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Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson told Cody Rhodes he wanted him to be"my champion" before outright declaring he wanted his soul during "WWE SmackDown." The Rock had already been preceded in the show with Nick Aldis indicating to Rhodes that "The Final Boss" wanted to talk to him, emerging to officially announce WrestleMania 42 next year's event will be staged in New Orleans. With that done, he called out the WWE Champion; he said that since their WrestleMania 40 feud last year, the two of them had become good friends and so too had their mothers.
The Rock then said he wanted Rhodes to be his champion, to which Rhodes said he was already the champion of the people, but Rock further just promised to make all of Rhodes dreams come true, and he wants him to be his brother.
He continued to address the events that led into last year's WrestleMania, recalling how he wanted to face Roman Reigns for the WWE title in the main event, but Rhodes had put stop to that and then also slapped him. But he said it was for that reason that Rhodes was special and why he should be his champion, and he has until Elimination Chamber on March 1 to make his decision. Rhodes asked if Rock was asking for a shot at his title, but Rock clarified that he wasn't interested in the belt, rather he wanted Rhodes' soul.
During the promo, Johnson also remarked on his status sitting on TKO's board of directors, reminding the audience that TKO was WWE's parent company; he also anecdotally joked that Ari Emanuel had said Rock practically owned WWE.