Nick Khan claims WWE WrestleMania 40 plans ‘never changed’
According to Nick Khan, the way things ended up at WWE WrestleMania 40 were always how they were supposed to go.
The 2024 edition of WrestleMania saw Cody Rhodes defeat Roman Reigns to finish his story and become Undisputed WWE Champion. But the build to the match took a turn when Rhodes briefly gave up that main event spot to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Fans did not respond well to the move, and the match once again became Reigns vs. Rhodes. A tag team bout was also made for night one of WrestleMania 40 with Reigns & The Rock taking on Rhodes & Seth Rollins.
WWE produced its own “Behind the Curtain” documentary on how fan backlash led them to pivot back to Reigns vs. Rhodes. But Khan, speaking at SBJ On Stage, claimed plans “never changed” and the situation went the way WWE wanted it to go.
“By the way, the plan was always how it ended up in Philly two years ago. Sometimes — it’s a pre-determined outcome in wrestling. You want to throw the fans off, you want to let things bake, and then, boom, it ends up the way that we wanted it to end up. It never changed,” the WWE president said. “That was just online rumors and gossip that we were changing — it never changed. We convinced Dwayne Johnson to come back. He’s on our board of directors. It was a tag team match. He’s about the same age I am, so two years ago let’s say he was 50, he was obviously in phenomenal shape, he did everything that we asked of him and then some. But that was always the result we were looking for.”
Khan’s appearance at SBJ On Stage took place in April prior to WrestleMania 42 but was not uploaded until this week.
Nick Khan on not listening to social media criticism —
At the SBJ event, Khan reiterated that WWE listens to ratings, revenue, and relevancy and does not respond to social media criticism. He views X/Twitter as a vocal minority and has not used the platform in regards to WWE.
“People are allowed to complain, but we don’t adjust our business based on complaints,” he said. “We adjust our business based on ratings, revenue, relevancy.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.