The Rock cuts promo on Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins ahead of WWE SmackDown

Ahead of his appearance on SmackDown tonight, The Rock cut a 21-minute social media promo on Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins.

The promo filled in some of the storyline gaps surrounding the WrestleMania 40 main event. The Rock claimed that, after Rhodes won the Royal Rumble, he placed a phone call to Rhodes and told him that he had an opportunity to bring the pro wrestling business to new heights by letting The Rock vs. Roman Reigns headline WrestleMania. The Rock said this would be the biggest match of all time, and Rhodes could always finish his story later.

Rock said Rhodes agreed that, even though not getting to face Reigns at WrestleMania 40 would sting, having The Rock vs. Reigns main event the show would be best for business.

Rock said everything went according to plan until Rhodes changed his mind at the WrestleMania press conference. And while Rock accepts that Rhodes had the right to change his mind, he doesn’t like how Rhodes did it. Rock said Rhodes didn’t tell him about his decision until revealing it at the press event. Rock warned Rhodes that he really screwed up by talking sh*t about The Rock’s family.

But what happened? The Rock called Cody Rhodes, had a conversation. But it was a conversation that a few have had with Cody Rhodes before. Because Cody knew the biggest match of all time was looming. The Rock talked to Cody. Said, ‘Cody, you know you love this business, The Rock loves this business, you were born into this business, The Rock was born into this business, Roman Reigns was born into this business. The three of us, born into this business. You know Cody, you’ve got the biggest WrestleMania main event of all time right here. You have an opportunity to bring this business up to places it’s never been before. You can always, with all due respect, finish your story another time. You agreed. You agreed. ‘Rock, it stings, but I agree. It stings, but I’m a team player. It stings, but I want what’s best for the business.’ Good man. Good man.

And then what happened in Birmingham, Alabama? A city we selected because of its rich history and we knew we were going to make history. It was your job, Cody, to introduce The Rock, thus setting up the biggest main event of all time. And what did you do? You did exactly what we agreed on. Brother, you introduced The Rock and that place went crazy. And The Rock came out, and he dapped you up, he pulled you in and gave you a big hug. And I whispered something in your ear. ‘Let’s put on the biggest WrestleMania of all time. Let’s do it for the American Dream. Let’s do it for the Soul Man.’ And I gave you a hug. You hugged The Rock back. And what did you do, Cody? You walked out of that ring on live TV and you turned back and you looked at The Rock. And instead of looking at The Rock saying, ‘Yeah, go get him. Let’s make history.’ Instead of that, what’d you do? You gave The Rock a look. And it’s the same look you gave the world, like The Rock went out and ran over your goofy ass dog. That’s the look you gave. Like The Rock ran over your goofy ass dog.

Then sometime from that moment on, until Las Vegas, you changed your mind. You know what? That’s no problem. You can change your mind, you have that right. And The Rock accepts that. Everybody has a right to change their mind. The Rock accepts it. You changed your mind. But here’s what The Rock doesn’t accept – is how you did it.

The Rock also addressed Rollins in the promo, taking exception to comments Rollins made about WWE not needing The Rock. Rock warned Rollins that, as a member of the TKO Board of Directors, he can make Rollins’ World Heavyweight Championship go to someone else.

The Rock is your boss, which means Seth Rollins, if you keep running your mouth and sticking your nose in The Bloodline’s business, then that World title that you have around your waist, very soon The Rock will make that title go to somebody else. Read between the lines. Yes, The Rock just blurred it.

Keep running your mouth, sticking your nose in The Bloodline’s business. This is between The Rock, it is between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes. That’s it. Stick your nose where it doesn’t belong. The Rock guaran-damn-tees you, and The Rock has built a career on doing everything he has said he’s going to do, The Rock guaran-damn-tees [if] you stick your nose in our business, that World title that you have around your waist will go to somebody else. It will go to somebody else. And there’s two things you can do about it, Seth: Nothing and like it. You keep sticking your nose in our business, The Rock and Roman Reigns are going to beat your goofy ass right back to the circus with the rest of the clowns.

Near the end of the promo, The Rock sent the following message to Rhodes:

Cody Rhodes, from the bottom of my heart, man-to-man, f*ck your story.

Reigns vs. Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre for the World Heavyweight Championship are both official for WrestleMania 40. WWE appears to also be building a Rhodes & Rollins vs. The Rock & Reigns tag match for night one of the two-night event.

The Rock is set to appear on the next three episodes of SmackDown. Tonight, Rock will respond to the challenge that Rhodes issued to him at Elimination Chamber. Rhodes declared that he wants to face The Rock in a singles match. Telling Rhodes that there’s no such thing as one-on-one against The Bloodline, Rollins promised that he’ll have Rhodes’ back.