"There is only one dominant and powerful royal family in professional wrestling"

[Seth Rollins is stood on the stage in front of some members of the wrestling media, with mostly WWE fans in the crowd.]

Seth Rollins: I am a visionary. I am a revolutionary. I am your world heavyweight champion! I am Seth... [Crowd responds '...Freakin' Rollins!'] Still a pretty big pop, I'd say. In Vegas, we are on the road to WrestleMania. WrestleMania 40, WrestleMania XL, extra large. The biggest WrestleMania of all time! Now, what do you say we cut to the chase and we get ourselves a main event? Now, I'm not the man to make that decision. I'm just a prize at the end of the road. So what do you say, we get the man who can make that decision out here? The two time Royal Rumble winner. 'The American Nightmare' himself. Cody Rhodes-- "[Seth gets interrupted by the arrival of Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman. After posing with his title, Reigns gets a microphone from his special counsel.]

Roman Reigns: "Las Vegas! Acknowledge me!"

Seth Rollins: "Hey, guys. He showed up for work once. I love to see it. Good to see you, big brother."

Roman Reigns: And he showed up to work in his wife's shoes."

Rollins: [talking over] Don't be mad, don't be mad that I can run my mouth around you..."

Reigns: "But anyway, enough about him, he doesn't-- Except we will just talk about somebody who matters right now. Let's talk about Cody Rhodes. The man who can't make his own choice, huh? Mr. Hesitation! Here's a life lesson, kids: if you hesitate, your moment's gonna move on. And that's what happened to Cody Rhodes. It's no longer his decision, it's now your 'Tribal Chief's' decision. That's exactly how it works, thank you [in response to Seth questioning Reigns' words]. So, tonight, I choose who faces me in the main event of WrestleMania. [Roman gestures towards Rollins] Get this bum outta here. Will you just get this bum outta here already, huh?

I choose... I choose The Rock!"

Rollins: That's not how it works! That's not how it works!"

[The Rock's music hits and moments later he arrives on the stage. Rock stares down and taunts the audience, who is greeting him with mixed reactions. When the music stops and Dwayne tries to speak, that's when he receives mostly negative responses from a crowd.]

The Rock: "Finally! The Rock has come back to Las Vegas! Now let The Rock ask you a question: do you think that Roman Reigns is gonna beat The Rock at WrestleMania [see Note 1]? [Mixed to negative reactions are coming from the crowd.] Or, do you think that The Rock is gonna beat the 'Tribal Chief' at WrestleMania? [Slightly more positive reactions, but still not the most favorable.] Or, do you think that The Rock and Roman Reigns will be the biggest main event in the history of the WWE? [Crowd jeers with boos.]

All right. I love the passion, The Rock loves the passion. So, to members of the press - welcome, glad you're here. To the WWE Universe... [The crowd starts chanting 'We want Cody!' and 'Rocky sucks!'] [see Note 2]

To the WWE universe, welcome. To everyone watching around the world, welcome. And certainly, to the millions... [Crowd responds '...and millions!'] of The Rock's fans, welcome. And on top of all that, members of the press, world watching. I introduce you to the 'Cody Crybabies'.
Now, let The Rock show you all and everyone around the world. I'm gonna show you something right now that is very important, it's very cool. [Crowd starts chanting 'What?'] And I think you're gonna like it a lot. ['What?'] But regardless whether you like it ['What?'], or you don't like it ['What?'], you love it ['What?!'], you hate it ['What?!']. One thing ['What?!'], for damn sure ['What?!']: you are gonna ['What?!'] respect it ['What?!']. Take a look.

[Rock unveils a graphic of the 'Bloodline Samoan Dynasty' family tree.]

When you look at this incredible family tree, and I want you to take a look at the very top of the tree. At the top of that tree, The Rock's grandfather and Roman's grandfather made a blood oath in that our family in Samoan said 'aiga forever [see Note 3]. And if you can't see that, if you can't see the fact that this is proof, that there is only one dominant and powerful royal family in professional wrestling [see Note 4]. If you can't see that and if you think that The Rock and Roman Reigns isn't the biggest main event in the history of WrestleMania, then, then -- save your boos, save your boos -- then if that's what you think, then in simple Rock speak, it doesn't matter what you think.

WrestleMania 40, Philadelphia! The Rock and Roman Reigns! The Universal Champion versus the "People's Champion"! Whether you like it or you don't like it, the 'People's Champion' in the biggest main event in the history of professional wrestling, bound by blood."

[Rock extends his hand to Reigns in order to reach the agreement. Roman accepts and both of them hug it out.]

Cody Rhodes: "Hold on, hold on.

[Cody shows up on the stage, causing a crowd to erupt with positive reactions. Rhodes confronts Rock and Roman.]

This, this right here is bullshit! Roman! Roman, you're out here calling the shots, dictating WrestleMania 40. And as the 'Tribal Chief', as the undisputed champion you have a lot of stroke, but it is not your right, it is not your distinction to determine the main event. It is mine! I won the Royal Rumble! And Rock, we had a wonderful conversation, I had many conversations. I have made my decision. [Rhodes takes a quick look at Rollins, then continues] At WrestleMania 40, in the main event... I choose you, Roman Reigns."

[Reigns starts to lose his patience and angrily looks at Cody.]

Reigns: "You must be crazy! You must be stupid or something! Huh? This is a done deal! You're old news, go over there [points at Seth] with the number twos. The number two table will have you now! Loser bracket! Right there in the dummy in green. Just go, leave, you're embarrassing yourself now. Last year was your year, that was your moment, you were only a chapter in my book. Nobody cares about your story, nobody cares about you finishing the story. You're embarrassing your entire family now. You, just understand this, you're irrelevant... just like your dad."

Cody Rhodes: "Here you are, here you are talking about family. Is that what The Bloodline is? Let me ask you a question, how's Jey? [Roman gets pissed off and drops his microphone to the ground] It's not a family. You're a meal ticket and they are nothing but lackeys [Reigns takes off his jacket, implying the possibility of initiating a brawl], but "yes" men. They're goons! And what is this match all about right here? Who sits at the "head of the table"? What does it matter when neither of you have been doing any of the cooking for two years?

[Heyman tries to calm Reigns down.]

Earlier we had that family tree up there and you've invoked my father before, so let me go ahead and do the same. If your grandfather was here... if the 'High Chief' [points at Rock], his grandfather was here, they'd be ashamed of you!"

[Reigns and Rhodes have a face-to-face confrontation. Then, The Rock stands beside his cousin and looks at Cody with a disgust. Afterwards, he proceeds to speak.]

The Rock: "Let me make something perfectly clear to you. [points at Reigns] When you talk about his family, you're talking about my family. When you're talking about his ancestors, you're talking about my ancestors! And when you're talking about his blood, you're talking about my blood. So now, we have a problem."

[Suddenly, The Rock slaps Rhodes and chaos ensues. Rollins stands up to Rock, while Triple H -- accompanied by Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis -- try to calm down the situation before it only gets worse. All four men trade insults with each other until Cody gets taken backstage alongside Seth. Before he disappears, Rollins says that Rock doesn't get to do whatever he wants.]

- Credit: Thanks to inmate KuczyPL for this transcription.

- Note 1: Prior to this segment, Cody Rhodes gave up his spot in the main event of WrestleMania 40 to The Rock on the February 2, 2024 episode of SmackDown.

- Note 2: After the controversial decision to have Rhodes relinquish his spot to The Rock, WWE fans started a social media campaign for Cody to have the main event spot versus Roman Reigns.

- Note 3: 'Aiga is the Samoan word for 'family'.

- Note 4: By saying "there is only one dominant and powerful royal family," The Rock takes a shot at Cody's theme song, 'Kingdom', which often preludes with a clip of Rhodes saying "[w]restling has more than one royal family".