SUMMARY
- Dwayne Johnson made his return to WWE on Day 1 episode of Monday Night RAW, and shocked the entire industry.
- Since making his return, The Brahma Bull has turned into the dark side, and is now the biggest heel in the promotion.
Dwayne Johnson is arguably the biggest heel in WWE right now, and it is something nobody would have expected at the start of 2024. When The Rock made his surprise return at Day 1 RAW, the entire world was excited. Moreover, when he hinted at a potential feud with Roman Reigns, it left fans really hyped.
But, after Cody Rhodes won the Royal Rumble match, the WWE Universe felt like Dwayne vs Roman is possibly the plan for a later stage. However, things took an unexpected turn when The Brahma Bull interrupted a segment between Reigns and Cody on a weekly SmackDown show.
What made things even worse was that Johnson took The American Nightmare’s spot in the main event of WrestleMania 40. This made the pro wrestling fans really furious, and “We Want Cody” started trending worldwide. WWE took note of this, and announced a WrestleMania kickoff press conference.
OH IT’S GOING DOWN. 🫢@TheRock just slapped @CodyRhodes at the #WrestleMania XL Kickoff. pic.twitter.com/nN0MTYIoRk
— WWE (@WWE) February 9, 2024
At the special event, Rhodes announced that he would be challenging The Tribal Chief at The Show of Shows. But what made headlines was when Johnson slapped Cody right in the face. This made his heel turn official, and over the next few weeks, The People’s Champion showed his bad guy side on weekly TV.
Reverting back to his Hollywood Rock persona, the actor has been doing some great heel work in his ongoing stint. In fact, a lot of people believe that it’s his best run in decades. So, let’s take a look at three reasons why Dwayne’s heel turn is the best thing that could’ve happened to WWE before WrestleMania 40.
Dwayne Johnson is better as a heel
The Triple H-led promotion may have thought a lot before turning Dwayne heel, mainly due to his global popularity because of his acting career. But one thing that might have pushed them to eventually going ahead with the thought is because The Rock is probably better as a heel in professional wrestling.
A major part of the WWE Universe feels that The People’s Champion’s early 2000’s heelish persona was his best character. In fact, that’s what probably became the main reason why he joined the dark side. If we look at the way the in-ring veteran has carried himself ever since turning into a bad guy, it seems like this was the best decision for his run.
From wearing his iconic shirts from the Hollywood Rock days to making similar references during his promo, Johnson has been doing some brilliant stuff. In fact, he has also been taking out his opponents in their battle of words. Moreover, he’s now set to return to in-ring action at WrestleMania 40, and it’ll probably be another masterclass of his heelish work in the pro wrestling world.
Power struggle with WWE CCO Triple H
Another interesting angle that makes The Brahma Bull’s heel turn before WrestleMania 40 a great decision is a potential storyline with Triple H. As it has already been mentioned by The Rock as well as The Game in their recent promos, the power struggle between the TKO member and WWE CCO seems like a pretty cool angle.
Jackie Redmond asks hhh a question and this is what happened: #Wrestlemania #WrestleManiaXL pic.twitter.com/wjAYiaFtRz
— “Filthy” Tom Lawlor トム・ローラー (@FilthyTomLawlor) February 9, 2024
In fact, it’s highly possible that Hunter might be aligning himself with the babyface side, if there comes a need in the near future. As the veteran pro wrestler is no longer active as an in-ring performer due to his health conditions, Stephanie McMahon’s husband could be helping Cody Rhodes through his power in the Stamford-based promotion.
If that happens, there’s a good chance that Johnson would also do the same, as he’s even at a higher position than Triple H. Whether it’s the actual plan or not, isn’t known. But if the company give fans even a short term on-screen program between these two legends, it’ll probably be the best thing for people who’ve watched them tearing the house apart through their work in their peak years.
A future Roman Reigns face turn
While there might be a lot of reasons why WWE decided to give fans a heel Dwayne Johnson. But arguably the biggest one of them all could be a future face turn of The Bloodline Leader, Roman Reigns. Yes, you read it right, the Triple H-led promotion might have plans to give The Tribal Chief another run as a babyface, and The Rock’s heel turn might be its first step.
The biggest tag team match ever… at the biggest #WrestleMania ever.@TheRock & @WWERomanReigns vs. @CodyRhodes & @WWERollins is happening LIVE in Philly at WrestleMania XL. pic.twitter.com/asZ6YvdIlH
— Triple H (@TripleH) March 9, 2024
After a lot of twists and turns, the cousins are set to fight Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes in a tag team match at WrestleMania 2024 Night 1. But on the second night of the mega event, Roman is going to defend his Undisputed Universal Championship against The American Nightmare, and that’s when a babyface turn of The Head of the Table could begin.
As fans are highly invested in Cody’s story, there’s a high possibility that he could be dethroning Reigns from his title. But after a historic reign as the champion, WWE wouldn’t really want to break Roman’s momentum by making him lose clean. To fulfil the purpose of not harming the 6-foot-3 in-ring star, there could be plans of the kind such that The Tribal Chief might be losing the title due to interference.
Talking about this case, there won’t be a bigger shocker for the live crowd than The Rock costing his cousin. Dwayne might be doing so to claim the leadership of The Bloodline, and thus becoming the leader of the heel faction. Moreover, he could even be revealing that all the support he had been giving to his cousin was a plot to make his lose his title at The Grandest Stage of Them All.
In this way, WWE can organically turn their biggest heel from the last half a decade into a babyface. Moreover, this betrayal would help them grab the pro wrestling audience’s sympathy for the 38-year-old superstar. What increases the chances of this angle is that The People’s Champion has already hinted at betraying Reigns a number of times in his promos on Friday Night SmackDown.
Due to this, there’s a high possibility that he could be doing so at this year’s WrestleMania in Philadelphia. If he really does, it would surely be the start of a grand babyface run of The Tribal Chief. Would you like to see Roman Reigns as a babyface in WWE in 2024? Please share your opinions in the comments section.