Whether you enjoyed the feud or not you have to admit that John Cena’s rivalry with The Rock was historic. Cena and Rock are two of the biggest stars the wrestling industry has ever seen, and they barely touched each other during their whole feud, but somehow they managed the hype going for over 2 years.
John Cena recently spoke during a panel at Salt Lake City Comic Con, and a fan asked if he had any stories about working with The Rock. Cena took the crowd through a short version of his entire history with The Rock, and he summed up their feud perfectly.
“For two years The Rock and I kind of made fun of each other, a lot. It got pretty heated, and it got pretty personal. I said some things that were less than nice, he said some things that were less than nice. I can assure you in our line of work there is a grey area where imagination becomes very real, and we were right in the sweet spot with that grey area.”
Cena talked about how he “came in second” when he faced The Rock at WrestleMania 28, but then he brought up how he was “lucky enough to come in first” at WrestleMania 29. After defeating his opponent at WrestleMania 29, John Cena embraced The Rock and said something to him that he decided to keep a secret.
“There have been a few people that have asked me what I said, and my answer has always been that it’s been between me and him.”
Before telling the crowd what he said word for word, Cena prefaced the reveal by telling a story about the first time that he met The Rock.
“I actually told him that he had taken a picture with me when I was an employee at Gold’s Gym back in the year 2000 when The Rock was like, meteoric. He didn’t need to pay any attention to anyone but people who could possibly do things for him, and here’s this low level employee at Gold’s Gym, wowed by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. I went up to him and asked if we could take a picture together, and he gave me the picture, and he gave me some advice on how to further my career, and he didn’t have to.”
Cena then informed that crowd that he decided to share the story with The Great One after he had just defeated him on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
“I held him close and I said ‘You’re never gonna remember this but you took a picture with me in 2000, it helped me stand here today, and if it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be here today.’ Then I thanked him very much for all he’s done for the industry, and for all he’s done for me, and then we went backstage and had a shot together in celebration.”
It was no big secret that Cena and Rock didn’t get along during their feud, and more than a few fans would agree that it seemed like there was some tension between Cena and The Rock after their match at WrestleMania 29.
The ending makes for an interesting watch though when you keep this story in mind, because you can almost see the exact moment when The Rock and John Cena finally find some sort of mutual respect.
