WWE Rivalries Throwback: John Cena vs The Rock (April 2021)

with your loved ones. Not so lucky up here in Quebec, in Canada, or all of Canada that is, as of COVID vaccines are kind of behind the eight ball here right now, And at least in my neck of the woods,

Easter is canceled for all intents and purposes. But at least I get to spend it with you guys, And today we are here to talk about one of the biggest rivalries of the past generation and one that I'm surprised that I never covered here on the ww podcast, and that is The Rock versus John Cena that went from two thousand and eleven all the way until two thy thirteen, which really kicked off when The Rock came back to Monday Night Raw in two thousand eleven February.

It was actually Valentine's Day, two thy eleven, and you know, by this point in WWE, it had been seven and a half years since The Rock had really been a regular as a regular performer on Raw, and it really he started phasing out in about two thousand and two.

Following Wrestleming eighteen versus Hall Cogan, he came back, had his last WWE Championship run in the summer of two thousand and two, lost it to Brock went Away, came back in February of two thousand and three, and really had his final run as a as a full time competitor leading up to WrestleMania nineteen against Stone Cold Steve Austin in the final match of their Trilogy of WrestleMania contest and then following that he had the short program

with Goldberg. That culminated at the Backlash pay per view following WrestleMania, and that was pretty much good Night the Lights for the Rock. As a full time competitor in WWE over the Core three, he came back sparingly. I remember he came back to help mcfoley beat up Alarizis Stance, or in early two thousand and four he came out to help mcfoley go up against the Evolution, and then they had a match at WrestleMania, the three on two

handicap match. And then in the spring and summer of two thousand and four, we got sporadic appearances here and there, like once he came out and helped the Eugene against the Coach beat up the coach in Garrison Caid. Another time he came out and had a confrontation with Randy Jorton. And then his final in ring appearance came in August

of two thousand and four. I think it was two raws after SummerSlam two thousand and four, where he interrupted the divasearch that Coach was hosting, came out, kick Coach out of the ring. Tyjieri came out, they had the pie eating contest, and then Coach came out with Larraziz,

Steles Rhino came out to even the odds. They beat up on Larraziz, Styles and Coach and that was the last time we saw the Rock in a ring for quite a long time as he went off to do his movie career, And during the time that he was gone was really when John Cena exploded, because by two thousand and four, the only pay per view and I think I'm pretty sure on this that the two had shared and both been on at the same time was WrestleMania twenty and that was the Rocks last match and

final WrestleMania appearance, and that was John Cena's first WrestleMania appearance, and he had only been in the company for what a year and a half at that point, So you really had a sense in two thousand and four as to where their respective trajectories were going. John Cena in the Rocks absence, really grabbed the Brass ring became the undisputed face of the company for the succeeding five six seven years. Main evented how Many WrestleMania's in a Row?

Following this twenty one, twenty two, twenty three, three, WrestleManias in a row, and then he was in the other quote unquote WrestleMania main events, but those weren't the ones who closed the show. But I don't have to tell you the amount of excess success. Rather, John Cina enjoyed in The Rock's absence. So by twenty eleven, The Rock was an afterthought. And to be honest, guys, I stopped

watching at this point, and that's well documented. I've said numerous times that mid to late two thousand and seven, all the way to twenty eleven, I really didn't watch. So for a lot of John Cena's meteorotic rise and rain at the top of WWE, I was kind of one foot in, one foot out. Check in for WrestleMania. Oh, there's an elimination chamber, a big batch maybe check in, But as following week to week to week, which I had done before and now after, it wasn't a thing.

And that all change on February fourteenth of twenty eleven when The Rock came back and was revealed as the host for WrestleMania twenty seven. And as you guys know, I'm a big rock fan. Still I am a big Rock fan. The character not so much the guy. But that's another conversation for a different day, and that really drew me back in. But you know, you look at

that WrestleMania card. It wasn't anything special. You know. WrestleMania twenty seven is one of the few WrestleMania since nineteen ninety nine, nineteen ninety eight that I've never really gone back and watched because I mean, aside from Triple H versus the Undertaker, like, there's really not a whole lot of great matches on that card, and you know, even the main event of the Miz versus John Cena for the Championship, like, my god, can you think of a

worst main event than that? And it was overshadowed by The Row being the host and the build up to that match of The Rock and johnsona going back and forth and really playing off of real life issues between

the two. And while The Rock was gone, John Cena had made real life comments about him about how The Rock always says that WWE is his home, but he never comes back, so he's kind of it's all kind of hot air, something to that effect, which you know, it's kind of ironic now that John Cena did the same thing as the Rock did, albeit it's not exactly the same as the Rock, as John Cena invested ten years of his life pretty much carrying the WE on his back as opposed to the Rock, who was in

and out of WE inside of five years. So obviously Scena put in a lot more work into building his character in WWE than the Rock did. But you know, result twenty seven shows up and the Rock intervenes in the match and hits John Cena with the Rock bottom, which ensures the mizz keep it, retaining his WWEE championship.

programming featured John Cena at this time. And then you have The Rock come back, who his movie career and his just his public career whenever you want to say, his career or life in general had not quite exploded at this point. Like I think his biggest claim the fame Hollywood wise by twenty eleven was his role as Louke Cobbs in Fast and Furious. So he wasn't even remotely as busy as he is now. But you know, he was still a movie star. He was still an actor in all he would. So John Cena sets the

stage here for The Rock and him. But the question is when we know that we're going.

the Rock kind of went away. He came back for his birthday in May, but for all intents and purposes, he was gone for about six months following them agreeing to this constant this contest rather and you know, over the course of the summer of twenty eleven, John Cena has the program with CM Punk and then in later twenty eleven he has the program with Cain the whole Embrace the Hate garbage that was, but they actually cross pass leading up to Survivor Series of two thousand and

eleven when The Rock comes back to be Johnsena's tag team partner against the Miz and Our Truth, and that was the rocks first in ring contest since WrestleMania twenty

in two thousand and four. So after seven and a half years, the Rock comes back to be the John cenas tag team partner against Miz and Our Truth, to which they win, and then the Rock goes back again goes away again rather and then comes the big contest between The Rock and John Cena, and they main evented Wrestling in twenty eight as a non title match, and I and you know what, To be honest, I guess it was deserving of so. But I mean, Wrestling twenty

eight was a pretty stack card. You know, you had the end of an era contest of the Hell in the Cell match of Triple H and Taker with HBK as a special guest referee. You had CM Punk versus versus Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship. You had Daniel Bryant versus Seamus for the World Heavyweight Championship. So this was a pretty big WrestleMania. Was it the best WrestleMania?

And I'm not gonna lie like I really thought John Cena was going to win this match because they kind of built it like the Rock versus Hulk Hogan, a match that had taken place nine ten years actually exactly ten years before this. But when we got to the end of the match and it looked like John Cena had it won, the Rock had something up his sleeve.

But quite the difference, quite the contrary, rather happened as the Rock wins the match and pretty much goes on a Undertaker type of schedule for the following year, because during twenty twelve and early twenty thirteen. The Rock wasn't there every night, but he was always kind of involved in the storyline, and you knew he would be coming around. And that's when the wheels guid started turning for me, like, oh my God, like is this gonna be the become

the constant for him? And you have to remember this was the first one on one match The Rock had won in nine years. The last one on one match he had won to this point was against Stone Cold Steve Austin against WrestleMania nineteen, Austin's retirement match. So it was pretty substantial for The Rock to get the victory

on John Cena. And this marked the second consecutive year that John Cena had lost in the main event of WrestleMania, and to this point, after all the main events that he had been in at WrestleMania, it was the first time in his career that he had lost consecutive matches. So it was a big turning point for both their characters.

And I gotta give ww credit here because the significance of this match on each of the respective superstars' character was strung out for the succeeding twelve months, and during twenty twelve, you had the Rock come back at the Raw one thousand pay per view start his program with cmpunk.

He comes back in late December early January, defeats cmpunk for the w W Championship Royal Rumble, that retains it at the Elimination Chamber pay per view and really has one of the most memorable runs of his career since the summer of two thousand and two, the last time

he had become WWE champion. And then simultaneously and conversely, you have John Cena go on the quote unquote worst run and worst year of his career as twenty twelve, and again, correct me if I'm wrong, but to this point, from two thousand and five to that point, twenty twelve was the only year that John Cena had not held a world championship, whether that had been the World Heavyweight or the WWE Championship, And that was significant for him because he had been I know aj styles and see

McMahon used this cliche, but he had been the face that ran the plays for the preceding six, seven, eight years at this point, so for him to not have one single world championship run and it was pretty big for that John Cena character and they really drove that in and you know, at the he won the money

in the bank the briefcase. That year he had a failed cash and at the Raw one thousand pay per view, he had a triple threat match with Big Show and see Him Punk at SummerSlam, to which he did not succeed. Yet again, he had a triple threat match with Rye Back and see him Punk at Survivor Series, which was at the debut of The Shield. No success of their whatsoever.

So you had John Cena losing a lot of big matches, something that we were not accustomed to at this point, and they were really driving this home going into the Royal Rumble and following the Raw one thousand pay per view when him and The Rock kind of cross pass and The Rock actually came out to make the save for him when Johnson got attacked by the Big Show. We weren't really seeing The Rock and Sena talk about one another. We hadn't seen them cross pass. They were

really kind of going down their own separate worlds. So the same night that The Rock wins the w w E Championship for the first time in seven and a half years, we have John Cena enter the royal rumple. And after a year of losing and losing and really unprecedented results for John Cena, he looked to turn it around.

does and thus officially sets up Rock Versina too. And I gotta I gotta say I was pretty upset when they announced this, Like I get why they did it, you know, Rock and Austin had three matches, Rock and Hogan had two matches, But it was just it was kind of it was just a bit too obvious for me.

And I know that it doesn't always have to be a surprise in wrestling, and it could be obvious if it makes sense and in a lot of ways it did make sense, but the tagline to their first match was once in a lifetime, and twelve months later you're doing it again, so like you completely negated and disproved what you had built the first match. As so, I just I thought that in a lot of ways doing

this was kind of more harm than good. But at the same time, I understand why they had to, because these two were two of the biggest stars of the last generation, and in a lot of ways, would it made more sense if it was Sena versus Stone Cold Steve Austin, if it was in fact the passing of the torch type of match, Yeah, of course, of course.

But in the same breath, you could make the same exact case for Austin versus Hogan nine years prior to this, or at this point ten eleven years prior to this, And I think that the Rock kind of stepped in for Stonecold Steve Austin in each of those respective feuds or rivalries, because in two thousand and two, Austin wasn't in the best place, and in twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, Austin couldn't wrestle anymore, and he was what at this point ten years removed from his last match, So in

a lot of ways, it was the Rock kind of acting as the face of the Attitude era, and then you had Hogan as the Golden Era and seen as the PG era. But it kind of should have been Stonecolds And I wonder if you guys have ever thought about that for each of those rivalries featuring the Rock, that he kind of was the substitute for what Stone Cold Steve Austin should have been doing. And we've talked at nauseum about that it should have been Austin versus Hogan,

but we never really talked about that. Austin versus Sena would have been the I guess technical passing of the torch in terms of era to era, much like Hogan to Rock slash Stone Cold Steve Austin. But obviously, you know, Austin was a long time removed from being an in ring comparer at this point, and you had the real life riff between Austin or between Rock and Sena, which

really added to this. But getting back to the Rock and Sena rivalry, you kind of have this reoccurring theme again of that Sena hat to beat the Rock, he really has to rebound after this horrible year, and when they finally came face to face after it was official that they were going to clash once again at a WrestleMania, Sinam made it very well known that he had to win this match.

I get a second chance. I have been gifted a second chance to right the biggest wrong of my life. So I just came out here to give you a thirty four day heads up. I am not throwing this chance away as much as a match.

over the preceding twelve months building to this match. It kind of made me forget the fact that they were going against the tagline of what their previous match and first installment was as once in a lifetime, because I realized that what WWE had done was something that they so often don't do. But they built a year long program, and forget the fact that it was year long. They built something with such a foresight that we'd rarely see nowadays, and we are, what I guess, at this point, eight

years removed from this. It's pretty crazy how far we've

come that. You know, back then, you had a year long build from twenty eleven to twenty twelve of building the Rock Versina once in a lifetime, and then the following year you have this entire year of booking John Cena badly and making him come off of that the fact that he can't get over that loss and this and that, and that you keep these two in large parts separated from one another and have them each blaze their own trail, and then culminate with this promo by

John Cena that really defined why the last year took place, and going into wrestlming A twenty nine. You felt like it was a big match moment, and obviously it was for the championship this time around, and it was a rematch for John Cena. But I mean, the rematch is never as good as the first one, right, you know what second movie is ever better than the first, aside from Back to the Future, which I think the second Back to the Future is better than the first. But

getting back on track, you know what I'm saying. So for them to make us be just as interested as we were for the first one as we were going to be for the second, they had to give us something more than it was The Rock versus John Cena, and oh yeah, we'll throw in the championship, And they gave us that something by for the first time since he had won his first WWE championship in two thousand and five, John Cena had faced a year of adversity.

He had faced a year of no world titles, He faced a year of perpetual losing, and that all started with his loss to The Rock at WrestleMania twenty eight And by the time WrestleMania twenty nineteen, rownd and we got to the main then the promo package that preceded the actual match really painted the entire story of how we got to this particular stage.

for both competitors. And another little thing in this match that you know many people don't think about, but is that the Rock had just scrapped the Spinner Championship and brought in the new look WWE title. So we get to the main event and we know John Cena has to win this match, and he ultimately does and wins the w Championship for the first time in over a

calendar year. And I think at this point he was pushing two years that it was the last time he had held the title was in the summer of twenty eleven when he had the clash with Cmpunk. So Sina gets the title back and finally overcomes the hurdle of defeating the Rock and adds that notch to his belt, and this ultimately ended up being the Rocks final match in WWE, and he has since to return to the

ring since in an actual match capacity. And Noah, I'm not counting Eric Rowan at WrestleMania thirty two, and it really kind of derailed any further plans that he was going to have with the WWE in future years because he tore his pelvic muscle I think, or his abdominal

muscle off of his pelvis. I forget what exactly the injury was, and it caused him to miss the following Monday Night Raw because he was supposed to come back out on Monday Night Raw the next night and set up a program with brock Lesner for the following years WrestleMania, but after hurting himself and they had to delay the filming of Hercules, which he was starring in, it really kind of put his in ring career to bed, at least for the time being, as we don't know if

you'll ever come back for a final farewell match with Roman Reigns, and you have to think he will, as he's not yet in the Hall of Fame, and once you go into the Hall of Fame, it's kind of like the final you know, like nail on the coffin, that you're never gonna compete in the ring again, although unless your name is Goldberger Edge obviously, but that seems

to be the typical rule of thumb. But that this match is pretty much the last we saw the Rock of his semi regular run with the company from twenty eleven to twenty thirteen. And it's crazy to think now that you know, we're lucky if we see him once every two years. You know, the last time we saw him was at the first SmackDown on Fox in October of twenty nineteen, and before that it had been I

think another two years. And this I think we kind of took it for granted that The Rock gave us like a part time run for twenty four months from twenty eleven to twenty four to thirteen, and it really culminated with this match for John Cena. And as for what this match meant to Sena, obviously we know what it meant for the character. He spelled that out quite extensively.

But I think just for how we view him, or I'll just speak for myself here, it kind of put John Cena as a like Amount Rushmore type of competitor for me. And I know it's WWE and it's all predetermined outcomes, but for Vince McMahon and company to book John Cena beating the Rock WrestleMania, something that had only been done before by Stone Cold, Steve Austin and Triple H and a one on one type of match at WrestleMania told you a lot about where John Cena had

cemented himself by twenty thirteen. And to be quite honest of as far as my personal Amount Rushmore goes, John Cena is there and The Rock is not, and that tells you a lot coming from a huge rock fan, and I think a lot of it had to do with how this program played out, and it goes way beyond the booking. I just feel like John Cena, the way he cut his promos, the truth that he spit for a lack of better terms, really made me realize

how big of a workhorse he had become. And you know, he may he may have never been one of my favorite characters, but the amount of respect I had and still have for John Cena is a mens And as for the Rock, it was nice to see a final program before he fully walked away. And who knows, maybe we'll get one more between him and Roman Reigns before he completely steps away from in ring competition. But anyway, guys, that's all I got for you today. I hope you

enjoyed Rock Versus John Cena. As always, you can get me on Twitter at ad Marco twenty five. You can get Matt on Twitter at Wrestling Underscore Audio, or you can email him at REALWWE Podcast at gmail dot com. And we guys, have a happy Easter and I'll talk to you next week.