The Rock Explains Hiding His Mid-Match Injury from John Cena at WrestleMania 29
The Rock has given the rationale behind not telling John Cena about injuring himself shortly into their WrestleMania 29 showdown.

The Rock and John Cena [via- WWE]
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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson didn’t compete in a full-length WrestleMania match after the one he had with John Cena in 2013 until last year, excluding the 6-second Erick Rowan squash from WrestleMania 32. ‘The Great One’ recently divulged an interesting tidbit about his Mania ’29 encounter. It’s a well-documented fact that Johnson tore his abdomen, adductor, and pelvis just minutes into the matchup.
One might wonder why he didn’t call the audible to end the match early. Speaking to NPR, the 53-year-old Hollywood mogul revealed that he did so for two reasons. First off, he knew deep inside that it was going to be his last WWE match.
Henceforth, the 10-time world champion wanted to bow out on his shield. The other reason, which, as Johnson said, was more important than the end of his career, was the fact that he was supposed to pass on the torch to Cena that night.
The other reason, and maybe more important than my career ending, I was doing the honors.……..me doing the honors for him and him beating me in the middle of the ring to become champion. That’s why I didn’t want the match to end right away. I wanted him to have his moment. That’s important.
The Rock via NPR
‘The Final Boss’ asserted that he wanted the Peacemaker star to put him away as they were supposed to do in the middle of that ring. And that’s exactly what happened. ‘The Cenation Leader’ pinned his great rival to win the WWE title from him. A year prior to that, ‘Mr. Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect’ succumbed to a humiliating loss against Johnson at WrestleMania 28.
The Rock told @NPR's Fresh Air that he tore both his abdomen and tore his adductor and quad tendons off his pelvis during his Wrestlemania 29 match with John Cena. He explained that he avoided telling Cena during the match because didn't want to go home early, knowing that it was… pic.twitter.com/mO29iCmVhd
— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) October 4, 2025
Not that long ago, Cena told Vanity Fair that he was aware of the match result a year in advance. It made the build-up a fairly less stressful job for him. Rock and Cena, at that point, didn’t see eye to eye. ‘The Franchise Player’ would then make public apologies years later to ‘The Brahma Bull’ over his ignorant comments questioning if Johnson actually loved the pro wrestling business after becoming a full-time actor.
Did The Rock ruin John Cena’s WWE farewell tour?
Earlier this year, The Rock and John Cena shared the ring once again. But not as rivals. No matter how haphazard the follow-up to it was, the exact moment that turned Cena heel will go down as one of the most shocking ones in WWE history. The Final Boss’ throat-slitting gesture being the cue for Cena to go low on Cody Rhodes was poetry in motion.

The fans started speculating that ‘Rocky’ will leave no stone unturned in helping ‘The Franchise Player’ win a record-setting seventeenth world title at WrestleMania 41. However, Rock didn’t appear once by Cena’s side in the weeks leading to WrestleMania. But what drew the ire of fans was Rock not even showing up at The Show of Shows. In fact, Travis Scott got involved during the ending moments of Cena vs. Rhodes.
John Cena Sr criticizes The Rock for his lack of involvement after Cena’s heel turn
— Vick (@Vick_8122) September 24, 2025
“Let’s take it and call it as we see it. Why not finish what we started or if we couldn’t finish what we started don’t start it all.”
(UnSKripted)pic.twitter.com/PD6xxpnvJq
It resulted in fans labeling the match as one of the worst main events in WrestleMania history. Though Rhodes recently explained why he rated that showdown at par with the epic SummerSlam rematch with Cena, the disappearance of Rock from the storyline sabotaged it.
Cena’s father is largely unhappy with the way Johnson opted out from his son’s farewell tour. John Cena Sr. told Dr. Chris Featherstone that ‘The Great One’ shouldn’t have started the angle if he couldn’t commit to it wholeheartedly.
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