WWE Rumors: HHH Rules Cody Rhodes Won't Headline WrestleMania amid Rock, Reigns Buzz

WWE reportedly has an unexpected direction planned for Cody Rhodes heading toward WrestleMania 40.

According to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Rhodes is not set to headline WrestleMania in April, and he will not "finish the story" by beating Roman Reigns for the undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

Instead, WWE is reportedly planning to do Cody vs. CM Punk at WrestleMania, paving the way for the dream match of Reigns vs. The Rock as the main event in Night 2.

Last year, Rhodes won the 2023 men's Royal Rumble match and challenged Reigns for the title in the main event of WrestleMania 39, but he fell short due to interference from Solo Sikoa.

Ever since that loss, Rhodes has talked about the importance of finishing his story by getting another shot at Reigns and beating him at WrestleMania.

However, a potential wrench was thrown into those plans a few weeks ago when The Rock made his surprise return to WWE on Raw and mentioned "The Head of the Table," which is one of Reigns' nicknames.

Fans have long speculated on a match between the real-life cousins, and while both Reigns and The Rock have expressed public interest in the match at times, it has yet to come to fruition.

The Rock was named to the TKO Group Holdings board of directors Tuesday, and he appeared on ESPN's First Take later in the day and said there is a "chance" a match between him and Reigns could happen.

During the interview, The Rock also called himself a "long-gamer" and discussed his desire to have a strong build toward the match, which led to speculation that WWE could hold off on Reigns vs. The Rock until WrestleMania 41 instead.

Rhodes and Punk are essentially the co-favorites to win the 2024 men's Royal Rumble, which is why they were involved in a heated promo segment on Raw.

However, if they are going to face each other at WrestleMania, it would mean someone else has to win the Rumble, and Barrasso tabbed intercontinental champion Gunther as the likely winner.

Gunther cut a promo on injured world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins at Monday's Raw about how he intended to win the Rumble and challenge Rollins at WrestleMania, so it may have been foreshadowing of WWE's actual plans.

Whatever the case, WWE has the pieces in place to put together a spectacular WrestleMania card, and while Rhodes not finishing his story would be disappointing to many of his fans, Cody vs. Punk could be one of the biggest matches in WrestleMania history even without a title involved.

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