Nick Khan is now claiming WWE never changed its WrestleMania 40 plans, a statement that flies in the face of The Rock’s own public admission and WWE’s own behind the scenes documentary. The WWE President insists the famous creative pivot fans witnessed in 2024 was the intended outcome all along.
The road to WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia saw Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes briefly give up his main event opportunity against Roman Reigns to The Rock. WWE reverted to Reigns vs. Rhodes after heavy fan backlash, and a tag team match was booked for Night 1 with Reigns and The Rock facing Rhodes and Seth Rollins.
Speaking at SBJ On Stage ahead of WrestleMania 42, Khan claimed those plans never changed and that what happened in Philly was always the design.
“By the way, the plan was always how it ended up in Philly two years ago. Sometimes, it’s a pre-determined outcome in wrestling. You want to throw the fans off, you want to let things bake, and then, boom, it ends up the way that we wanted it to end up. It never changed,” Khan said.
“That was just online rumors and gossip that we were changing, it never changed. We convinced Dwayne Johnson to come back. He’s on our board of directors. It was a tag team match. He’s about the same age I am, so two years ago let’s say he was 50, he was obviously in phenomenal shape, he did everything that we asked of him and then some. But that was always the result we were looking for,” Khan added.
Khan’s Claim Contradicts WWE’s Own Documentary And The Rock
The trouble with Khan’s version is that WWE itself has already told a different story. The promotion released a WrestleMania 40 Behind the Curtain documentary that admitted fan backlash forced the pivot back to Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes.
The Rock has also said publicly that the original plan was for Roman Reigns vs. The Rock, before WWE pivoted to put Rhodes in the match. Khan’s framing of the situation as nothing more than online rumor runs directly against both accounts.
Fans pointed out the contradiction on X, arguing that Khan does not want to accept that WWE listens to online criticism. On the same stage, the WWE President made comments tied to the WrestleMania 42 news cycle and claimed the company does not alter creative plans in response to social media reaction.
Khan’s standing as WWE President under TKO gives his public statements weight, which is part of why this account has drawn such pushback. He recently signed a WWE contract extension that keeps him in the role for years to come.