The start of 2024 has already proven to be a chaotic news cycle for WWE, and it has only been exacerbated with Cody Rhodes seemingly handing off a title match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40 to Dwayne ‘The Rock' Johnson. Fan reaction to his has been mixed, at best, and many are even comparing it to one of the most infamous moments in WrestleMania history involving Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart.

Rhodes appeared in the main event segment of the February 2 edition of SmackDown to confront Reigns about a cashing in the Royal Rumble win for a potential title match at WrestleMania. While Rhodes teased he was still coming for Reigns, he said it wouldn't be at WrestleMania which brought out The Rock to confront Reigns. teasing that this will be the WrestleMania match before the show closes out.

Many fans on social media were quick to compare this moment to the ending of 1993's WrestleMania 9, which saw Hulk Hogan defeat Yokozune for the WWE Championship. Moments before this, though, Hogan had come out to check on Bret Hart, who Yokozuna had just beaten for the title, when Hart told Hogan to go get Yokozuna and win the title.

Overtime, the moment became synonymous with modern fans' view of Hogan as someone who would use his backstage clout to get his way and keep himself at the top of the drawing card. Multiple stars of the era such as Hart and The Undertaker, along with backstage staff, seemingly corroborated that Hogan did this to keep the spotlight on himself.

Hogan's reputation for this would only grow as more stories came out about his time in WWE during the 1980s and his run in WCW.

It is worth noting, though, there are far different circumstances surrounding the Rhodes and Rock moment on SmackDown. Follow-up reports suggest CM Punk's injury at the Royal Rumble played a part in the changes being made to the WrestleMania card, though it isn't clear how deep these change run.

Then there is the news surrounding the sex trafficking lawsuit against Vince McMahon, allegations which have implicated Brock Lesnar and are under federal investigation.