Observer website.
