There was a time in the not-too-distant past when it looked like fans across the WWE Universe were going to see the ultimate dream match of the Roman Reigns era: the “Tribal Chief” versus Dwayne” The Rock” Johnson for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

A bout fans have been hoping to see since Reigns won the Universal Championship at Payback and especially since he unseated Brock Lesnar to become the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion at WrestleMania 38, when The Rock asked if he should take a seat at the “Head of the Table” it popped one heck of a reaction from wrestling fans because maybe, just maybe, “The People's Champion” was finally going to take a break from Hollywood to give them what they'd been asking for since 2020 and even before.

And yet, while Rock and Reigns will appear in the ring together at WrestleMania 40, they won't be doing so on opposite sides of the versus symbol, as according to the “Tribal Chief” in an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, “Crybaby” Cody Rhodes and his fans ruined his dream match for everyone.

“It's two of the greatest superstars to ever do it. We have one who is currently dominating Hollywood and the other currently dominating WWE. Why wouldn't you want to put that match together? That's the big gripe with Cody. He's a crybaby. We have given that bum plenty of time. We've given that chump plenty of time to do his thing. That small minority of our WWE wrestling fanbase weren't a bunch of b**ches, crying the whole time, he would have never got that buzz, and ya'll would have been smitten with The Rock vs. Tribal Chiefs,” Roman Reigns told Pat McAfee via Fightful.

“That's what it was. That's the beauty of this business. Things can happen on the drop of a dime, and you have to either call an audible or ride that wave that is coming. For me, that was the end game. Let me make the final statement. Seal the deal. I beat The Rock. Ain't nobody ever questioning what I've done here. Cody took that from me. We're such a close family. We handle things the right way. We have a ring to settle our differences. He took that from me. He took that storybook ending. Imagine, somebody pops up out of nowhere, ‘This is my story.' You ain't even been here half the time. You just got here. You literally just got here two years ago. Our society is a bunch of sheep, right? You tell them, you can Jedi them, ‘Cody is the good guy. He signs autographs.' That guy is a politician. He's up here in a three-piece suit. We're casual.”

Was a singles match between Reigns and The Rock ever actually on the table for WrestleMania 40? It's impossible to know; while Rhodes' fans did cause an awful stir about the Royal Rumble winner having his spot taken away by the “Final Boss,” that doesn't mean Johnson ever agreed to have the match this year against his cousin, especially in such a massive spot one month before he starts filming a prestige picture for A24 with Bennie Safdie. Still, the narrative practically writes itself, and Reigns is right on the money for playing into it ahead of his own match against Rhodes at the “Showcase of the Immortals.”

Roman Reigns believes there's plenty more to accomplish in WWE.

Elsewhere in his conversation with Pat McAfee, Roman Reigns discussed his current run with the WWE Universal Championship, which has been going strong at 1,300 days and counting. While some fans feel as though Reigns' run has been going on for about a year too long, in the “Head of the Table's” opinion, he still has plenty more he wants to do before he calls it a career.

“Yeah, I'm just scratching the surface. I'm still experimenting and figuring stuff out. I'm 38 years young. I'm a young man and have so much stuff to do,” Roman Reigns told Pat McAfee via Fightful. “If we were able to do this in four years, imagine what we can conquer in another decade. The work has been put in. The skin still looks good. I don't see it stopping anytime. We're about to set more records WrestleMania weekend with the main events. We're chasing landmarks and different history marks with the title reign. There is so much history left to make. I don't see it ever ending.”

Could you imagine Rigns holding the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship for another decade, an effort that would firmly lap Bruno Sanmartino to become the longest-reigning champion in the promotion's history? Well, considering Reigns only shows up for work maybe 20 days a year for WWE at this point, it's easy to see why he'd be happy to go down that road.