The WrestleMania 40 main event is getting a bit clearer and a whole lot more explosive.
That's because the WWE's WrestleMania XL Kickoff press conference at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday night had The Rock slapping Cody Rhodes across the face in a shocking moment. The explosive scene came after The Rock took offense to a remark made by Rhodes about High Chief Peter Maivia, Dwayne Johnson's grandfather.
Minutes after Roman Reigns made it clear that he wants to face The Rock in the main event, The Rock himself polled the crowd whether they think he and his cousin will deliver the biggest main event in the history of the WWE. He followed that by showing a huge graphic of The Bloodline Samoan Dynasty family tree of wrestlers, asking the fans to respect it.
The Rock followed that with: "If you think that The Rock and Roman Reigns isn't the biggest main event in the history of WrestleMania, then save your boos, then if that's what you think ... in simple Rock speak, it doesn't matter what you think."
The Rock and Reigns then shook hands, seemingly solidifying the main event before Rhodes had something to say about that.
The American Nightmare came out and immediately said, "This right here is bulls—t!" Moments later, he declared: "I have made my decision. At WrestleMania 40 in the main event, I choose you Roman Reigns."
While the Undisputed Universal Champion did his best to bury the "finish the story" adage, Rhodes doused the growing fire between the two with gasoline when he told Reigns: "If your grandfather was here, if the High Chief, his grandfather was here, they'd be ashamed of you."
To that The Rock grabbed the mic and aimed his full fury at Rhodes.
"Let me make something perfectly clear to you — when you talk about his family, you're talking about my family. When you're talking about his ancestors, you're talking about my ancestors. And when you're talking about his blood, you're talking about my blood."
He added, "so now we have a problem," before smacking Rhodes across the face, leading to a calamity in which Rhodes and Seth Rollins, who was also on the stage, had to be separated from The Rock and Reigns.
Whether this makes the WrestleMania 40 main event a Triple Threat match between Reigns, The Rock and Rhodes remains to be seen. But whatever it is, the Kickoff Press Conference made sure to detonate fireworks.