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One source compared it to Johnson’s attempts to take over the overall creative for the DC film franchise, noting that he came in originally as an actor to portray Black Adam, but by the time that process was done, had changed the original trajectory for the plans from playing the opposition for Shazam!, instead pushing that Adam should have his own film so he could eventually be set up to face Superman instead and even went over the heads of executives to their superiors to get ideas approved. Johnson’s long-game was to gain control of the entire DC film franchise, only to lose that attempt when Warner Bros. Discovery gave that power instead to James Gunn and Peter Saffron.
But, in WWE, there isn’t going to be anyone that’s not going to at least consider Dwayne Johnson’s ideas. He's The Rock and has a big history of selling tickets and merchandise and movies and at the end of the day, Wrestlemania is about spectacle and The Rock equals spectacle.
PWInsider.com is told this wasn’t done to target and politic Cody out of his main event out of malice, but out of the belief that Johnson was the best idea to make money now and respect his new position with the company’s parent company. This was a strategic move to give Johnson more political power overall and to show Endeavor’s faith in his involvement and that even Paul Levesque, who has done an admirable job as the Chief Creative Officer, would "lose that power struggle with Johnson at this point", as one source surmised.
One source confirmed to PWInsider.com that former Senior Vice President of Development at Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions, Brian Gewirtz will be in the mix as the voice representing Johnson in the WWE Creative process going forward. There are some who believe Gewirtz, who at one point was one of the longest tenured WWE Head Writers, will be around physically at least for major shows going forward, could even be there as a “Plan B” if Endeavor ever needs to pivot WWE's direction and go with a Johnson-backed creative team down the line.
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