John Cena Reveals a Shocking Fact About His WrestleMania 28 Match with The Rock

Over thirteen years to the night he stood across from The Rock for the first time in the ring, John Cena has made a big revelation.

John Cena Reveals a Shocking Fact About His WrestleMania 28 Match with The Rock

The Rock and John Cena [via- WWE]

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John Cena and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson are the two most successful wrestler-turned-actors one would ever encounter. While they’ve barely shared the big screen, both men have crossed paths numerous times in WWE. Their first-ever singles match happened at WrestleMania 28, which was billed as a ‘Once in a Lifetime’ experience.

The result didn’t go Cena’s way, as his mocking of the Rock Bottom ultimately cost him the bout. ‘The Cenation Leader’ has now claimed that he was aware of the match result a year in advance. He made the startling revelation in a Vanity Fair interview while rewatching it. Since he knew he wasn’t going to win, there was no added pressure on Cena to do something out of the box during the build-up to their feud.

The reigning Undisputed WWE Champion revealed how they didn’t see eye to eye back then owing to Cena naively slamming ‘The Great One’ for leaving WWE to fulfill his Hollywood aspirations. That real-life animosity between them often blurred the lines between entertainment and realism as reflected in their promos.

You would think that like, man, going to the actual stage is gonna be the worst part. That was the easy part. I knew I was losing the year before the fight…

John Cena via Vanity Fair interview

The Peacemaker actor disclosed that after biting the dust at WrestleMania in Miami, Rock’s mother was the first person he ran over to and underscored how graceful she was during their conversation. Cena later went to Johnson’s locker room and finally apologized for his previous comments on Rock juggling between WWE and the movie set.

It kicked off their journey as friends. They had another singles match at WrestleMania in 2013, where ‘The Brahma Bull’ dropped the WWE title to ‘The Franchise Player’. Johnson had unfortunately torn his abductor muscles, which delayed the filming of Hercules. Consequently, the Black Adam star didn’t wrestle a full-length WWE match until last year’s WrestleMania in Philadelphia.

The Rock is responsible for the ongoing villainous arc of John Cena

John Cena is currently in his bad guy era in WWE. And why did it happen? All because of The Rock. Earlier this year at Elimination Chamber, Cena sold out to ‘The Final Boss’ moments after Cody Rhodes told The Rock to “go f**k yourself” in response to his offer of aligning with him.

The Rock and John Cena
The Rock and John Cena [via- WWE]

The Ricky Stanicky star feigned a hug to go low on Rhodes upon the behest of Dwayne Johnson. As blockbuster of a heel turn that was, its follow-up had been equally disappointing. A big chunk of it has to do with The Rock eventually pulling himself out of the storyline and never showing up again after that Elimination Chamber shocker.

The Anoa’i family stalwart caught a ton of flak from the fans for skipping WrestleMania 41 and instead sending Travis Scott to bail his associate, Cena, out of the situation. The fans have lost their hopes on The Rock resuming from where he left off. Moreover, Cena is only left with 15 more dates before he calls it a day on his in-ring career.

What’s next for John Cena after Night of Champions?

John Cena hasn’t appeared on WWE television since beating CM Punk at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia. Now that the 48-year-old has moved past ‘The Best in the World’, Cena is lined up for an even bigger task, because in less than four weeks at SummerSlam, ‘The Last Real Champion’ will defend his Undisputed WWE title against Cody Rhodes.

CM Punk and John Cena
CM Punk and John Cena (via- WWE)

‘The American Nightmare’ has earned this distinction by virtue of becoming the 2025 King of the Ring. Rhodes was basically robbed of the WWE title belt back in April. The dilemma of using underhanded tactics against ‘Mr. Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect’ continues to haunt the ex-AEW EVP.

It’d be interesting to see if Rhodes has learned anything from his mistakes or not. There have been rumors floating in the market that ‘The Prodigal Son’ may soon embrace his dark side. Could that happen as early as his showdown with Cena at SummerSlam? Only time will tell.

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