Cody Rhodes Opens Door for WrestleMania 40 Classic vs. Rock with Chamber Challenge

Even without The Rock and Roman Reigns in attendance at Elimination Chamber, Cody Rhodes managed to progress pro wrestling's most captivating storyline.

And it might have just pulled back the curtain on both WrestleMania 40 main events.

On Saturday in Perth, Australia, Rhodes appeared on "The Grayson Waller Effect" and challenged Rock to a match.

Fans know the deal—and it's hard not to get excited about the possibilities such a simple promo creates.

After all, Rhodes and Reigns remain destined for the 'Mania Night 2 main event after the blatant pivot due to fan response over the initial push to have The American Nightmare sidelined for a Tribal Chief showdown in that slot.

Said pivot has left everything else up in the air, though. Now fans have some clarity, with it seeming nearly guaranteed that Rhodes will first fight The Rock in the main event of Night 1, pulling double-duty and really finishing that story (well, maybe, anyway).

That brief promo from Rhodes still leaves things open-ended to a degree, but let's be honest—if Rock couldn't be bothered to show up at a massive event in Australia on the road to 'Mania, this solo match isn't exactly going to unfold on a random episode of Raw or SmackDown.

The nature of the showdown is up for dispute, too. Given where the promo left things, especially with Seth Rollins by Rhodes' side, there's a chance he's not the only one pulling double duty.

If WWE wants, the groundwork is also here for a tag match on Night 1. Rhodes teams with Rollins against The Rock and Reigns. That's not nearly as appealing and puts the main event of Night 2 at risk (real-life injury risk, that is), but it gets the seemingly mandatory "Rock must wrestle at 'Mania" thing out of the way and presents some ways to progress storylines.

But a tag would also massively complicate Rollins' own title defense after Drew McIntyre's win at the Chamber. Does that get sidelined to somewhere on the Night 2 card in favor of a tag match? Rollins talking about being medically cleared seemed to vibe with the tag idea, but we'll see if it was a one-off to fill time (they couldn't not have something about the Bloodline story on the show) or a hint of what's to come.

That tag disclaimer out of the way, though, the real takeaway from the promo is the chance for Rhodes to take on The Rock. He has, after all, promised to take everything from Reigns in the process of finishing his story. Might that include taking out the newest member of the Bloodline first, dispatching of family members on Night 1 who might then be unable to interfere on Night 2?

This is really where things still get so engrossing around the tale. While Rhodes' promo from Australia on a sleepy Eastern Time morning for pro wrestling fans advanced the story, there's zero indication as to how WWE will actually use what it set up.

Case in point—what if Rock beats Rhodes on Night 1? Heel or not, is he really going to lose his first match back? Because if he wins, even via Bloodline interference, then Roman goes on to lose to Cody on Night 2 and Rock becomes the real Tribal Chief, casting Reigns aside...that's pretty compelling long-term table-setting for a story.

Heck, we could still even be on track for a 50-50 result in the main event of Night 1, only for Reigns to best Rhodes again and keep marching to that Hulk Hogan record number of days as champion next fall. Maybe the damage inflicted pulling double-duty is the vehicle to keep this thing going.

Either way, that's what makes the brief segment so much fun. As has been the case since that awkward "Cody gives his Rumble win and story to Rock" segment that WWE wants fans to forget, the door remains wide open for, well, anything.

Suppose that "anything" morphs into a Rhodes vs. Rock showdown at WrestleMania with the latter bringing in more fans than ever to give exposure to the former while advancing the best modern storyline in a decade-plus.

In that case, the promo from Perth setting it up is a fantastic addition to the tale.