Top Star To Turn Heel? Massive Update On WWE WrestleMania 42 Main Event Plans

Following the shocking events of last Friday’s SmackDown, where Drew McIntyre defeated Cody Rhodes in a grueling Three Stages of Hell match to capture the Undisputed WWE Championship, the road to WrestleMania 42 has become murky. For months, fans anticipated a third and final chapter between Rhodes and Roman Reigns. With Rhodes no longer holding the gold, reports surfaced that the match was off the table. However, new information suggests the bout is still very much in the works, albeit with a darker twist regarding “The American Nightmare.”

The “Roman Reigns Game”

According to Ibou of SelfMadePro, the creative team, led by Paul “Triple H” Levesque, is still committed to the Rhodes vs. Reigns finale. The current booking, described as “The Roman Reigns Game,” is a complex strategy to navigate Reigns’ part-time schedule while keeping the title active on weekly television. The plan relies heavily on Drew McIntyre acting as the “middleman” champion.

“What I’ll give you guys as a retention hook right now is this: Paul Levesque personally wants Cody Rhodes to beat Roman Reigns in this proposed matchup, should it happen. He will take whatever creative avenue is needed to get to that point. The original direction was literally very simple: Cody was going to hold the title to Mania, and then Roman was going to go to Mania and beat him… People in WWE are very aware of Roman’s current status. He’s a living legend and incredibly important to WWE, but he’s not a full-time guy. And there are real complications that come with him holding the championship as a part-time babyface.”

Teasing A Heel Turn For Cody Rhodes

The report indicates that McIntyre pitched the idea of winning the title to enhance the eventual Cody vs. Roman clash. The loss to McIntyre is designed to send Rhodes into a spiral, subtly teasing a character shift. With Jacob Fatu’s interference playing a major role in the title change, the narrative will now question whether Rhodes retaliated against Fatu, effectively blurring the lines between hero and villain.

“So the plan, at least as of last week, was for Drew McIntyre to be the middleman in the Cody–Roman story. Drew would hold the championship. That would lead to Cody Rhodes subtly shifting his character. They were going to play with the idea of whether Cody attacked Jacob Fatu or not. Is Cody turning heel? Is he not? They’d tease it without actually doing it.”