Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes set for WWE WrestleMania 40 main event

Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes will officially headline WWE WrestleMania 40. 

WWE’s WrestleMania Kickoff media event in Las Vegas on Thursday night raised more questions than it answered as it appeared to retcon what happened on last Friday’s SmackDown and presented many possible matches going forward. 

What we do know is this —

WWE announced Thursday following their Kickoff media event in Las Vegas that Reigns vs. Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship will main event WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia set for Saturday, April 6 & Sunday, April 7. 

The main event announcement was made by WWE chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque in a social media post on X after the Kickoff event had concluded. 

Rhodes was presented as “making his decision” for the first time at the Kickoff event, a continuity shift from last Friday’s SmackDown where Rhodes stated that he was not coming for Reigns at WrestleMania, and the show closed with a Roman Reigns & The Rock face-off.

At the WrestleMania Kickoff event, Roman Reigns announced that he was choosing to face The Rock at WrestleMania after Cody had hesitated and lost his right to choose which title he would challenge for at Mania as Royal Rumble winner. 

The Rock then entered and showed a Samoan wrestling family tree on screen, stating that the main event between himself and Reigns would be the biggest ever, and that while you may not like it, you have to accept it. 

Rhodes then interrupted, said that the proceedings between Reigns & Rock were “bullsh*t,” and announced that he had made his WrestleMania decision and would be choosing to face Reigns. An angle followed where Rhodes said that The Rock and Reigns’ grandfathers would be ashamed of them, leading to The Rock slapping Rhodes. 

A pull-apart ensued involving Rock, Reigns, Rhodes, and Seth Rollins, who was onstage as an afterthought in all of this as World Heavyweight Champion as the storyline between Rhodes, Rock, and Reigns unfolded. 

In a backstage segment near the conclusion of the show, Triple H was doing an interview when The Rock approached and told him to “fix” the situation with Rhodes, as Rock walked in lockstep with Reigns. A Rhodes & Rollins vs. Rock & Reigns tag match would be the logical conclusion to come to after that angle, but whether the match happens on night one of WrestleMania, or perhaps at Elimination Chamber in Australia later this month, remains to be seen.

The WrestleMania Kickoff event also featured a face-to-face between Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley & Becky Lynch, as well as a promo from Bianca Belair. 

A replay of the event is embedded below.