Why Cody Rhodes Will Be Just Fine After Giving WWE WrestleMania 40 Match to The Rock

In pro wrestling, some things just feel inevitable.

But, especially recently, with the return of CM Punk as the prime example, things also tend to feel impossible—and look how that turned out.

So, to describe Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns II at WrestleMania 40 as inevitable after the Royal Rumble was a risky stance to take.

Now, after The American Nightmare basically passed his second chance at Reigns to The Rock, it's all but assured that the story is not close to its conclusion.

The post-Royal Rumble fallout involving Seth Rollins almost made it feel like WWE was hedging its bets a bit, seeing who and what might be available and why. Plans always change, right?

Sure, one could handwave the recent Rhodes-Rollins interactions. Reigns isn't available weekly and hey, why not pop a big television rating while playing the which match will Rhodes pick? game.

But that's both lazy and dismissive of just how entertaining the whole thing is. Rollins, positioning his title as Dusty's belt, the personification of it and not Reigns' undisputed title, is pretty compelling storytelling. Rhodes is receptive of the idea, if nothing else, for a reason.

If/when Rhodes officially challenges The Visionary and takes control of his own narrative and story, essentially choosing his own ending, will fans have a big issue with it?

Some interesting possibilities have suddenly surfaced.

Were Rhodes to rewrite his own story and go after Rollins, it would add some logic to the Reigns-Rock showdown that had the Birmingham, Alabama crowd in a frenzy on SmackDown.

A Reigns win would mean The Tribal Chief remains champion and headed right for that third-all-time spot, passing Hulk Hogan.

Reigns over Rock and Rhodes over Rollins means two very different styles of champion headline shows.

Rhodes could slot comfortably right into the more traditional WWE role of the man he defeats. And Reigns could remain the big, infrequent attraction more akin to a UFC fighter, which is poetic given the recent merger.

Considering fans heavily turned on Rollins' traditional role anyway in recent months, it's probably best to avoid having both titles feature the same style of reigns right now.

By way of this idea, Rhodes would still get his marquee win while Rollins earns some much-needed time off for injury and fan reactions' sake. That doesn't prohibit The American Nightmare from going and challenging Reigns at a later date.

Any chirping about the trio of classics Rhodes and Rollins already had is a moot point, considering they were, well, classics and there's so much more at stake this time.

Had the CM Punk injury not occurred, none of this is a conversation. He goes at Rollins and Rhodes-Reigns is a go. But now, the idea of Punk coming back next fall to go after "Dusty's kid," as he said at the end of the Rumble, has a pretty nice ring to it before Rhodes goes after The Tribal Chief.

While this door is ajar, there's one other thing to consider down the road, which Rhodes himself happened to acknowledge before The Rock reveal on SmackDown:

That's a distant possibility (does Rollins eat the pin so Reigns looks strong while Rhodes wins? Does Reigns stack them for reactions?), but just another example of why WWE isn't necessarily rushing to book itself into a corner before really necessary.

Creative is clearly viewing "The Story," which started picking up steam on the road to WrestleMania 39, as one of the biggest plotlines in recent WWE history. The Bloodline story is now in Year 4 with no sign of slowing down.

In Triple H's WWE, long-term storytelling is the backbone to everything it does.

The funny thing about pro wrestling stories is they can change by the minute and, if told well, are always believable. So, if nothing else, Rhodes vs. Reigns II was never necessary for WrestleMania 40—and for good reason.