The Rock Told Travis Scott to 'Slap the S--t Out of' Cody Rhodes, Says HHH, Nick Khan

WWE head of creative Triple H and president Nick Khan shed some light this week on rapper Travis Scott's stiff strike to the face of WWE champion Cody Rhodes at Elimination Chamber last month.

During an appearance on The Ankler podcast (h/t WrestleTalk), Khan divulged that Scott said after the show that he hit Rhodes legitimately because The Rock told him to:

"[Triple H' did tell Travis after, like, 'Hey, you know, that was a pretty hard slap. We’ll show you how to pull your punches a little bit.' Travis said, 'Dwayne Johnson told me you better slap the s--t out of him or people are gonna think that you don’t have it, so I just did that.'"

Triple H added: "Ironically, the only person that didn’t complain about the slap was Cody Rhodes, he just wanted it to look good."

After John Cena won the men's Elimination Chamber match to earn a shot at Rhodes' WWE Championship at WrestleMania 41, Rhodes made his way to the ring, as did The Rock, who was accompanied by Scott.

Rhodes was there to give The Rock his answer regarding whether he would "sell his soul" to The Final Boss.

When The American Nightmare emphatically declined, Cena attacked Rhodes at the direction of The Rock, cementing one of the most shocking heel turns in WWE history.

Amid the chaos, Scott got a shot in, and it was clear in the moment that he popped Cody in the face rather than giving him a traditional pro wrestling "working punch."

When Rhodes re-emerged the following week on SmackDown, he was sporting a black eye, which was almost certainly given to him by Scott.

Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats) later reported that Scott "got all kinds of heat backstage" for what he did to Rhodes, leading some to express their belief that he "shouldn't have been out there nor put in that position in the first place."

Despite what happened at Elimination Chamber, all signs point toward WWE having big plans for Scott in the future.

The Rock acknowledged during the Elimination Chamber post-show press conference that it is possible Scott will wrestle some matches in the future, leading Fightful Select (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News) to report that Scott had already been doing some wrestling training and discussions had taken place within WWE regarding future matches.

Also, Triple H said last month at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (h/t Carrier) that Scott was "in the middle of a storyline right now that will get bigger as we head into WrestleMania, and coming out of it."

Given that The Rock is one of the most significant WWE Superstars of all time, as well as a member of TKO's board of directors, his word carries a great deal of weight within the company.

Scott clearly took it to heart, and it doesn't seem as though there is much ill will toward him given that he was merely following The Rock's instructions.

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