Featured Image Credit: WWE
Topics: WWE, Cody Rhodes, John Cena, The Rock, Fan Reactions, Wrestling
Ryan Smart
Topics: WWE, Cody Rhodes, John Cena, The Rock, Fan Reactions, Wrestling
WWE fans think they've worked out exactly what John Cena attacked Cody Rhodes with during his shock heel turn at Elimination Chamber - and it has huge significance.
Cena stunned the wrestling world in Toronto when he turned heel for the first time in 22 years, attacking Rhodes with a low blow in the middle of the ring.
The 16-time world champion had just won the men's Elimination Chamber match, securing a WrestleMania main event against Rhodes for the WWE Universal Championship.
He was then met inside the ring by the current champion and The Rock, who had arrived to hear Rhodes' answer on whether he himself was going to turn heel by becoming The Rock's 'champion'.
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Rhodes flatly refused the offer with a choice expletive, before embracing his WrestleMania opponent.
But what happened next shocked everyone, with Cena producing a low blow on Rhodes - on the orders of The Rock - before brutally attacking him.
He used a Rolex watch as brass knuckles to repeatedly target Rhodes' face, before The Rock then attacked him with a custom-made belt.
But WWE fans have come up with the real reason behind the use of the Rolex.
On the Raw after WrestleMania 40 last year, Rhodes was given a special gift by The Rock after he defeated Roman Reigns to win the WWE Universal Championship.
The gift was enclosed in a small box, with The Rock telling Rhodes: "Don't break my heart again."
And fans think the presence of the watch in Cena's heel turn was a callback to that moment - particularly as The Rock posted last month that he had been given a Rolex watch by Rhodes before WrestleMania 40.
The actual Rolex watch Cody was wearing, in fact, belonged to his late father Dusty, with 'The American Dream' pawning it to send his son to wrestling school.
Rhodes revealed that he had the watch gifted back to him by Triple H and WWE executives, Nick Khan and Bruce Prichard, last year.
The Rock made numerous references to Dusty during Friday's edition of SmackDown - and even carried a belt emblazoned with the date of his death in 2015.
Given that The Rock is a member of the WWE's Board of Directors through his role with the company's owners TKO, the watch attack appears to have been just another piece of the puzzle during the road to WrestleMania.