Cody Rhodes has revealed that he had a very different idea for the WWE storyline that saw The Rock demand his soul in early 2025. Instead of giving it to “The Final Boss,” Rhodes considered handing it over to Simone Johnson, who was working as NXT General Manager under the ring name Ava at the time.
Rhodes discussed the idea while having Johnson as a guest on his “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast. He explained that the concept came to him when The Rock was asking him to become his champion, and he believed Johnson could have taken the story in an entirely different direction.
“When the Final Boss asked me for my soul, I thought, you know what would’ve been funny, is to relent and give my soul, but not to him. This is at a time when you were the NXT General Manager, to you. I thought, ‘That’s got legs. I’ll never say a word again. She’ll speak.’”
Simone Johnson agreed that they could have made the idea work, and Rhodes doubled down on the potential of the storyline. He also pushed back against the idea that he would be unwilling to take his character in a darker direction if the right story presented itself.
“We would’ve crushed that. People are often like, ‘You don’t want to be a bad guy.’ I’m open to all things. Whatever is the best. I thought that would’ve been a real good spin.”
Rhodes later explained that the idea was kept between the two of them and two people he knew in WWE creative. The Rock himself was never told about the pitch, although Johnson believed her father would have supported it.
Rhodes still believes the concept could have gone somewhere if WWE had pursued it. He suggested that giving Johnson control of his “soul” could have created an entirely new dynamic between the Rhodes and Johnson families.
“I think we might have had something. Who knows, we might still have something. I thought it was such a fun spin. My soul goes to you and we would’ve wreaked havoc. Sold out every night. That was our idea. It never happened.”
The unused pitch ultimately remained a conversation between Rhodes and Johnson, but it shows just how many different directions WWE could have taken with the “soul” storyline.
What Happened With Cody Rhodes, The Rock and John Cena?
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The actual storyline unfolded very differently. On the February 21, 2025 episode of SmackDown, The Rock told “The American Nightmare” that he wanted him to become “his champion” and give him his soul. Rhodes rejected the offer at Elimination Chamber, setting up one of the defining moments of the Road to WrestleMania 41.
After John Cena won the Men’s Elimination Chamber Match to earn a WrestleMania title shot, he initially embraced Rhodes before turning on him. Cena aligned himself with “The Final Boss” and attacked Rhodes, making the connection between the “soul” storyline and the WrestleMania 41 title match clear.
Cena went on to defeat Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship at “The Show of Shows,” giving the storyline its actual conclusion rather than the alternate path Rhodes had imagined with Simone Johnson.
Johnson’s run as NXT General Manager had also ended by then. She had held the role from January 2024 until January 2026, meaning the proposed storyline would have required WWE to take advantage of her character while she was still part of NXT.
For now, the idea remains one of the more unusual “what if” stories from that period of WWE programming. Cody Rhodes’ comments also leave the door open to the possibility that he and Johnson could eventually revisit the concept in some form.
