WWE Thought SmackDown Segment Would Turn Cody Rhodes Into the New Daniel Bryan

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WWE is days away from announcing The Rock vs. Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40, a change in plans from the originally scheduled bout with Reigns and Cody Rhodes after Rhodes won the Men’s Royal Rumble Match.

Lead up

As previously reported, Rock getting the Reigns match was part of his deal to join the TKO Board of Directors and was planned before the Royal Rumble. Now, the question remains about what WWE will do with Rhodes.

The obvious has been Rhodes challenging Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania 40, and that is planned.

New plans

While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted WWE was expecting Rhodes to turn into Daniel Bryan in 2014, when the fans rallied behind him and made him a bigger star, coming out of SmackDown. 

The plan as of Friday night was Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes. And we'll see how it plays out because now they're trying to turn it into a story and see how the story goes…..I can't tell you that they didn't tell anybody [about plans changing]. But certainly, they didn't tell many people or almost anyone.”

Meltzer discussed the SmackDown segment with Rhodes and Rock and what WWE wanted out of the segment.

“I don't know what they were expecting [fans booing The Rock]. But they were expecting Cody Rhodes to turn into Daniel Bryan…..They were expecting to make Cody Rhodes into a martyr and make him a bigger babyface out of that. Were they expecting people to boo Dwayne? I don't know. I've asked that one, and I haven't gotten a straight answer.”

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