"And then I said Wrestling Bios should make a video on this."

0/10: Needs more of Rock taking credit for everything.

"And then I told Punk, what if you were from Chicago?"

It wasn't a Rolex. It was the recipe for what The Rock has been cooking all these years.

I agree with the vast majority that Rock trying to take the main event spot was unjustified, but I want to give credit to Rock for fully committing to the heel persona. He could have phoned it in, or even just gone through the motions and support Roman and it still would have made a fine spectacle, but Rock went the extra mile and became the most evil heel in the company for that time, and it did elevate the entire story to a new level. Say what you will about Rock taking credit for everything but he did put in his fair share of work, so I give him credit for that at least.

I actually prefer Taker because I think Rock/Austin in the ring would start to overshadow Cody/Roman, but also because Taker has that “magic” aspect to his character where I can accept him suddenly appearing. He’s like “the Ghost of Wrestlemania” who showed up because the Bloodline’s shenanigans had finally summoned judgement from the wrestling gods.

God damn if Vince doesn't look creepy with that little thin mustache and looks like he all of a sudden turned 150 years old

The Rock and his PR team went into overdrive to rewrite history on this one. Really happy that Cody got to FINISH THE STORY!

Wrestling Bios never misses

"And that's when I told the boys, 'no taxation without representation', and the rest is American history!" -The Rock

Rock: Then I told wrestling bios to make a video about the road to Wrestlemania 40.😂

“And so I said: That Steve Blackman is cold as ice…”

I never thought I’d see an evil authority figure top the Mr. McMahon character, but “Final Boss” Rock comes awfully close.

If Wrestlemania night 1 and 2 are Infinity War and Endgame, Seth Rollins is Stephen Strange. He saw how this would end and was willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.

28:25 my mom was watching with me and is a big Undertaker fan. When Undertaker appeared she was screaming and crying, waking up my poor dad🤣a good moment.

"And so I said let's get Wrestling Bios to release this video on a random Tuesday"

“The Rock remembers sitting down and talking with his good buddy Rodney. He said his career was going down hill. No gigs. No big breaks. He didn’t know what to do to make his comedy work. Rodney said he gets no respect. As soon as The Rock heard that, The Rock Could smell it. The Rock told Rodney that’s just the thing his comedy needed! The Rock told him to run with the whole No Respect thing, and the rest is history……”

I think I speak for everyone when I say you absolutely should cover all eras not just the attitude. I've been waiting for a video like this from you for a while.

“And then The Rock said, That’s one small step for man…………..”

The pivot was a work of art, if I'm to be honest. I'm assuming this whole thing wasn't planned, but it'd be amazing if it was. But really, the pivot is the talk, and they handled the change, and working with the outcry instead of trying to ignore it, just elevated the match even more than it already was, which says something as the match had a lot of natural hype behind it. I do agree that Austin would have been better. It was rumored for a long time, and if you take Taker's word for it, he was the backup plan and he was told day of that he was being used. But as big a pop the Deadman got, could you imagine the pop that would have happened if, instead of a gong, the glass shattered...

I have to say The Rock memes since the documentary aired have been hilarious. He is literally turning into Hulk Hogan. The man should buy himself a big bottle of Pepsi to wash down all the Whoppers he's told 😂

As someone who just wanted to be entertained by good wrestling story telling, I 100% agree with you. The Final Boss was next level. Roman's dominate heel run was so strong that people are now cheering for him to return. Cody finished the story and Seth more or less sacrificed his title to help take down The Bloodline. The main events were just one of the many great story lines at WM XL.

When a 30 minute video is better than an official documentary.

This was such an awesome build to a WrestleMania main event. Being able to be there in person for WrestleMania took things to another level as well! They not only listened to the fans, they kept us on our toes the entire build. There were so many different factors, emotions & great segments. Truly one of the greatest of all time.

Bloodline Rules was stupid because The Bloodline could've made it as unfair as possible for Cody, given the stipulation. Like no dq for Roman but not for Cody. Instead, it was just a regular no dq match.

“And then I told him, you should make a KZfaq weekly series about The Monday Night War…”

I'm surprised you're already making a video on this

I was at the March 25th Monday Night Raw in Chicago. When the Rock showed up, everyone got on their feet, myself included. When the Rock beat Cody Rhodes to a bloody pulp, outside in the rain, the crowd was dead silent. It was a very surreal experience.

The Rock: “that doesn’t work for me, brother.”

That Taker surprise got me honestly. I thought Austin was going to show up and stop the Rock. But having Undertaker show up and save Cody is full circle moment because Undertaker first match was in a Survivor Series match against a team lead by Dusty Rhodes in 1990 and Taker helped Cody with his first Royal Rumble appearance in 2008 with Cody said it in a interview few years ago about it.

“And then I said, Wrestling Bios, you should give the nickname MuFuggin to my boy Steve Blackman.”

Is this the most modern wrestling topic Bios did 😮

This year's mania was great

Roman throwing the chair away after hitting Seth made no sense when it was no dq

I kinda wish undertakers involvement also included taking out Heyman, since it's been 10 years since the streak ended.

I was happy with it being Taker... Taker was the locker room Boss and is Wrestlemania boss, so he took out the Final Boss. Would have been epic with Austin as the Anti Boss taking out the final boss too... was amazing either way

“Right after The Rock fell and hit his head, he could smell it…. The Rock could smell the idea for the the flux capacitor! The thing that makes time travel possible! Then The Rock got in contact with some Libyans…….”

I think this was all a work. WWE used social media brilliantly to get people thinking they messed up and had to pivot, but that was their endgame all along. There's no way they'd let anyone go off script or deviate from the plan with the incredible amount of money riding on Wrestlemania. I'm sure this had been in the works for many months.

I have heard the argument for Steve Austin being there, and yeah that BIG WWE trailer behind Cody and Rock when Cody was being brutalized definitely gave us that feeling, but from a character standpoint the "Spirit of the Undertaker" and the "Spirit of Wrestlemania" makes a lot of sense. Undertaker and Rock are both from a bygone era and the fact Taker attacked ONLY Rock and not Roman made me happy. It was like he was there to even the odds, not change the outcome. Again, all from a theoretical storyline POV.

If they wanted Rock vs Roman, then why would you have Cody win the Rumble?

I don’t know why but when you said “a Rock apologist” it sounded like it could’ve been someone’s job 😂😂 “I’m an a rockapologist for a living”

I'm a fan of stone cold but the fact he didn't make an appearance because they couldn't pay him enough is shitty. It just goes to show just how important and selfless Taker really is.

16:18 My first ever time at a WWE (ugh) PLE was this Elimination Chamber in Australia Thanks for covering this Era defining time in Wrestling

I was there and I can honestly say I've never experienced anything like it.

Were cold weather sports fans, the weather was fine. The problem was we couldnt see at the start.

Them doing what they did probably extended The Rock's career because now we still have matches for him against Cody and Roman to go.

So did i get worked by the rock? I thought the idea of rock vs roman is a fine idea but it wasnt as important to me as cody vs roman at wm. I didnt get all hot about it, just thought it was dumb to build up cody vs roman only to drop it out of nowhere and then go back to the first idea.

28:53 I am happy it was undertaker because he was able to get his closur from the ring.

The Rock: “And then I talked to Wrestling Bios and said they could make a great episode about this”

This was the story / match that got me into wrestling after 30 years. The Rock's promos were awesome and the attention to detail to his Final Boss entrance becoming better and better with each promo was legit. His entrance for the main event is one of my favorite ever with those awesome electricity visuals

Rock has basically morphed into TJ Kirkland with how much he takes credit for absolutely everything 😂😂😂

Wrestling Bios going to be unbiased and cooking here.

And then I told WrestlingBios to make a video on WrestleMania 41 and the rest was history.~Rock

Wrestling Bios should be a board member for TKO, he knows what is best for business

I know they may not do it in the future, but I liked that the guys in the main event had a tag match on Night 1.

I loved this build, thank you for covering this bios.

i am glad cody rhodes finished the story

I was there in salt lake city and it was a split crowd when he showed up

Here we go, a true unbiased review lol. We needed this lol

One of the best channels on KZfaq ever

Oh here we go!

Ryan mate you are multi talented! I thoroughly enjoy your music mixed, you’re funny as hell and your insight into the business is impressive.

"And then I said, we'll call it Reliving The War"

I totally understand why Hunter didn’t answer questions about the lawsuit after the Royal Rumble, I have no doubt he’d been instructed to do exactly that by the higher-ups at TKO and Endeavor because he’s not only an executive himself but also a member of Vince’s family. My issue was how he went about it, he seemed unprepared for those questions and came off as annoyed people would even ask. Since just not going out there wasn’t an option, literally all he needed to say was “That’s an ongoing legal matter and I can’t comment on it at this time” and people wouldn’t have gotten so upset.

the only thing i can complain about is the steve austin appearance i think even cody himself commented on it,. it was still breath taking experience nonetheless. maybe in the future i can go see a steve austin pop. i still dream of the day i get to hear the glass shatter in person

Last year was the perfect time for him to drop the title.

Listen, listen. THIS chaos is what brought me back to watching the main product full-fledged after being in lapsed mode since 2001 when the then-WWF ended the Monday Night Wars by buying WCW & ECW. I kept up with wrestling in a way more casual stance after that. Checking in periodically when something major happens or keeping up with a star or watching someone from a new generation here & there. And it usually would be around WrestleMania time or at least at one of the major events. I know of TNA & how it became Impact then TNA again. I know of Ring of Honor. I sort of know of AEW on TNT/TBS. I know there's great stuff in the international scenes especially in Japan & Mexico. But I was the most casual of casual watchers pretty much looking at old stuff from the past over watching the present-day. The Rock is one of my all-time favorites & usually when he shows up I check in to see what he's up to. I always liked Cody Rhodes in what I saw from him in his earlier WWE days but was disgusted at how he like so many other promising stars would be wasted in that era of WWE. That's part of why I pretty much checked out of the present-day. So when I saw him being in a prime spot for the top of the card I was happy for him. The Rhodes were always talented. I never felt it was right for The Rock to beat CM Punk in 2013 because The Rock didn't need it. And this felt like that same old frustrating part-time veteran Hogan-ing the full-time talent again. But this time around with all the unthinkable changing of the guard with 3rd Generation Vince to 4th Generation Steph & HHH, I was curious to see how this would play out. The behind-the-scenes turmoil HELPED bring good attention to WWE. The WrestleMania XL Kickoff LOCKED ME IN!!! I WAS LOCKED IN, YOU HEAR ME? The 'Cody/Roman/Rock with Seth on the side' drama was NEW & FRESH. This was no longer Vince's WWE anymore. And from there I watched other WWE content in the feed & got acquainted with something I knew was going on but never fully checked out in earnest: THE WOMEN'S DIVISION. I knew the Women had gained much respectability from the old days. I know TNA & its Knockouts were the reason why WWE got more serious in its Women's Division. But there I found one of my new favorites: DAMAGE CTRL. Bayley & her team & that betrayal had me digging through archives. I learned in earnest about the WWE's Four Horsewomen. I learned about the Joshi Revolution with Asuka, Kairi, & Io. I learned in better detail about all the good in NXT run by HHH. And I realized there was treasure amongst the junk. I missed out on a lot in my decades of casual lapsed watching & it's now time to catch up on all I missed. By the time we get to WrestleMania XL, I'm plugged 100% just like I was in the Monday Night Wars. I like reading Wrestling Twitter & all the memes & commentary of all kinds. I not only watch the old days with you here on Wrestling Bios but I actually interested in what's happening in the present-day. It all started with this chaos & the fact they pulled this off so smoothly gave me MUCH confidence in HHH & The Rock leading the WWE & the whole wrestling business into a greater echelon. The change is real & I'm glad to witness history in the making once again. Still can't get over how 2 members of Vince McMahon's faction The Corporation are literally leading the Corporation for real. "The Rock" Rocky Maivia, the Crown Jewel, & "HHH" Hunter Hearst Helmsley from Greenwich, Connecticut. Unreal.

Yoooooo the build up to this was the best.

Personally I thought 'Taker showing up was a nice Easter egg for those that have heard Cody talk about his story where he drop kicked 'Taker. It felt more like he was helping Cody vs attacking Rock, but there's no doubt Stone Cold would've had a crazy pop. Though I'm bias as 'Taker was my guys since his debut.

Been a wrestling fan since I was 6….I’m 41 now. This was the best story telling and ending I’ve seen. Loved every second of it.

The Rock was actually the most interesting and entertaining part of Wrestlemania by a mile. I preferred Rock vs Roman as the main event, but I didn’t whine and throw a tantrum about it when the WWE pivoted like the mark Cody simps did. The whining and crying was actually quite pathetic and made most normal people feel embarrassed to call themselves wrestling fans.

Watched this yesterday and it was damn good. I'll watch again with your commentary lol

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE EPISODE FOR TODAY. WILL SEE YOU ON THURSDAY FOR AN ALL NEW RELIVING THE WAR AND FOR MY BIRTHDAY ILL BE 41 YEARS OLD SO HAVE A GOOD EVENING AND TAKE CARE.

It’s 2024 more people should be calling out Dwayne BS trying to make it all about himself instead of what the fans and story was aiming towards.

Rock should of just won the Royal Rumble. At least then you could justify him getting a match with Roman. The way they did this was just dumb. Cody wins the Rumble then just willingly gives his match to The Rock at Mania It made Cody look like an absolute fool. At least if Rock won the Rumble you could justify his match with Roman and not making Cody Rhodes look stupid.

Watch the Behind the Curtain

I wanted Rock vs Roman

The Rock : "and so I told Wrestling bios to pivot and do a real story video." 😂

the rock showing us how much he learned from hulk hogan.

While Endeavor/TKO wanted Rock v Roman, I don't think HHH ever did. He knew what was the best story & banked on the fans uprising. Creating another Kofimania/Yes Movement 🎶 "It's all about the game, and how you play it!"🎶

My only complaints about this feud: Rock was built up to be a bigger deal than Reigns, and there wasn't enough physicality following slaps/promos.

Absolutely love what you do.. I can't get enough attitude era.. but mixing today's stuff too brilliant..

I really think Cody still winning the Rumble was HHH knowing it would likely cause something like this to happen and hoping he'd get to put on the match and story he wanted. He lived through the Daniel Bryan thing a decade ago.

I don’t understand why they couldn’t just make Rock apart of the Runble. When he made the “Head of the Table” question on Raw, he should have followed up by announcing he would enter the rumble and win it. That way people wouldn’t have gotten their hopes up after another boring Cody Rumble win.

The rock summoned his inner will smith at the press conference

My headcanon is that he gave him a lighter lol. Remember Cody’s bus catching fire?

23:18: I ain’t seen Rock this brutal since he gave Mankind infinite CTE at 1999 Royal Rumble.

TBH I was hopping that Cody would have been run over by Rikishi the week before XL ..... he would have done it for the Rock.

Still should have been Stone Cold. The Undertaker didn't make sense in that spot

Triple H tricked them all. He wanted Reigns vs. Rhodes II all along. Then Rock appearce and everybody is in for Reigns vs. Rock. But H was smart enough to take care that Rhodes wins the Rumble like planned. And then everything worked out for Triple H and HIS WM XL Main Event.

4:40 What's even more strange is they perfectly setup Gunther to win the Rumble and challenge Rollins for his world-title. The fans would've then accepted (and loved having) Rock vs Roman, and Roman could've gone on to beat Hogan's world-title-days streak later in 2024, making Cody beat Roman at Mania 41 even more meaningful

Prety much. I love the Rock, I do have a feeling he is a narcistic business guy, but hey, for wrestling love seeing him. But it was Cody's time and I hope Rock does not return face. His 'Final Boss' is seriously something we need. Reminds of old Vinnie Mac back in the WAR and Ruthless days. Hunter is loved by everyone and he cant do it, Rock certainly can.

Been waiting for this!!

Im absolutely looking forward to this WB because you never cover modern stuff and I’d love to hear more about your opinion on modern wrestling in general. I’m so excited to watch this video, such a treat. Keep up the hard work man.

This was better than the BTS documentary WWE released. Thank you Wrestling Bios!

5:20 you know what I remember? I remember Cody going out there after Triple H and he answered those questions 10x better than Triple H did. Cody was asked about Grant, and what’s being done to insure this doesn’t happen again, and Cody gave a great answer. Cody’s going to run WWE one day.

I wouldn't really say having Cody win the rumble was WWE slipping up. I think by that point HHH knew that the Rock was maneuvering to take the Night 2 main event against Roman, and he already had Seth vs Punk locked in, so he had Cody win as a way to backdoor to the main event that he wanted and was building to by putting Rock in a position against the fans instead of against him.

The royal rumble thing is so daft. So cody wins, second shot at his story. Winning the championship his dad never got. A large part of his character, his fathers legacy. Then the original plan was for him to hand it off to the rock? Even if cody was absolutely elated during the infamous hand off, it still doesnt make sense. Your burying cody's character. The only way it makes sense if you make the angle over rock exploiting his power to get the title shot, and the funny thing is, later the rock exploiting his power during matches was GREAT. Him telling the ref to not count to three during the tag match was awesome and it got me invested. They made a huge deal out of stone cold steve austin being the one to win 2 royal rumbles in a row just before the royal rumble, and they have cody hand off his title shot??? Also the character work between the rock and roman is so weird. The bloodline roman wouldn't be hugging and letting the guy who wants his spot hang around, we saw what he did to jey

A bit of an overbooked ending for mine but a good payoff. Imagine how crazy silly it would have been if Rikishi had come out at the end instead of taker.

I completely went off on Triple H on Twitter. I didn't hold back and I used some very colorful language