When Cody Rhodes-The Rock WWE Match Could Happen

Cody Rhodes made a bold challenge at Elimination Chamber on Saturday, and it could set up for a huge summer for WWE.

Rhodes and Seth Rollins appeared on “The Grayson Waller Effect” during the Elimination Chamber premium live event in Perth, Australia. Rollins revealed he was “days away” from getting cleared from a torn MCL and partially torn meniscus he suffered during a match on “Raw” against Jinder Mahal last month.

However, Rhodes made an even bigger announcement when he challenged Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to a one-on-one match “any time, any place.” Rollins noted he’d be in Rhodes’ corner to help compete against The Bloodline.

All these pieces are set in place for what’s expected to be the main event of night one of WrestleMania XL at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia: Rhodes and Rollins vs. The Rock and Roman Reigns. Night two likely will be Rhodes challenging Reigns for the undisputed universal championship and Rollins taking on Drew McIntyre, who won the Elimination Chamber match for a shot at the world heavyweight championship.

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But that leaves a huge question: When will The Rock face Rhodes?

The Rock has a busy schedule with his obligations with the UFL, his movie schedule and other business ventures. This WrestleMania build and involvement in The Bloodline likely is part of his deal where he was named an executive of TKO, the parent company of WWE. There’s also The Rock-Reigns match WWE wants to do, too.

WWE has premium live events in France, Toronto and Germany this summer, so there likely will be a big match there. But does the company blow away all these big matches so soon? Even after his loss at WrestleMania 39, Rhodes remained hot for over a year to set up another big main event. Who’s to say WWE doesn’t gamble again and hold off on these big matches until next year?

The Rock could take months off after WrestleMania and return at Royal Rumble to either win the match or challenge Rhodes for the universal championship, which he should win in April and hold onto for multiple months.

WWE hasn’t released its fall schedule, so if Survivor Series is in a big venue, a Rhodes-Rock match could happen there. There also hasn’t been a Saudi Arabia event announced, so that’s another possible choice. If the company really wanted to get bold, the big match could happen on the first “Raw” on Netflix next year. It’s unknown how much of the audience will move over to Netflix after watching “Raw” on cable for decades, but if there was a huge dream match on the first episode, that would sound great to advertise a subscriber boost on a press release.

A wild card that should be considered is the Janel Grant lawsuit. The former employee named Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis and WWE in the lawsuit accusing the former of sexual assault and trafficking and the others of knowing about the accusations. The lawsuit gained traction over the horrific details of the accusations, but given the process for these issues takes months, WWE has been able to get the lawsuit out of the public eye. There might not be a plan for when Rhodes-Rock happens, and WWE could use that in its back pocket to throw out for good PR.

Anything is on the table, but it’s shaping up to be an exciting year for Rhodes, Reigns and The Rock.