Earlier this week, WWE premiered “WrestleMania XL: Behind the Curtain,” an hour-long documentary exhibiting the lead-up to this yr’s huge occasion. The doc primarily centered on the backstage drama revolving across the principal occasion, which was initially scheduled to characteristic Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns earlier than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson launched some uncertainty into the state of affairs. Rhodes wound up performing within the match, and “Behind the Curtain” claims to disclose the journey there.
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Nonetheless, writing in right now’s Wrestling Observer Publication, Dave Meltzer took difficulty with a few of what was offered within the documentary. In keeping with the reporter, the occasions depicted within the particular are a “sanitized” model of what really befell.
Whereas “Behind the Curtain” made it appear as if The Rock named himself the true “Head of the Desk” in a promo to gauge curiosity in a match in opposition to Reigns, Meltzer claims that he and WWE had began negotiating that match the earlier month. The deal signed in the beginning of January, which noticed Johnson be a part of the TKO Board of Administrators, additionally included the WrestleMania match, which contradicts the story within the doc.
Although Meltzer’s interpretation of the documentary was that the corporate was deciding between Rhodes and The Rock as Reigns’ opponent, the author claims WWE higher-ups had already made a definitive resolution on the matter in favor of The Rock, which was clearly modified down the road. In “WrestleMania XL: Behind the Curtain,” Johnson is depicted as understanding that the followers need Rhodes vs. Reigns and gladly stepping apart, whereas Meltzer indicated that the state of affairs was way more difficult than that.
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“Stuff like that is not going to be in a WWE documentary,” Meltzer wrote. “It was principally there to inform a narrative folks largely knew, whereas nonetheless portraying the important thing gamers, Levesque and Johnson, as being utterly cohesive and listening to the followers.”
Should you use any of the quotes on this article, please credit score the Wrestling Observer Publication with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.