To say it has been an interesting last week in WWE would be an understatement. Though that's not unusual this time of year, what has transpired—good and bad—is a lot to digest. Focusing on the good, it would be that Cody Rhodes won his second consecutive Royal Rumble and is moving on to headline WrestleMania 40. The question is, who will he be challenging and for what title?

Seth Rollins' Raw challenge casts doubt on Cody Rhodes' WrestleMania 40 decision

For an entire year, and really, the moment he arrived back in WWE at WrestleMania 38, the goal was that Rhodes would eventually win the WWE Championship. Back then, there was only one main championship, held by the current WWE Undisputed Champion Roman Reigns. This was noted by Seth Rollins on Monday's Raw, who is now the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, exclusive to the red brand, while Reigns' title is exclusive to SmackDown.

The thought that Rhodes would continue in his pursuit of what he has called “finishing the story” only increased after his surprising defeat to Reigns at last year's WrestleMania 39—a moment most thought was most befitting for Rhodes to finally do what his father never did in the business.

However, on Raw, when Rollins' music abruptly hit as Rhodes was about to make his official challenge to Reigns for a rematch at this year's upcoming WrestleMania, WWE storytellers created a wrinkle in the story that left many surprised if not intrigued.

Unlike in previous instances when the Royal Rumble winner would go out to choose his opponent for WrestleMania, in this case, it was the champion, Rollins, who came out to challenge Rhodes, the winner of the 30-man battle royal.

It was surprising, if not downright appalling to a degree, even if Rollins and WWE creative did an excellent job of adding interest to it.

The WWE knows that there's always money in Rhodes and Rollins, that's why they've gone from bitter enemies facing one another to teaming with each other from late summer to the end of fall this past year. They know that whatever package they are presented in, they work, but even more so if they're facing one another. But this particular segment on Raw made us all second-guess an entire year of storytelling due to all the outside circumstances surrounding it prior.

Cody Rhodes finishing his story has been cast with doubt from others' interference

It all goes back first to Rhodes' loss at WrestleMania 39 to Reigns. There was very little belief that Reigns would walk out of SoFi Stadium still the champion. The moment, the story—it was all there for the taking, to let Rhodes finally win his first WWE Championship, to finish the story. But after the 1-2-3 hit the mat and Reigns held both titles high as pyro fired off and Rhodes later sat in the middle of the ring dismayed, it made us all lack trust that the American Nightmare would ever get to live his American dream.

When CM Punk came back and surprised everyone, those that knew his story and why he left WWE initially took a step back and wondered if Rhodes would yet again be thrown aside in favor of “The Best in the World” and his story, a “better story”.

It got even more worrisome for Rhodes fans after The Rock's return on the New Year's edition of Raw when he teased challenging “The Head of the Table.” Then, just weeks later, “The Great One” told Stephen A. Smith on an episode of First Take that he and Roman Reigns headlining “the Show of Shows” would be “the biggest WrestleMania of all time.”

On the go-home episode of Raw before the Royal Rumble, after Rhodes and Punk came face-to-face with one another, reports from Dave Meltzer were that would be WWE's direction for WrestleMania 40, to face one another, and that neither would be winning the Royal Rumble. But after Punk tore his triceps in the middle of the Rumble match, he announced on Raw he would be out of WrestleMania with surgery needed to repair the injury.

While it was discouraging to see Punk, who had only been around since his return at Survivor Series and made his televised in-ring return in Tampa at the Royal Rumble, fans were still encouraged and better yet reassured that they'd hopefully get their wish of Rhodes and Reigns II. But reassurance quickly faded once Rollins made his intriguing challenge to Rhodes.

“And so, I've got to ask you, man, what title do you want?” Rollins asked. “Do you want the Hollywood title, the Hulk Hogan title, the one for posers and frauds, the title for people who politic their way to the top? Or do you want the Dusty Rhodes title?”

The story is still about Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, and the WWE Universal Championship

Cody Rhodes, WrestleMania 40

While this even made the smartest of all smart fans take a step back and think, it can't be understated how great the storytelling was here. WWE creative is taking the Punk injury and making something out of this now, in the best way possible. Now we once again are given a shred of doubt that Rhodes will be capturing the WWE Universal Title, instead choosing the World Title over it. This will now make for compelling television on what will be a wild and twisting ride on the road to WrestleMania 40. But that's all it will be.

The answer, the story, all of it, is still about Rhodes winning the WWE Universal Championship. That hasn't changed. And unless Punk's injury derailed plans more than was perceived, then it still will be Reigns and Rhodes at WrestleMania 40, like WWE has been setting in place for over a year.