A New Era- How Cody Rhodes defeating Roman Reigns ushered in the Triple H Era of WWE

 A New Era- How Cody Rhodes defeating Roman Reigns ushered in the Triple H Era of WWE

By Anthony Lopez

WrestleMania 40 was two nights of memorable moments and firsts for fans of World Wrestling Entertainment aka the WWE. The event is the first event without Vince McMahon-founder of WWE, who resigned after some disturbing and triggering allegations were brought to light in January of this year. Before the allegations, many fans, including myself, felt that McMahon was not in touch with modern wrestling and did not understand nor care to learn what we as fans wanted to see from the product. The man to replace Vince in creative was someone fresh and someone who was backed by the fans- Triple H. Paul Leveque, or to wrestling fans as Triple H, took over WWE's creative which excited fans due to Mcmahon allowing Paul to have control of NXT, WWE's developmental brand, from 2015-2019. WrestleMania 40 was the first Premium Live Event, PLE, to completely be free from McMahon's input and it definitely showed. Paul showed that WWE could strive and even be possibly better than the WWE before. WrestleMania exceeded expectations and did not rely on corny segments and weird storylines. 

The key moment of the night was Cody Rhodes defeating Roman Reigns, who was McMahon's last big star before he left, in a rematch from the year's prior WrestleMania. Roman held the title for 1,316 days and had the fourth longest reign in history before being defeated by Cody. Cody, the underdog, left WWE to help create a rival in All Elite Wrestling, or AEW in 2019. During Cody's time away, he built himself as a big money draw and showing WWE that he was more than an average wrestler. While Cody was away, Reigns was being forced to be a good guy which caused fans to boo him. This plus the pandemic caused Reigns to stay away from WWE for over a year until reappearing in 2021. Reigns would become the Tribal Chief character and would be able to have creative control for himself which was only allowed if you were a main event star. Cody returned in 2022 to an enormous reception and has been one of the highest selling wrestlers since. Cody and Roman would face off during WrestleMania 39 where many thought Cody should have won but Mcmahon would change his mind and have Roman retain. That moment, combined with taking over creative, is what led to Triple H deciding to pull the trigger and give the win to Cody which helped cement the start of the Triple H Era of WWE. With the decision, Cody has been given the opportunity of a lifetime and become the face of a new era in WWE. For Roman, it is a chance to take a much-needed break after carrying WWE through the bad times for the past three years. And for the WWE, it's the beginning of a refreshing and exciting time thanks to the creative mind of Triple H and his willingness to listen to the fans. Since WrestleMania, Triple H has removed members of Vince's WWE and replaced them with people who would fit better in his WWE. The new era has begun and is breaking every record that it can all thanks to Triple H. As a WWE fan, it feels like this is only the beginning of a brand new company.