The Rock To Cody Rhodes On WWE Smackdown: ‘I Want Your Soul’

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Photo Credit: WWE

SmackDown was in New Orleans at the Smoothie King Center on what has become a very anticipated show. Aside from The Rock announcing his plans to be live on SD, it was believed that the decision for New Orleans to host next year’s WrestleMania would be announced.

The crowd will be as hot as an Inferno Match, but The Rock’s presence will make or break everything. It has been reported that The Rock would not be at this year’s WrestleMania, either in action or attending altogether, but Dwayne took to social media to refute those reports. However, Rocky’s presence and contribution to Jan 6th’s RAW on NETFLIX debut have led many to believe the initial report after he seemed to abandon the storyline angles that he himself set up over the course of 2024’s final quarter.

Tonight aimed to provide clarity on his WrestleMania intentions, but if he plans on participating, then hopefully, this begins the build—because the ‘scenic route’ on the “Road to WrestleMania” has been similar to what we saw at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

The Final Transformation Of The Final Boss?

He was teased as the third-hour segment, but his presence was felt the moment SmackDown started. As Cody Rhodes was walking into the building, he was informed by SD GM Nic Aldis that he was being pulled from the scheduled 6-man tag. When Cody disputed the decision and tried to pull rank, Aldis told him that ‘The Final Boss’ himself made the request… and it was FINAL.

The Rock came out at the end of the 2nd hour and heading into the third—his “If you smell” tagline hit, and the crowd went nuts, but his video package was filled with NO’s logos. This was a clear sign he was making the WrestleMania announcement. Sure enough, he announced the worst kept secret in WWE before breaking into a rendition of “When the Saints.” The crowd sang along, and that is when a glimpse of ‘The Final Boss’ was seen—telling the crowd to shut up and enjoy his solo vocals.

He called for Rhodes shortly after, and Cody came out with full entrance pomp. The Rock spoke respectfully of Cody before bringing him out, then he was all smiles as Cody soaked in the pop. They exchanged ‘I love you’s,’ and The Rock admitted they became friends after their WrestleMania showdown—the crowd booed the admission.

The Rock called Cody a great champion and then had the truck pull up a pic of both of their moms. The Rock reminded Cody and his fans that he sits on the board of directors for TKO, which owns WWE. He name-dropped Arie Emmanuel (CEO of everything, or that’s how it feels) in the grossest moment of all as the “People’s Champ” felt further disconnected from the people than ever before, and his story was told just to claim he is the ‘most powerful’ in WWE.

Then, he made his offer—he wants Cody to be The Rock’s champion as ‘The Final Boss’ claimed he could make the dreams of him and his family come true (his “baby’s, baby’s dreams come true,” is how Rock put it). He flexed on Moana 2 numbers globally and Instagram numbers like he was transforming into “The Final Douche” right in front of our eyes.

The fans booed and shouted, one of whom was told to shut up by The Rock or he’d ‘slap the syphilis’ out her mouth—the fan was shown on cam elated.

The entire segment was drawn out by a relatively simple question, but the context was nuanced enough to keep fans engaged. Rock said Cody should think about the decision to ‘become his champion’ and that he would take his private plane to Toronto to hear his decision in front of the fans at Elimination Chamber.

It was not totally clear what The Rock was asking Cody for, and when Cody himself wondered if “this (championship) is what all this is about, [this is] all you want,” ‘The Final Boss’ provided clarity.

“My brother, I don’t want that (WWE world title belt),” The Rock assured him before his darkest statement of the night. “I want your soul,” Rock admitted before telling Cody he’d ‘see him’ at EC.

The Rock delivered big time tonight when you consider we received zero resolve and no more clarity on The Rock’s Mania plans (or whether he will even be there) than when the show started. But we now have a bigger play looming with game-changing consequences. Creative knew it could tease a Cody turn, but it had been done before in the ‘other’ company. This offers a fresh take and sets the squared circle as ‘the stage’ for resolution.

There is a darker, more adult theme at play as well when you consider the ‘Attitude Era’ faction led by Vince McMahon—The Corporation (do your homework on ‘Corporate Rock’). Who could be pulling these strings? Has Cody’s star shined too bright for WWE to control? The idea of The Rock asking Cody to be “his champ” has the subtextual meaning of ‘becoming “The People’s Champ.’” And yet, Rock feels like anything but ‘The People’s Champ’ right now, and if he is ‘The Final Boss,’ then what title does he have in mind?

The Rock name-dropping Emmanuel, Triple H, and Nick Khan offers an authenticity that will find ‘the mark’ in any age group of the WWE Universe(c).

Jacob Fatu Is THAT GUY

As WWE continues to let Jacob Fatu off his leash, he continues to demonstrate his abilities on the mic and in live segments. For a while, Jacob struck fear solely based on his in-ring work, but now he displays his full personality, which is intimidating.

Solo Sikoa was seen arriving at the building and was immediately confronted by Fatu and Tama Tonga. Solo said that striking Tama was an accident last week, and Fatu let Solo know that he believed that to be the case; otherwise, Solo wouldn’t have been standing in front of him at that moment. It was a tense stare down, but the animosity was broken by Solo breaking into a smile with ‘inviting’ body language.

Solo said he’d be ringside for Fatu and Tama’s tag match later in the night, but Fatu made it clear that since he and Tama had been ‘running things on SmackDown, Solo would replace Tama and they’d “run the play” together. This was excellent work from Fatu, who acts as the faction’s strategist — a responsibility reserved for a leader. But Fatu is not asking or even demanding to be the leader with some long, overdrawn promo—instead, Fatu is just taking. He is taking the lead, he is taking decision-making power, and he is taking over the only remnants of The Bloodline.

Main Event: Jacob Fatu & Solo Sikoa vs. Damian Priest & Braun Stroman

The match was able to take advantage of following ‘The Final Boss’ segment, and WWE is anxious for more and more fans to educate themselves on Fatu.

Two interesting things: Solo started the pre-match dialogue that we have come to expect just before their entrance, but Fatu took over mid Solo promo and received a glare from the former Tribal Chief (post-Roman era). Secondly, Solo started the match off—it ‘hits differently’ when you switch roles like that.

In fact, Solo took the pin in a loss to Priest and Strowman. If the former Bloodline had a story arch tonight, it was the continued transition of power—not in a show of force but with sheer authority.

Jimmy Uso vs. Drew McIntyre

McIntyre has been on quite the run lately, in and out of the ring, and he has been featured in high-profile spots since RAW debuted on NETFLIX on January 6th. In the other corner, Jimmy’s recent run has revolved around his brother’s shadow firmly casted on the ‘Road to WrestleMania’ like a ‘Bat Signal’ or something.

So, it would not be unfair to see Jimmy as the underdog in this matchup, yet he was able to pull off the victory against the streaking McIntyre. It was the sort of ‘underdog rollup’ victory that produces a pop, and the crowd did, but the celebration was short-lived when Drew threw Jimmy a beatdown following the match.

Drew screamed in Jimmy’s face before setting him against the ring post to deliver a Claymore Kick—a stunt that Drew has used to take superstars out of action. The backstage crew came out just in time to prevent disaster, but Drew broke away to troll. Oddly enough, the entirety of the segment feels like it did more for Drew’s momentum headed into EC in Toronto than it had for the actual winner—who is not in the EC.

Women’s Division Woes

The women’s portion of tonight was overbooked as Candice LeRae took on the champion Tiffany Stratton in a non-title match. Charlotte Flair came out to get a closer look after the match started. Flair chose Stratton as her right as the ‘Mania mandatory.’ Nia Jax was ringside, and eventually, everyone got involved after Stratton in the ‘Prettiest Moonsault’ for the win.

Trish Stratus attempted to make the save, but she ended up getting flattened right alongside (or on top of) Stratton. It seems like Creative is finding it difficult to push Stratton as a ‘face,’ and bringing in Trish will not have the impact they are hoping to create.

Tag Champs Turmoil

They stacked the women’s divisions segments back-to-back, so Bianca and Naomi, who were scheduled for singles action, were attacked by Liv and Raquel Rodriguez.

Other Tidbits/In-Ring Action

The Miz and Carmelo Hayes teamed up against R-Truth and LA Knight (a native of NO). The hometown guy got his pop, but ‘Melo Don’t MIZ’ picked up the victory. Melo has been reluctant to join up with Miz, but they had some interesting chemistry tonight.

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

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