After winning the Royal Rumble for the second year in a row, Cody Rhodes marched down the ring on RAW in Tampa, Florida, to celebrate his accomplishment and officially announce that he would be challenging Roman Reigns, not Seth Rollins, at WrestleMania 40.

On paper, it makes sense, right? Rhodes has been gunning for Reigns' title for literally a year now, and after taking a brutal loss at WrestleMania 39, he's ready to finally finish the story once and for all.

… or is he? Because Seth Rollins, who is now without a clear challenger for WrestleMania 40 following CM Punk's triceps injury, decided to interrupt Rhodes' promo and let him know that his path isn't 100 percent set if he doesn't want it to be.

“You know Cody, Tampa Bay's right, you do deserve it, man.  And I say that because you and I haven't always seen eye to eye, but over the past year, I think we've developed a mutual respect for each other, so man-to-man, back-to-back Royal Rumbles, congratulations, that's special, it really is. But I'm gonna be 100 percent real with you, my friend, I'm gonna be real with you, the glasses are coming off: if you chose to challenge Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, you're making a mistake; I think you should fight me instead,” Seth Rollins told Cody Rhodes.

“Tampa, I understand your concern, all I'm asking is for you to hear me out. I watched you at the Royal Rumble press conference; you said unequivocally that you were ‘the guy.' And I'm not trying to be a jerk right now, but you are not the guy. Roman Reigns is not even the guy anymore. I'm the guy, and this, the World Heavyweight Championship, is the title in WWE. Alright, we're getting there. Now, last year, you win the Rumble, it makes perfect sense to go after Roman Reigns, but that was when there was only one champion. The landscape has changed, and I get it, every single day, all you've thought about for the last year is Roman, Roman, Roman, Roman. I get it, I understand it, but man, you've been with me on this ride.

“Since I won this title, you've been on the road with me, making town after town after town, city after city, and on all of those shows, who was there in the main event? Because it sure as h*ll wasn't Roman Reigns. And what title was I defending in those main events, because it sure as h*ll wasn't the WWE Championship, it was the World Heavyweight Championship. And do you know why? Do you remember why this title came to be? It was because every single one of these people was sick and tired or Roman Reigns. They were sick and tired of him showing up every other week, then every other month, then every six months, never defending the title,  cheating to win every single time he had an opportunity to be an honorable man. This title is our title, this title is for us it is by us and we have built this title up through broken bones, a broken back, a blown out knee, we, we, all of us, you included, we have leveled the playing field with the World Heavyweight Championship.”

Whoa, you've gotta give it to Rollins; when he doesn't like a guy, he has no problem letting them know in an incredibly entertaining way that captivates fans all over the world. Fortunately, his proposal for Rhodes was no laughing matter, as it left the “American Nightmare” with far more questions than answers.

Seth Rollins wants to complete his feud with Cody Rhodes at Mania.

So, after running through the value of his title and his sheer lack of respect for Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins made an offer to Cody Rhodes that he felt he couldn't refuse, leading to a shocked reaction from everyone in the audience, including the “American Nightmare” himself.

“So we don't have to pretend that Roman Reigns is a god anymore because he's not. We don't need to pretend that Roman Reigns is on an untouchable pedestal; h*ll, we don't need Roman Reigns at all,” Seth Rollins declared. “And so, I've got to ask you, man, what title do you want? Do you want the Hollywood title, the Hulk Hogan Title, the one for posers and frauds, the title for people who politik their way to the top? Or do you want the Dusty Rhodes title? Do you want the workhorse championship, the blue-collar Championship, because that's what the World Heavyweight Championship means: it is about who is the very best between these ropes. Now I could ask Dusty, I could ask, you know, which title Dusty would rather have, but we both know the answer to that, and the truth is it's not about him and hasn't been about him for a long time: this is about you. This is about you and your decision, and I don't need an answer right now, but what I want you to do is think about this because it's the biggest decision you will make in your entire life. And what I want to know is what's in here. What kind of man do you want to be?”

Disarmed by Rollins' comments, Rhodes took a moment to think things over before finally responding.

“Seth, I have an insane amount of respect for you, and this is the last thing I woke up thinking that we would be talking about, that I would be thinking about but let me tell you this, I'll think about it,” Cody Rhodes said before he walked out of the ring.

So what gives?  Will Rhodes change things up and go for Rollins' title, which has the potential to be the best technical wrestling match WWE has showcased in a main event WrestleMania match in years? Or will Rhodes stay true to his long-time plan and go for the title his father never could? Fans will have to keep watching RAW to find out.