WWE SmackDown Results: Triple H Addresses the Rock Slapping Cody Rhodes

Wrestling fans have been buzzing since Friday night’s special WrestleMania 40 kickoff media event. WWE swore to resolve the situation following last week’s episode of SmackDown, when Cody Rhodes allowed The Rock to take the WrestleMania 40 spotlight against Roman Reigns.

Cody’s supporters were ecstatic when “The American Nightmare” interrupted The Rock and Roman Reigns, letting them both know that he has changed his mind and will be meeting “The Tribal Chief” in a WrestleMania rematch. After Reigns took a shot at Cody’s late father, Dusty Rhodes, the back-to-back Royal Rumble winner claimed if the ancestors of Dwayne Johnson and Roman Reigns were alive, they’d be appalled by Roman’s behavior. This culminated in The Rock delivering the people’s slap to Cody Rhodes.

Fans inside the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC, will get to witness Paul “Triple H” Levesque give a statement criticizing The Rock’s conduct during the Las Vegas press event. Could “The Game” be forced to penalize Cody without his will? With Johnson being a member of WWE’s Board of Directors, one can’t rule out the idea.

On the women’s side, spectators will be greeted by 2024 Royal Rumble winner Bayley. Last Thursday, Bayley was officially out of Damage CTRL after claiming that she would be fighting IYO SKY for the WWE Women’s Championship. She will be discussing her split from the organization.

That’s not all, as we have a tag team bout with championship implications. The pair of Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate will take on Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, with the winning team receiving a shot at Damien Priest and Finn Balor for the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships.

SmackDown this week kicks off with a view of Triple H entering the Spectrum Center. The show then moved to a recap of the WrestleMania XL Kickoff Presser. Once the video package was completed, Triple H made his way to the ring. He was joined in the ring by Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce.

Levesque stated he wanted to clear up one thing. He was interrupted by chants of “Rocky Sucks.” He then took a small shot at The Rock for not knowing his position. He made it plain that he’s the actual boss of WWE, and it will be Roman Reigns defending his undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Cody Rhodes in the main event at WrestleMania 40.

Nick Aldis then stated that Seth Rollins’ next opponent for the World Heavyweight Championship will be selected at the elimination chamber. Randy Orton, Bronson Reed, Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, The Miz, Bobby Lashley, Ivar, Dominik Mysterio, Drew McIntyre, Sami Zayn, Logan Paul, and LA Knight will be wrestling in a series of bouts for a position in the men’s Elimination Chamber contest.

McIntyre made his entrance and assumed credit for Cody Rhodes choosing Roman Reigns as his WrestleMania opponent. Drew also grabbed another opportunity to fire digs at CM Punk. He was interrupted by AJ Styles, who kicked off the first qualifying bout.