Although his story appears to be far from complete, Cody Rhodes is speaking out about his WrestleMania plans amid the return of WWE legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. There has been increasing speculation that The Rock will face off against his cousin and Undisputed WWE Champion Roman Reigns in one of the two main events during the two-night Wrestlemania 40 event.

The conversations around the wrestling ecosystem reached a fever pitch when The Rock made a surprise return to WWE's Monday Night Raw program on New Year's Day and seemingly alluded to a feud with Reigns.

“When The Rock goes out to get something to eat tonight in San Diego, should The Rock sit in a booth,” he asked the crowd at the end of the segment. “Or should The Rock sit at the bar? Yeah, The Rock loves the bar too. Or should The Rock sit at the head of the table?”

Of course, The Rock is directly referencing Roman Reigns as his standing as “Head of The Table” of his family-based faction “The Bloodline”. Reigns has sat atop the WWE for nearly four years as champion, beating Brock Lesner in the main event of WrestleMania 38 to unify the WWE Universal Championship and the WWE Championship to become the Undisputed WWE Champion. As of now, he's held the title for over 1,200+ days.

The Rock is one of the most storied figures in the history of pro wrestling with his feud with fellow WWE legend “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in the 90's punctuating professional wrestling's mainstream appeal. Wrestling fans have a penchant for wanting dream matchups to occur between their favorite superstars and a matchup between The Rock and Roman Reigns is at the top of the list for many fans of the sport.

The Rock recently joined the TKO Group Holdings Board of Directors, the entity that now owns the WWE and other assets and once again alluded to a matchup with Reigns in his appearance on ESPN's First Take alongside Stephen A. Smith and Molly Querim.

“If myself and Roman Reigns were to main event WrestleMania, and I mean this very respectfully of all the Wrestlemania's prior because I grew up in this business and I love it, we could possibly put on, with us as a main event and this incredible group of men and women who are these incredible performers… We could possibly put on the greatest and the biggest WrestleMania of all time,” he said on the program.

However, the inclusion of the WWE legend turned box office star in a possible WrestleMania 40 main event leaves Cody Rhodes in limbo. Rhodes, the winner of the 2023 Royal Rumble, challenged Reigns to a championship match at Wrestlemania 39 but lost after interference from Solo Sikoa. Since last year, Rhodes has been fixated on “finishing the story” and capturing the championship that eluded his father and WWE legend “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes: the WWE Championship.

Rhodes spoke about The Rock's return to the WWE in a quote obtained by Bleacher Report during a WWE 2K24 press run, in which Rhodes is the cover star of the game's standard edition. Rhodes spoke of his respect for The Rock but believes that his story ultimately leads to a rematch with Reigns at this year's WrestleMania.

“You mentioned ‘The Great One' The Rock, nothing but respect for him. I went and saw ‘Jungle Cruise,' I'm a Rock fan. I don't think he's the type that would come in and meddle with a story that's been being told over the past two years. I think he's probably up to something else, but you never know with WWE. I'll be watching just like everybody else when I'm not wrestling.”

It appears that, per reports, The Rock is up to something…only with Roman Reigns. An article published by SI Wrestling indicated that Rhodes might undergo a change in direction to his story leading into April.

“Multiple sources close to WWE Head of Creative Paul ‘Triple H' Levesque have indicated that Rhodes will not headline this year’s event, nor will he “finish his story” at WrestleMania. But there is still a new chapter to write with a marquee matchup to be had… against CM Punk,” SI Wrestling writer Justin Barrasso penned in his latest feature.

Nevertheless, there appears to be no bad blood between Rhodes and The Rock. Per a report by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightufl, the two publicly embraced backstage at the Day 1 edition of Raw, and The Rock spoke glowingly of the work that he's been doing.

“We were told that the nature of the exchange, which was before Rock’s promo, was that of support to Cody Rhodes and what he’s been doing,” Sapp said in his exclusive report. “Those that we spoke to said that they got the feeling that The Rock wasn’t there to ‘stand in the way of anything,' but did note it was before his promo and most didn’t know his ‘Head of the Table' line was coming.”

It'll be interesting to see how things play out in the lead-up to WrestleMania 40 but for now, it seems like there's nothing but mutual respect between The Rock and Cody Rhodes regardless of where their respective stories go. But, the next few months will be must-see television in the wrestling word.