It’s a Wonderful Life

So on last night’s SmackDown (February 21st, 2025), we had one of the strangest promo segments of all time between Cody Rhodes and the Rock.

We learned a lot from this segment, including where next year’s WrestleMania will be taking place, why the Rock and Cody have been so buddy-buddy the last month, and that the Rock wants Cody’s SOUL.

But what does that mean exactly?

Well for anyone who’s seen It’s a Wonderful Life, there’s a scene in that movie that this promo reminded me a LOT of.

The main antagonist of the movie is a rich miser named Mr. Henry Potter, who basically purchases every small business in town, except the Building and Loan company owned by our main character: George Bailey.

A Deal?

Eventually, we get to a scene where rather than fight George any longer, he offers him everything his heart desires. Business trips that will take him around the world, a huge pay increase from what his current job offers, and the various burdens in his life being lifted off of his back.

However, despite how great this sounds to George, he refuses, because he has such a long and terrible history with this man, his rival, that the idea of working for him, visibly makes him feel disgusted.

Here we have the Rock. Cody’s main rival from last year, who left him bloodied, antagonized his mother, attempted to rob him of his main event at WM, and then tried to screw him out of his victory over Roman Reigns.

Now here we are a year later, and the Rock has changed tactics. Now that he’s been in a position of power long enough, he knows how to use it to his advantage.

He knows that to get one over on Cody, he needs to use his authority to offer the world to him. He offers to take a great WWE champion, and make him legendary by making Cody HIS champion.

Effectively asking Cody to sell his soul to the very man who made his story so damn hard to finish.

Scenario 1

Now, WWE can go two directions with this. In one scenario, Cody can refuse the Rock’s offer at the Elimination Chamber. He can play the babyface world champion who wants to say and do all the right things, despite his own selfish desires.

He can reject the Rock and insist on going to WM alone. This snub can then anger the Rock enough to make Cody’s life a living hell. He offered Cody everything and yet he refused, and the Rock feels insulted by that on a personal level.

This can then culminate in a match between Rock and Cody where Rock has all the advantages, and everything and everyone is against the American Nightmare.

Or maybe Rock doesn’t even bother with the match part at all, and just strips Cody of his WWE title and kayfabe fires him from the WWE, making his inevitable return feel HUGE.

Scenario 2

Or they could go in a second possible direction. A direction where Cody ACCEPTS the Rock’s offer.

Because think about it. At Saturday Night’s Main Event, Cody snapped at Kevin Owens and lost his cool for the first time in a long time. Then on the Raw before the Rumble, he and CM Punk had that intense promo exchange where Cody displayed some heelish traits.

And then there’s the Rumble, where Cody not only went VERY far to retain his championship, but he made a point of standing on the table above KO’s lifeless body, to gloat.

Call it Codylander if you want to, but coming off of these heelish outbursts, imagine Cody selling out to the Final Boss.

Punk said to Cody that he could see through him. He could tell that he was letting the pressure of being the WWE champion get to him. He’s been trying to be the champion that everyone wants Cody to be.

He’s being the champion that he feels his dad would want him to be. The Rock is basically offering to make him not only a more widely recognized figure outside of the wrestling bubble, but is also offering to let him be the best champion he can be, WITHOUT doing all of the hard stuff that Punk was pointing out to him.

By selling out, Cody can be a great WWE champion, without destroying himself in the process. Or at least that’s how he could justify things.

Scenario 3

Or maybe it’s neither of those two scenarios. Maybe Cody will do the valiant thing and say no, but the Rock won’t take no for an answer. Or he blackmails Cody into being his champion.

Maybe he threatens to tear him down, and Cody is forced to be a heel against his will, for the sake of his family and for his legacy.

From there, Cody could then either embrace what the Rock wants him to be and turn heel fully of his own volition, or he could become an even more valiant babyface by eventually defying the Rock and sticking to his principles, knowing that’s what his father would’ve wanted.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I think there’s a LOT of interesting directions WWE could go here. Execution of the promo aside, what the Rock offered Cody, immediately makes everything he does going forward, all the more interesting.

Especially since the two likely Chamber winners: John Cena and CM Punk, both have a lot of history with the Rock. Maybe Rock saw an opportunity to use Cody as his puppet and get overdue revenge on John Cena for beating him all those years ago.

Who knows? But I know I’m here for the ride.

This article was written by Maexar Blackfyre.