Speaker 1: I'm not a still told razors outs in the sales
Speaker 1: Sino versus the shall stop O Cogan and the la
Speaker 1: in the same.
Speaker 2: Way you remember, take my place and their head.
Speaker 3: The hass gags so much? Oh my god, what but
Speaker 3: not mine?
Speaker 4: Host do just tip seeing us get off.
Speaker 3: It. It will be austin' you believe.
Speaker 2: And they're a pole.
Speaker 5: Hey guys, what's going on? And welcome back to Rivalries
Speaker 5: on the WWE podcast on this good Friday, and happy
Speaker 5: Easter to all you guys. I hope you're able to
Speaker 5: enjoy it with it wherever you are, if maybe, if
Speaker 5: you're in it in an area where you're ahead of
Speaker 5: the curve on as far as COVID nineteen goes, and
Speaker 5: you guys have the vaccines and you're able to enjoy
Speaker 5: with your loved ones. Not so lucky up here in Quebec,
Speaker 5: in Canada, or all of Canada that is, as of
Speaker 5: COVID vaccines are kind of behind the eight ball here
Speaker 5: right now, And at least in my neck of the woods,
Speaker 5: Easter is canceled for all intents and purposes. But at
Speaker 5: least I get to spend it with you guys, And
Speaker 5: today we are here to talk about one of the
Speaker 5: biggest rivalries of the past generation and one that I'm
Speaker 5: surprised that I never covered here on the ww podcast,
Speaker 5: and that is The Rock versus John Cena that went
Speaker 5: from two thousand and eleven all the way until two
Speaker 5: thy thirteen, which really kicked off when The Rock came
Speaker 5: back to Monday Night Raw in two thousand eleven February.
Speaker 5: It was actually Valentine's Day, two thy eleven, and you know,
Speaker 5: by this point in WWE, it had been seven and
Speaker 5: a half years since The Rock had really been a
Speaker 5: regular as a regular performer on Raw, and it really
Speaker 5: he started phasing out in about two thousand and two.
Speaker 5: Following Wrestleming eighteen versus Hall Cogan, he came back, had
Speaker 5: his last WWE Championship run in the summer of two
Speaker 5: thousand and two, lost it to Brock went Away, came
Speaker 5: back in February of two thousand and three, and really
Speaker 5: had his final run as a as a full time
Speaker 5: competitor leading up to WrestleMania nineteen against Stone Cold Steve
Speaker 5: Austin in the final match of their Trilogy of WrestleMania
Speaker 5: contest and then following that he had the short program
Speaker 5: with Goldberg. That culminated at the Backlash pay per view
Speaker 5: following WrestleMania, and that was pretty much good Night the
Speaker 5: Lights for the Rock. As a full time competitor in
Speaker 5: WWE over the Core three, he came back sparingly. I
Speaker 5: remember he came back to help mcfoley beat up Alarizis Stance,
Speaker 5: or in early two thousand and four he came out
Speaker 5: to help mcfoley go up against the Evolution, and then
Speaker 5: they had a match at WrestleMania, the three on two
Speaker 5: handicap match. And then in the spring and summer of
Speaker 5: two thousand and four, we got sporadic appearances here and there,
Speaker 5: like once he came out and helped the Eugene against
Speaker 5: the Coach beat up the coach in Garrison Caid. Another
Speaker 5: time he came out and had a confrontation with Randy Jorton.
Speaker 5: And then his final in ring appearance came in August
Speaker 5: of two thousand and four. I think it was two
Speaker 5: raws after SummerSlam two thousand and four, where he interrupted
Speaker 5: the divasearch that Coach was hosting, came out, kick Coach
Speaker 5: out of the ring. Tyjieri came out, they had the
Speaker 5: pie eating contest, and then Coach came out with Larraziz,
Speaker 5: Steles Rhino came out to even the odds. They beat
Speaker 5: up on Larraziz, Styles and Coach and that was the
Speaker 5: last time we saw the Rock in a ring for
Speaker 5: quite a long time as he went off to do
Speaker 5: his movie career, And during the time that he was
Speaker 5: gone was really when John Cena exploded, because by two
Speaker 5: thousand and four, the only pay per view and I
Speaker 5: think I'm pretty sure on this that the two had
Speaker 5: shared and both been on at the same time was
Speaker 5: WrestleMania twenty and that was the Rocks last match and
Speaker 5: final WrestleMania appearance, and that was John Cena's first WrestleMania appearance,
Speaker 5: and he had only been in the company for what
Speaker 5: a year and a half at that point, So you
Speaker 5: really had a sense in two thousand and four as
Speaker 5: to where their respective trajectories were going. John Cena in
Speaker 5: the Rocks absence, really grabbed the Brass ring became the
Speaker 5: undisputed face of the company for the succeeding five six
Speaker 5: seven years. Main evented how Many WrestleMania's in a Row?
Speaker 5: Following this twenty one, twenty two, twenty three, three, WrestleManias
Speaker 5: in a row, and then he was in the other
Speaker 5: quote unquote WrestleMania main events, but those weren't the ones
Speaker 5: who closed the show. But I don't have to tell
Speaker 5: you the amount of excess success. Rather, John Cina enjoyed
Speaker 5: in The Rock's absence. So by twenty eleven, The Rock
Speaker 5: was an afterthought. And to be honest, guys, I stopped
Speaker 5: watching at this point, and that's well documented. I've said
Speaker 5: numerous times that mid to late two thousand and seven,
Speaker 5: all the way to twenty eleven, I really didn't watch.
Speaker 5: So for a lot of John Cena's meteorotic rise and
Speaker 5: rain at the top of WWE, I was kind of
Speaker 5: one foot in, one foot out. Check in for WrestleMania. Oh,
Speaker 5: there's an elimination chamber, a big batch maybe check in,
Speaker 5: But as following week to week to week, which I
Speaker 5: had done before and now after, it wasn't a thing.
Speaker 5: And that all change on February fourteenth of twenty eleven
Speaker 5: when The Rock came back and was revealed as the
Speaker 5: host for WrestleMania twenty seven. And as you guys know,
Speaker 5: I'm a big rock fan. Still I am a big
Speaker 5: Rock fan. The character not so much the guy. But
Speaker 5: that's another conversation for a different day, and that really
Speaker 5: drew me back in. But you know, you look at
Speaker 5: that WrestleMania card. It wasn't anything special. You know. WrestleMania
Speaker 5: twenty seven is one of the few WrestleMania since nineteen
Speaker 5: ninety nine, nineteen ninety eight that I've never really gone
Speaker 5: back and watched because I mean, aside from Triple H
Speaker 5: versus the Undertaker, like, there's really not a whole lot
Speaker 5: of great matches on that card, and you know, even
Speaker 5: the main event of the Miz versus John Cena for
Speaker 5: the Championship, like, my god, can you think of a
Speaker 5: worst main event than that? And it was overshadowed by
Speaker 5: The Row being the host and the build up to
Speaker 5: that match of The Rock and johnsona going back and
Speaker 5: forth and really playing off of real life issues between
Speaker 5: the two. And while The Rock was gone, John Cena
Speaker 5: had made real life comments about him about how The
Speaker 5: Rock always says that WWE is his home, but he
Speaker 5: never comes back, so he's kind of it's all kind
Speaker 5: of hot air, something to that effect, which you know,
Speaker 5: it's kind of ironic now that John Cena did the
Speaker 5: same thing as the Rock did, albeit it's not exactly
Speaker 5: the same as the Rock, as John Cena invested ten
Speaker 5: years of his life pretty much carrying the WE on
Speaker 5: his back as opposed to the Rock, who was in
Speaker 5: and out of WE inside of five years. So obviously
Speaker 5: Scena put in a lot more work into building his
Speaker 5: character in WWE than the Rock did. But you know,
Speaker 5: result twenty seven shows up and the Rock intervenes in
Speaker 5: the match and hits John Cena with the Rock bottom,
Speaker 5: which ensures the mizz keep it, retaining his WWEE championship.
Speaker 3: And we all knew a match.
Speaker 5: Was coming with Sena in Rock because the bill to
Speaker 5: Wrestle twenty seven following the Rocks return on Valentine's Day
Speaker 5: was indicative of that. It was only a question of when,
Speaker 5: as opposed to if. We knew it was coming. But
Speaker 5: when would the Rock invest in an actual match? We
Speaker 5: hadn't seen him in a ring at this point for
Speaker 5: seven years, and and the Monday Night Raw following their
Speaker 5: wrestleminga contest, we finally got the answer to that much
Speaker 5: desired question.
Speaker 3: We are completely opposite.
Speaker 6: We looked different, we talked different, we fought different.
Speaker 4: What the truth is.
Speaker 2: We're very similar.
Speaker 6: And that is a fact that whatever it is that
Speaker 6: Jump senor does, whatever it is that the Rock does,
Speaker 6: they want to do it the absolute best, better than
Speaker 6: anyone period. So we're very similar. Except when we go shopping,
Speaker 6: the Rock shopping department stores. You optously shop at Baby Gap.
Speaker 7: Awesome.
Speaker 8: What do you know fashion advice from the tooth period? Listen,
Speaker 8: we've both said the time for talk is over.
Speaker 7: You are the people's ship.
Speaker 2: Listen to the people.
Speaker 7: Hear it, hear and feel it, see it.
Speaker 2: There are people.
Speaker 7: Stay need in the ceiling, not because.
Speaker 8: They want us to talk, because.
Speaker 3: They want a match, and not just a match.
Speaker 8: These people know what match a match where generations collide.
Speaker 8: Only in the WWE would you be able to see
Speaker 8: Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.
Speaker 3: In their prime.
Speaker 8: Only in the WWE would you be able to see
Speaker 8: Michael Jordan the one on one with Lebron James. The
Speaker 8: match that they want is Jean Sena versus The Rock.
Speaker 8: It's obvious this is what we should do. So do
Speaker 8: you want to talk about it?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Do you want to bring it?
Speaker 4: So?
Speaker 5: John Cena really you know, throws the ball on the
Speaker 5: Rocks court here. As you know Sena at this time,
Speaker 5: who was just such a workhorse, was going to be
Speaker 5: able to do this match whenever he wanted or whenever
Speaker 5: The Rock wanted rather, And this is both character wise
Speaker 5: and in real life, because John Cena was there each
Speaker 5: and every night, Like it was crazy how much of
Speaker 5: programming featured John Cena at this time. And then you
Speaker 5: have The Rock come back, who his movie career and
Speaker 5: his just his public career whenever you want to say,
Speaker 5: his career or life in general had not quite exploded
Speaker 5: at this point. Like I think his biggest claim the
Speaker 5: fame Hollywood wise by twenty eleven was his role as
Speaker 5: Louke Cobbs in Fast and Furious. So he wasn't even
Speaker 5: remotely as busy as he is now. But you know,
Speaker 5: he was still a movie star. He was still an
Speaker 5: actor in all he would. So John Cena sets the
Speaker 5: stage here for The Rock and him. But the question
Speaker 5: is when we know that we're going.
Speaker 3: To get the match?
Speaker 5: At this point, they wouldn't tease it to this extent,
Speaker 5: but it's the night following WrestleMania. Do you think maybe
Speaker 5: they're going to set out for SummerSlam, maybe Survivor Series. Well, No,
Speaker 5: these two guys had something even bigger in mind, John.
Speaker 6: Cenna, you have no idea what you just asked for.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you asked the Rock to bring it.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, the Rock will bring it.
Speaker 6: You better, you can't, he asked, the Rock will bring it.
Speaker 6: But the Rock says we make history. The Rock says
Speaker 6: we do something that's never been done before. The Rock
Speaker 6: says we make the biggest matchup of all time on
Speaker 6: the grandest stage in the world, wrestle maybe A twenty
Speaker 6: eight John Cena press, hurrah, Let it's not just any
Speaker 6: match up.
Speaker 7: No no, no, no, no, no, not just any matchup.
Speaker 2: No, It's gonna be the Lock, the.
Speaker 7: People's champ never alone, never alone. Can't bring it all.
Speaker 3: Day, all night long with the millions.
Speaker 6: What the Lock fans, wrestle Meania twenty eight, the main events,
Speaker 6: John Cena, the People's Champion, the big Bles WrestleMania. If
Speaker 6: you smell what the Rock is cooking.
Speaker 5: So u and watching that back, it was kind of
Speaker 5: a flat response for the Rock not gonna lie from
Speaker 5: the crowd as uh, you know Mattison numerous times. But
Speaker 5: John Ceno was one of the few guys who really
Speaker 5: kind of outdid the Rock on the Mic and I
Speaker 5: also think seam Punk did as well as I covered
Speaker 5: that in the past. But look, one night removed from WrestleMania,
Speaker 5: they book the main event a full year in advance
Speaker 5: for the following years WrestleMania. But after this match, they
Speaker 5: the Rock kind of went away. He came back for
Speaker 5: his birthday in May, but for all intents and purposes,
Speaker 5: he was gone for about six months following them agreeing
Speaker 5: to this constant this contest rather and you know, over
Speaker 5: the course of the summer of twenty eleven, John Cena
Speaker 5: has the program with CM Punk and then in later
Speaker 5: twenty eleven he has the program with Cain the whole
Speaker 5: Embrace the Hate garbage that was, but they actually cross
Speaker 5: pass leading up to Survivor Series of two thousand and
Speaker 5: eleven when The Rock comes back to be Johnsena's tag
Speaker 5: team partner against the Miz and Our Truth, and that
Speaker 5: was the rocks first in ring contest since WrestleMania twenty
Speaker 5: in two thousand and four. So after seven and a
Speaker 5: half years, the Rock comes back to be the John
Speaker 5: cenas tag team partner against Miz and Our Truth, to
Speaker 5: which they win, and then the Rock goes back again
Speaker 5: goes away again rather and then comes the big contest
Speaker 5: between The Rock and John Cena, and they main evented
Speaker 5: Wrestling in twenty eight as a non title match, and
Speaker 5: I and you know what, To be honest, I guess
Speaker 5: it was deserving of so. But I mean, Wrestling twenty
Speaker 5: eight was a pretty stack card. You know, you had
Speaker 5: the end of an era contest of the Hell in
Speaker 5: the Cell match of Triple H and Taker with HBK
Speaker 5: as a special guest referee. You had CM Punk versus
Speaker 5: versus Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship. You had Daniel
Speaker 5: Bryant versus Seamus for the World Heavyweight Championship. So this
Speaker 5: was a pretty big WrestleMania. Was it the best WrestleMania?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 5: Debatable, But as far as name value, there was a
Speaker 5: lot of that, both current and past stars who were
Speaker 5: on this card. And aside from the wrestlers, you know,
Speaker 5: Flow Rider was there, where Machine Gun Kelly was there.
Speaker 5: Each of them respectively opened for The Rock and John
Speaker 5: Cena before they made their way to the ring for
Speaker 5: the main event. So you get The Rock versus John Cena.
Speaker 5: And I'm not gonna lie like I really thought John
Speaker 5: Cena was going to win this match because they kind
Speaker 5: of built it like the Rock versus Hulk Hogan, a
Speaker 5: match that had taken place nine ten years actually exactly
Speaker 5: ten years before this. But when we got to the
Speaker 5: end of the match and it looked like John Cena
Speaker 5: had it won, the Rock had something up his sleeve.
Speaker 3: This is right, this is awesome.
Speaker 7: John Cena, he.
Speaker 6: Solified South has the right one.
Speaker 5: So when John Cena goes to hit the People's elbow,
Speaker 5: the Rock gets up and hits him with the Rock
Speaker 5: bottom to solidify the victory. And when the Rock won
Speaker 5: this match, I kind of knew, and I'm sure a
Speaker 5: lot of you did that it meant that he was
Speaker 5: far from Don and w W E and I really
Speaker 5: thought that this was gonna be it. You know, he
Speaker 5: was gonna come back, put John Cena over and good
Speaker 5: night the lights for his career, and then get inducted
Speaker 5: into the Hall of Fame the following year in twenty thirteen.
Speaker 5: But quite the difference, quite the contrary, rather happened as
Speaker 5: the Rock wins the match and pretty much goes on
Speaker 5: a Undertaker type of schedule for the following year, because
Speaker 5: during twenty twelve and early twenty thirteen. The Rock wasn't
Speaker 5: there every night, but he was always kind of involved
Speaker 5: in the storyline, and you knew he would be coming around.
Speaker 5: And that's when the wheels guid started turning for me, like,
Speaker 5: oh my God, like is this gonna be the become
Speaker 5: the constant for him? And you have to remember this
Speaker 5: was the first one on one match The Rock had
Speaker 5: won in nine years. The last one on one match
Speaker 5: he had won to this point was against Stone Cold
Speaker 5: Steve Austin against WrestleMania nineteen, Austin's retirement match. So it
Speaker 5: was pretty substantial for The Rock to get the victory
Speaker 5: on John Cena. And this marked the second consecutive year
Speaker 5: that John Cena had lost in the main event of WrestleMania,
Speaker 5: and to this point, after all the main events that
Speaker 5: he had been in at WrestleMania, it was the first
Speaker 5: time in his career that he had lost consecutive matches.
Speaker 5: So it was a big turning point for both their characters.
Speaker 5: And I gotta give ww credit here because the significance
Speaker 5: of this match on each of the respective superstars' character
Speaker 5: was strung out for the succeeding twelve months, and during
Speaker 5: twenty twelve, you had the Rock come back at the
Speaker 5: Raw one thousand pay per view start his program with cmpunk.
Speaker 5: He comes back in late December early January, defeats cmpunk
Speaker 5: for the w W Championship Royal Rumble, that retains it
Speaker 5: at the Elimination Chamber pay per view and really has
Speaker 5: one of the most memorable runs of his career since
Speaker 5: the summer of two thousand and two, the last time
Speaker 5: he had become WWE champion. And then simultaneously and conversely,
Speaker 5: you have John Cena go on the quote unquote worst
Speaker 5: run and worst year of his career as twenty twelve,
Speaker 5: and again, correct me if I'm wrong, but to this point,
Speaker 5: from two thousand and five to that point, twenty twelve
Speaker 5: was the only year that John Cena had not held
Speaker 5: a world championship, whether that had been the World Heavyweight
Speaker 5: or the WWE Championship, And that was significant for him
Speaker 5: because he had been I know aj styles and see
Speaker 5: McMahon used this cliche, but he had been the face
Speaker 5: that ran the plays for the preceding six, seven, eight
Speaker 5: years at this point, so for him to not have
Speaker 5: one single world championship run and it was pretty big
Speaker 5: for that John Cena character and they really drove that
Speaker 5: in and you know, at the he won the money
Speaker 5: in the bank the briefcase. That year he had a
Speaker 5: failed cash and at the Raw one thousand pay per view,
Speaker 5: he had a triple threat match with Big Show and
Speaker 5: see Him Punk at SummerSlam, to which he did not succeed.
Speaker 5: Yet again, he had a triple threat match with Rye
Speaker 5: Back and see him Punk at Survivor Series, which was
Speaker 5: at the debut of The Shield. No success of their whatsoever.
Speaker 5: So you had John Cena losing a lot of big matches,
Speaker 5: something that we were not accustomed to at this point,
Speaker 5: and they were really driving this home going into the
Speaker 5: Royal Rumble and following the Raw one thousand pay per
Speaker 5: view when him and The Rock kind of cross pass
Speaker 5: and The Rock actually came out to make the save
Speaker 5: for him when Johnson got attacked by the Big Show.
Speaker 5: We weren't really seeing The Rock and Sena talk about
Speaker 5: one another. We hadn't seen them cross pass. They were
Speaker 5: really kind of going down their own separate worlds. So
Speaker 5: the same night that The Rock wins the w w
Speaker 5: E Championship for the first time in seven and a
Speaker 5: half years, we have John Cena enter the royal rumple.
Speaker 5: And after a year of losing and losing and really
Speaker 5: unprecedented results for John Cena, he looked to turn it around.
Speaker 2: The counts made up.
Speaker 7: I was thinking, as my blesser took the one down,
Speaker 7: doesn't matter.
Speaker 4: Gotta get it up.
Speaker 7: The demon put the gamut be gout here, give it
Speaker 7: your work down.
Speaker 2: I mean, you still gotta get runbacks.
Speaker 3: Somehow, honest, see all over the top row.
Speaker 2: But if there's one man that could pick rye.
Speaker 6: Backs life, let's concass up and come over the top rope,
Speaker 6: it's John Cena.
Speaker 2: I gotta agree with you there.
Speaker 7: This does not look good for round.
Speaker 8: Cina without in human strength and John Cena wearing right
Speaker 8: back down. If rock Back go, Rummer's going out ters baiting,
Speaker 8: and if ry Back passes out.
Speaker 6: Paulsena's kind of too slipping that body over the top
Speaker 6: CRY's out.
Speaker 4: Right back is out.
Speaker 6: Now John Cena with the heavy ole task because he
Speaker 6: shoots the hat.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to figure out how to get right back up,
Speaker 1: get over the top rope.
Speaker 7: Look at John Cena.
Speaker 2: An't believable. John Cena, It's got right back back to
Speaker 2: his feet.
Speaker 8: Absolute strength by John Cena powering right back to the
Speaker 8: top rope.
Speaker 2: Whoa right back is back?
Speaker 6: Right Back's song You're off Halo top Brow.
Speaker 8: But that's Tress from the top rope passing Cena still
Speaker 8: in the man follow him in.
Speaker 5: So John Cena wins the Row Rumble, the second Row
Speaker 5: run of his career, as he won the first one
Speaker 5: in two thousand and eight, and guarantees himself a spot
Speaker 5: in the main event of WrestleMania twenty nine. And obviously
Speaker 5: before we had the Concrete Result or the Concrete match,
Speaker 5: rather of him versus The Rock, we had another stop
Speaker 5: of the Rock defending his championship against CM Punk in
Speaker 5: their rematch at the Elimination Chamber, to which he successfully
Speaker 5: does and thus officially sets up Rock Versina too. And
Speaker 5: I gotta I gotta say I was pretty upset when
Speaker 5: they announced this, Like I get why they did it,
Speaker 5: you know, Rock and Austin had three matches, Rock and
Speaker 5: Hogan had two matches, But it was just it was
Speaker 5: kind of it was just a bit too obvious for me.
Speaker 5: And I know that it doesn't always have to be
Speaker 5: a surprise in wrestling, and it could be obvious if
Speaker 5: it makes sense and in a lot of ways it
Speaker 5: did make sense, but the tagline to their first match
Speaker 5: was once in a lifetime, and twelve months later you're
Speaker 5: doing it again, so like you completely negated and disproved
Speaker 5: what you had built the first match. As so, I
Speaker 5: just I thought that in a lot of ways doing
Speaker 5: this was kind of more harm than good. But at
Speaker 5: the same time, I understand why they had to, because
Speaker 5: these two were two of the biggest stars of the
Speaker 5: last generation, and in a lot of ways, would it
Speaker 5: made more sense if it was Sena versus Stone Cold
Speaker 5: Steve Austin, if it was in fact the passing of
Speaker 5: the torch type of match, Yeah, of course, of course.
Speaker 5: But in the same breath, you could make the same
Speaker 5: exact case for Austin versus Hogan nine years prior to this,
Speaker 5: or at this point ten eleven years prior to this,
Speaker 5: And I think that the Rock kind of stepped in
Speaker 5: for Stonecold Steve Austin in each of those respective feuds
Speaker 5: or rivalries, because in two thousand and two, Austin wasn't
Speaker 5: in the best place, and in twenty twelve, twenty thirteen,
Speaker 5: Austin couldn't wrestle anymore, and he was what at this
Speaker 5: point ten years removed from his last match, So in
Speaker 5: a lot of ways, it was the Rock kind of
Speaker 5: acting as the face of the Attitude era, and then
Speaker 5: you had Hogan as the Golden Era and seen as
Speaker 5: the PG era. But it kind of should have been
Speaker 5: Stonecolds And I wonder if you guys have ever thought
Speaker 5: about that for each of those rivalries featuring the Rock,
Speaker 5: that he kind of was the substitute for what Stone
Speaker 5: Cold Steve Austin should have been doing. And we've talked
Speaker 5: at nauseum about that it should have been Austin versus Hogan,
Speaker 5: but we never really talked about that. Austin versus Sena
Speaker 5: would have been the I guess technical passing of the
Speaker 5: torch in terms of era to era, much like Hogan
Speaker 5: to Rock slash Stone Cold Steve Austin. But obviously, you know,
Speaker 5: Austin was a long time removed from being an in
Speaker 5: ring comparer at this point, and you had the real
Speaker 5: life riff between Austin or between Rock and Sena, which
Speaker 5: really added to this. But getting back to the Rock
Speaker 5: and Sena rivalry, you kind of have this reoccurring theme
Speaker 5: again of that Sena hat to beat the Rock, he
Speaker 5: really has to rebound after this horrible year, and when
Speaker 5: they finally came face to face after it was official
Speaker 5: that they were going to clash once again at a WrestleMania,
Speaker 5: Sinam made it very well known that he had to
Speaker 5: win this match.
Speaker 2: Because I've been.
Speaker 8: Waiting for this moment for a year and you don't
Speaker 8: even know why. You can't know why because you're Dwayne Johnson.
Speaker 8: You are Dwayne the Rock Johnson.
Speaker 3: The man.
Speaker 8: Conquered the WWE during the Attitude Oarrow, the Man left
Speaker 8: and conquered Hollywood.
Speaker 7: The Man has returned to the WWE conquered it again.
Speaker 2: Hell, you are the WWE Champion.
Speaker 8: You don't fail at anything in life, so you don't
Speaker 8: know what it feels like to tell the world, to
Speaker 8: tell the people you.
Speaker 2: Care about that you have to do something and then fail.
Speaker 8: Last year at WrestleMania, I told every single person who
Speaker 8: would listen, especially those very close to me, that I
Speaker 8: needed that match, that I needed to win that match, and.
Speaker 2: I failed that moment.
Speaker 8: That match at WrestleMania was whether there is a loss
Speaker 8: to the Rock. That match, that moment sent my life
Speaker 8: into a tail spin. You don't believe me, go back
Speaker 8: check the timeline right after WrestleMania.
Speaker 2: You want to talk about something that sucked.
Speaker 8: It happened to me both professionally and personally because I
Speaker 8: could not get over my obsession with the fact that
Speaker 8: I failed. I couldn't jump over that hurdle, with the
Speaker 8: fact that I told these people I was gonna get
Speaker 8: it done and I didn't. I get a chance, a
Speaker 8: chance to rewrite history. This is more than just a
Speaker 8: match for me. This is a shot at redemption. You
Speaker 8: realize how many people don't even get a first chance.
Speaker 8: I get a second chance. I have been gifted a
Speaker 8: second chance to right the biggest wrong of my life.
Speaker 8: So I just came out here to give you a
Speaker 8: thirty four day heads up. I am not throwing this
Speaker 8: chance away as much as a match.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 5: To be honest, watching this promo, it kind of made
Speaker 5: me hope that John Cena would come out on top
Speaker 5: in this match, because, well, for one, the way he
Speaker 5: comes across just so honest and so authentic. I mean,
Speaker 5: love or hate him, John Cena knows his character and
Speaker 5: plays it to a t, and there is nothing fake
Speaker 5: about John Cena. And when he cut that promo and
Speaker 5: I realized the continuity and congruity of what had transpired
Speaker 5: over the preceding twelve months building to this match. It
Speaker 5: kind of made me forget the fact that they were
Speaker 5: going against the tagline of what their previous match and
Speaker 5: first installment was as once in a lifetime, because I
Speaker 5: realized that what WWE had done was something that they
Speaker 5: so often don't do. But they built a year long program,
Speaker 5: and forget the fact that it was year long. They
Speaker 5: built something with such a foresight that we'd rarely see nowadays,
Speaker 5: and we are, what I guess, at this point, eight
Speaker 5: years removed from this. It's pretty crazy how far we've
Speaker 5: come that. You know, back then, you had a year
Speaker 5: long build from twenty eleven to twenty twelve of building
Speaker 5: the Rock Versina once in a lifetime, and then the
Speaker 5: following year you have this entire year of booking John
Speaker 5: Cena badly and making him come off of that the
Speaker 5: fact that he can't get over that loss and this
Speaker 5: and that, and that you keep these two in large
Speaker 5: parts separated from one another and have them each blaze
Speaker 5: their own trail, and then culminate with this promo by
Speaker 5: John Cena that really defined why the last year took place,
Speaker 5: and going into wrestlming A twenty nine. You felt like
Speaker 5: it was a big match moment, and obviously it was
Speaker 5: for the championship this time around, and it was a
Speaker 5: rematch for John Cena. But I mean, the rematch is
Speaker 5: never as good as the first one, right, you know
Speaker 5: what second movie is ever better than the first, aside
Speaker 5: from Back to the Future, which I think the second
Speaker 5: Back to the Future is better than the first. But
Speaker 5: getting back on track, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 5: for them to make us be just as interested as
Speaker 5: we were for the first one as we were going
Speaker 5: to be for the second, they had to give us
Speaker 5: something more than it was The Rock versus John Cena,
Speaker 5: and oh yeah, we'll throw in the championship, And they
Speaker 5: gave us that something by for the first time since
Speaker 5: he had won his first WWE championship in two thousand
Speaker 5: and five, John Cena had faced a year of adversity.
Speaker 5: He had faced a year of no world titles, He
Speaker 5: faced a year of perpetual losing, and that all started
Speaker 5: with his loss to The Rock at WrestleMania twenty eight
Speaker 5: And by the time WrestleMania twenty nineteen, rownd and we
Speaker 5: got to the main then the promo package that preceded
Speaker 5: the actual match really painted the entire story of how
Speaker 5: we got to this particular stage.
Speaker 2: For The Rock, it is about his legacy. For John
Speaker 2: sta it is about redemption.
Speaker 8: Last year at Wrestlemaniam, I told every single person who
Speaker 8: had listened that I needed to win that match.
Speaker 6: Rock thought up the Rock, hast faith, John Stanap, and
Speaker 6: I failed.
Speaker 2: You don't know what that does to a man. It
Speaker 2: makes you feel worthless.
Speaker 4: One of these days, this guy's come back everything.
Speaker 2: You were responsible for my collapse.
Speaker 4: One of these days and the mountains falls.
Speaker 8: Em I once in a lifetime moment, stolen, a year
Speaker 8: of my existence, destroyed, never falls. That sent my life
Speaker 8: into a tailspin, both professionally and personally.
Speaker 2: Because I could not get over my obsession with the
Speaker 2: fact that I failed.
Speaker 4: These days Yes, fall from the sky cool becoming back job,
Speaker 4: say that guy.
Speaker 6: There was only one man with a rough one of
Speaker 6: the face and vesselmania and that man issue.
Speaker 2: No one has your passion, You're tried, You're fired your
Speaker 2: will to win.
Speaker 3: No one except the Rock, the probabll the Rock promise the.
Speaker 4: World that he would win.
Speaker 7: They may chip manship tonight.
Speaker 1: No one just not the grayhod the Rock as champion.
Speaker 6: There is no accolade on this earth that is more
Speaker 6: deeply ingrained in my blood.
Speaker 4: Hold.
Speaker 2: I have accomplished every single go in my entire career
Speaker 2: except for you, Love. This is more than just a
Speaker 2: match for me. This is a shot at redemption, John Sana.
Speaker 2: If you ain't getting redemption, Jack, You're getting your ass, can't.
Speaker 4: I have been getting a second.
Speaker 2: Chance to right the biggest wrong of my life.
Speaker 1: You think you can beat me, I know I do
Speaker 1: beat you.
Speaker 2: That WrestleMania my time. Just now, Wrea, I won't beat you.
Speaker 2: I wow. Yeah.
Speaker 5: The promo packages that WWE has pulled off in the
Speaker 5: past are quite something. And I always talk about Rock
Speaker 5: Austin at Wrestling at seventeen, or Rock Austin at Wrestling
Speaker 5: in nineteen, or you know, Triple H versus Ben Wall
Speaker 5: versus HBKA at Wrestling at twenty or HBK versus Johnson
Speaker 5: and Wrestling in twenty three, But this one is one
Speaker 5: that really set the tone for what this match meant
Speaker 5: for both competitors. And another little thing in this match
Speaker 5: that you know many people don't think about, but is
Speaker 5: that the Rock had just scrapped the Spinner Championship and
Speaker 5: brought in the new look WWE title. So we get
Speaker 5: to the main event and we know John Cena has
Speaker 5: to win this match, and he ultimately does and wins
Speaker 5: the w Championship for the first time in over a
Speaker 5: calendar year. And I think at this point he was
Speaker 5: pushing two years that it was the last time he
Speaker 5: had held the title was in the summer of twenty
Speaker 5: eleven when he had the clash with Cmpunk. So Sina
Speaker 5: gets the title back and finally overcomes the hurdle of
Speaker 5: defeating the Rock and adds that notch to his belt,
Speaker 5: and this ultimately ended up being the Rocks final match
Speaker 5: in WWE, and he has since to return to the
Speaker 5: ring since in an actual match capacity. And Noah, I'm
Speaker 5: not counting Eric Rowan at WrestleMania thirty two, and it
Speaker 5: really kind of derailed any further plans that he was
Speaker 5: going to have with the WWE in future years because
Speaker 5: he tore his pelvic muscle I think, or his abdominal
Speaker 5: muscle off of his pelvis. I forget what exactly the
Speaker 5: injury was, and it caused him to miss the following
Speaker 5: Monday Night Raw because he was supposed to come back
Speaker 5: out on Monday Night Raw the next night and set
Speaker 5: up a program with brock Lesner for the following years WrestleMania,
Speaker 5: but after hurting himself and they had to delay the
Speaker 5: filming of Hercules, which he was starring in, it really
Speaker 5: kind of put his in ring career to bed, at
Speaker 5: least for the time being, as we don't know if
Speaker 5: you'll ever come back for a final farewell match with
Speaker 5: Roman Reigns, and you have to think he will, as
Speaker 5: he's not yet in the Hall of Fame, and once
Speaker 5: you go into the Hall of Fame, it's kind of
Speaker 5: like the final you know, like nail on the coffin,
Speaker 5: that you're never gonna compete in the ring again, although
Speaker 5: unless your name is Goldberger Edge obviously, but that seems
Speaker 5: to be the typical rule of thumb. But that this
Speaker 5: match is pretty much the last we saw the Rock
Speaker 5: of his semi regular run with the company from twenty
Speaker 5: eleven to twenty thirteen. And it's crazy to think now
Speaker 5: that you know, we're lucky if we see him once
Speaker 5: every two years. You know, the last time we saw
Speaker 5: him was at the first SmackDown on Fox in October
Speaker 5: of twenty nineteen, and before that it had been I
Speaker 5: think another two years. And this I think we kind
Speaker 5: of took it for granted that The Rock gave us
Speaker 5: like a part time run for twenty four months from
Speaker 5: twenty eleven to twenty four to thirteen, and it really
Speaker 5: culminated with this match for John Cena. And as for
Speaker 5: what this match meant to Sena, obviously we know what
Speaker 5: it meant for the character. He spelled that out quite extensively.
Speaker 5: But I think just for how we view him, or
Speaker 5: I'll just speak for myself here, it kind of put
Speaker 5: John Cena as a like Amount Rushmore type of competitor
Speaker 5: for me. And I know it's WWE and it's all
Speaker 5: predetermined outcomes, but for Vince McMahon and company to book
Speaker 5: John Cena beating the Rock WrestleMania, something that had only
Speaker 5: been done before by Stone Cold, Steve Austin and Triple
Speaker 5: H and a one on one type of match at
Speaker 5: WrestleMania told you a lot about where John Cena had
Speaker 5: cemented himself by twenty thirteen. And to be quite honest
Speaker 5: of as far as my personal Amount Rushmore goes, John
Speaker 5: Cena is there and The Rock is not, and that
Speaker 5: tells you a lot coming from a huge rock fan,
Speaker 5: and I think a lot of it had to do
Speaker 5: with how this program played out, and it goes way
Speaker 5: beyond the booking. I just feel like John Cena, the
Speaker 5: way he cut his promos, the truth that he spit
Speaker 5: for a lack of better terms, really made me realize
Speaker 5: how big of a workhorse he had become. And you know,
Speaker 5: he may he may have never been one of my
Speaker 5: favorite characters, but the amount of respect I had and
Speaker 5: still have for John Cena is a mens And as
Speaker 5: for the Rock, it was nice to see a final
Speaker 5: program before he fully walked away. And who knows, maybe
Speaker 5: we'll get one more between him and Roman Reigns before
Speaker 5: he completely steps away from in ring competition. But anyway, guys,
Speaker 5: that's all I got for you today. I hope you
Speaker 5: enjoyed Rock Versus John Cena. As always, you can get
Speaker 5: me on Twitter at ad Marco twenty five. You can
Speaker 5: get Matt on Twitter at Wrestling Underscore Audio, or you
Speaker 5: can email him at REALWWE Podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 5: And we guys, have a happy Easter and I'll talk
Speaker 5: to you next week.