The Rock/Roman Reigns WrestleMania 40 Teaser Is The Most Disliked WWE YouTube Video Of All Time

It wouldn’t be WrestleMania season without a little drama. Okay, without a lot of drama.

We all thought the WrestleMania 40 main events were set in stone. A returning CM Punk would challenge Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Champion, finally giving the erstwhile WWE star the WrestleMania main event that eluded him during his previous run. And Cody Rhodes, the beloved (grand) son of a plumber who triumphantly returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38, would “finish his story” by defeating Roman Reigns in a WrestleMania 39 rematch to capture the WWE Universal Champion.

This was the implicit deal between the WWE and Cody’s ravenous fanbase when Reigns shockingly retained the title against Rhodes at last year’s event. Wrestling is at its best when fiction and reality collide, when the worked story is subsumed by the meta narrative. Cody’s inexhaustible quest for the WWE Universal Championship is, pardon the pun, in his bloodline. It’s the title that was, as Cody said on Friday night’s episode of SmackDown, put into father’s hands — the late, great American Dream Dusty Rhodes — at Madison Square Garden back in 1977 and then “swiftly taken away.”

Last month, Cody Rhodes won the Royal Rumble, a match that guarantees the victor a title bout at WrestleMania. During his post-match celebration, Rhodes emphatically pointed to Reigns. Cody was going to WrestleMania. Cody was going to face Roman Reigns on the “Grandest Stage of them All.” And Cody was finally going to finish his…

“If ya smellllllll what The Rock is cooking…”

Not so fast, Cody. After teasing a potential high-profile matchup with Reigns on a January episode of Raw, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson returned to SmackDown on Friday night and inserted himself — for now, at least — into the main event of WrestleMania 40 against Roman Reigns. It appears as if Cody has been removed from his presumed match with Roman — most likely to square off against Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Champion — while The Rock and Reigns meet in a blockbuster dream bout.

The only issue? A very sizable, quite vocal section of the WWE Universe is vehemently against the decision. The above video currently has over 587,000 “dislikes” (and 107K “likes”), making it the most disliked WWE YouTube video of all time.

This isn’t so much an indictment on The Rock as it is an outpour of support for Cody. For the most part, wrestling fans adore “The Great One” and would love to see Rock/Roman collide at some point, just not this year’s WrestleMania. The WWE has a long history of choosing Hollywood style over grappling substance when it comes to their premiere event. The Rock memorably took on John Cena in a “once in a lifetime” rematch (so… twice in a lifetime?) at WrestleMania 29, a spot many believed should have gone to CM Punk (who won’t be involved in this year’s WrestleMania due to injury). The closest analog to the WWE’s current Rock/Roman/Cody imbroglio is Daniel Bryan’s famed “Yes Movement” storyline that engulfed WrestleMania 30.

Ten years ago, the main event of WrestleMania 30 was scheduled to be a returning Hollywood star, Dave Bautista, taking on Randy Orton. But the WWE couldn’t ignore the overwhelming “Daniel Bryan” chants that would often take over shows. The WWE eventually decided to change direction, culminating in one of the greatest endings in WrestleMania history.

Will the WWE once again alter their creative plans as we inch closer to WrestleMania in April? It depends.

Dave Meltzer reports that Rock wrestling Reigns at Mania was part of The Rock’s recent deal to join the TKO board. Meltzer also notes that the WWE plans to turn Rhodes’ removal from the match into “part of the story,” with Rhodes/Reigns happening “somewhere down the line.” But perhaps most telling is this line from the report: “Everything’s up in the air, nothing is locked in stone.”

The WWE likely wants to avoid fans booing a Rock/Roman main event out of the building, which is exactly what happened the last time the two megastars shared the ring in Philadelphia at the 2015 Royal Rumble. But the mainstream appeal of The Rock is difficult to dismiss, and the WWE is desperate to generate headlines that don’t involve Vince McMahon’s latest sexual assault allegations. If Roman/Rock does indeed take place at Mania, Cody could potentially “finish his story” in a title unification match against Reigns at SummerSlam. Or perhaps Cody’s surging popularity will make him undeniable for this year’s “Showcase of the Immortals.”

The WWE could take a page from their WrestleMania 30 playbook and use The Rock’s involvement to make Cody even more of a sympathetic babyface before they finally reinstate him into the match with Reigns. The support for Cody has been simmering all weekend and has the potential to boil over into a Yes Movement-esque situation. “Dan-iel Bry-an” (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap) and “We Want Co-dy” (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap) share a certain rhythmic symmetry, right?

Rock/Roman is the money match, but Cody/Roman is the bout many fans want to see. One of these stories will presumably be finished at WrestleMania 40.

WrestleMania 40 takes place April 6 and 7 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.