Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's kind words did not help 39-year-old WWE star, admits he wanted to leave

After a one-off appearance on WWE SmackDown in September 2023, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson returned to the world of wrestling for an extended period of time. He made his intentions clear at RAW Day 1, 2024—challenge The Bloodline's "Head of the Table," Roman Reigns.

A month later, the 2024 Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes surprised fans when he gave up his shot at The Tribal Chief for The Rock. This segment was particularly notable for The American Nightmare's expression, which Johnson's personal writer Brian Gewirtz called out later. Gewirtz stated that it was meant to be uplifting.

The decision to have The Rock face Roman Reigns instead of giving a climax to Cody Rhodes' rivalry with Reigns received backlash from fans online. Ultimately, WWE reversed the decision, and The Final Boss was born. Dwayne Johnson turned heel and joined The Bloodline.

Speaking to Inside The Ropes recently, Cody Rhodes addressed Brian Gewirtz' statement. He clarified that while he did not intend to give a "boo-boo face," it all happened organically. The current Undisputed WWE Champion admitted as soon as the segment was over, he wanted to leave. Even The Rock's "kind" and "nice" words which he whispered to The American Nightmare's ear before the stare-off between him and Roman Reigns did not help matters:

"He might have a point. He might, only because I didn't think of myself...the moment was so real, I guess I didn't think of myself in a performance sense of 'You're not smiling' or 'You are smiling.' The Final Boss [The Rock] had whispered something in my ear that was actually really kind and nice, and I did smile. I think, not so much about my face, the thing I remember about it is I wanted to get out of there. I wanted to get out of there. I did want them to have their moment. I wanted to be gone." [H/T: Fightful.com]

Here's the said promo which happened in February 2024:

Cody Rhodes added that he did not want to see anybody and all that was running in his mind was to get back to his bus. However, the cameras were on him for much longer than he expected, thus capturing the evident sadness on his face.

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What Brian Gewirtz said about the segment on WWE SmackDown

After WrestleMania XL, Brian Gewirtz looked back at the segment, where Cody Rhodes introduced The Rock as Roman Reigns' challenger for The Show of Shows in February 2024.

Speaking on The Masked Man Show, Gewirtz noted how Cody's face did not "help matters" but also spoke highly of the latter, calling him "genuine" and "real."

"Cody, it was supposed to be, in some form, 'Yeah, F**kin A! Go get em Rock! You're going to get your a** kicked, Roman! Let's do this!' and this uplifting promo. Instead, he looked like someone shot his dog in the face in the parking lot. Just look at his expression." [H/T: Fightful.com]

Six days after the segment, WWE hosted the WrestleMania Kickoff Press Event in Las Vegas, where The American Nightmare reinstated his decision and announced he would challenge Roman Reigns. At WrestleMania Sunday, Cody Rhodes was coronated as the Undisputed WWE Champion for the first time in his career.