New details have come out regarding the controversial finish to the main event of WrestleMania 39, where Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Rhodes was originally planned to win the title at the 2023 event.
Still, the decision to delay his victory was pitched directly to Vince McMahon by Reigns himself. As previously reported, Reigns argued that a loss for Rhodes in 2023 would make his eventual triumph “more meaningful” if they built to a bigger win the second time.
According to a new report from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Triple H (Paul Levesque) was reportedly opposed to the idea of Reigns retaining the title at first. Levesque wanted the optics of a “change of eras across the board” and viewed Rhodes as the champion and top star to lead that new era.
Despite Levesque’s initial resistance, he eventually came around to the decision, though it is unclear if this was to show unity with McMahon or because he was genuinely convinced it was the better business move. At the time, Vince McMahon was still the “ultimate boss” and held the final say on creative decisions, even though Levesque was the Chief Content Officer.
McMahon approved Reigns’ pitch because he felt it would be better for business. Meltzer noted that with the benefit of hindsight, the argument appears to have been correct, as WrestleMania 40 proved to be a much bigger event than the previous year.
While Rhodes is viewed as the “Levesque guy” in the current era, it was McMahon who originally signed him and created the storyline in 2022 that drove the main events of both WrestleMania 39 and WrestleMania 40. The path to Rhodes’ eventual win in 2024 was further complicated when TKO made a deal with The Rock in January 2024, which initially replaced Rhodes in the main event against Reigns. However, following backlash from WWE fans, plans changed again, leading to Rhodes winning the title and The Rock turning heel to align with Reigns.
McMahon’s creative influence eventually ended when Ari Emanuel removed him from having the final say, a decision made before the filing of the Janel Grant lawsuit. Since his resignation, McMahon has been completely absent from WWE events, including John Cena’s recent farewell show.
