WWE is expected to make The Rock vs. Roman Reigns for WrestleMania 40 later this week.
The event
The WWE legend and Undisputed WWE Universal Champion will face off at an open-to-the-public fan and media event, WrestleMania 40 Kickoff, live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this Thursday, February 8, at 4 p.m. PT. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. PT.
This non-ticketed event is free for all to attend. Triple H, Cody Rhodes, World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, Bianca Belair, and Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley are advertised to appear.
Booking
While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted a venue like the T-Mobile Arena is not something that WWE could book on short notice, further backing up reports that The Rock vs. Reigns was planned in early January when The Rock joined the TKO Board of Directors and only a handful of people knew they were going in that direction instead of having Cody Rhodes run it back with Reigns.
“ I know some people want to believe that the [CM] Punk injury or the Vince [McMahon] stuff is the reason for the Dwayne stuff. But as I mentioned before, that’s not the case. But they had booked T-Mobile for Thursday with Dwayne long ago, like somebody there just kind of mentioned in passing, you know, it’s not like you can get the T-Mobile Arena four days in advance for something that we’re changing. It’s like this thing had to be booked way in advance. So this thing was….what I mentioned January 3, it’s like look, it was being talked about to make a date and have an agreement on January 3. There was pretty much an understanding well before that. So they kept that one quiet and you know how it all plays out? Whatever it is, it’s working. I think that they’re absolutely thrilled out of their minds. And they certainly should be. I mean, the idea is business and interest levels up,” Meltzer stated.
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