What Nobody Noticed About The Rock vs John Cena

On the surface, it seemed like the beef between John Cena and The Rock was nothing more than a typical scripted WWE segment. However, Cena would later admit that it was personal, and he meant every hateful thing he said about The Rock. So it became a real feud between you and The Rock? Oh my god, yeah. This is the part where I'm supposed to say, I look forward to Wrestlemania because I personally respect The Rock, I don't. Now it's interesting that Cena claimed to not respect The Rock when he followed his exact career path, becoming a WWE superstar then leveraging that fame to secure opportunities in mainstream Hollywood productions. The Rock was loved in the WWE, but after he abandoned the business, he slowly ruined his public perception with his repetitive mediocre movies, pathological lies, hyperinflated ego, and stripping all of his humanity to become a walking advertisement. John Cena was one of The Rock's original haters, and he saw right through The Rock's phony character long before you and I did. And since then, he seemingly assessed all the mistakes The Rock made, and now has the perfect blueprint of what not to do. And it's working perfectly. As The Rock's reputation is at an all-time low, and his movies are bombing left and right, Cena's career is on a strong upward trajectory with no signs of slowing down. Today, we are going to analyze exactly how John Cena stole The Rock's legacy, becoming the actual People's Champion. Cena and Rock had nearly the exact same experience upon entering the WWE. They both desperately needed a rebrand since fans were not connecting with the character or lack of character they presented. Starting with Dwayne Johnson making his WWF debut as Rocky Maivia in 1996. Nicknamed The Blue Chipper, Johnson was hyped as the WWF's first third-generation wrestler, as his father and grandfather led a historic wrestling bloodline. Rocky became the company's intercontinental champion and wrestled his first Wrestlemania match within months of entering the promotion. However, fans did not accept him with open arms. WWF fans became increasingly hostile towards Maivia, with chants of Die Rocky Die being heard during his matches. Cena also had a tough time with the crowd in the beginning of his career. John made his WWE television debut on Smackdown in 2002, by answering Kurt Angle's open challenge. When asked what quality made him capable of being a superstar, he infamously responded that he had, ruthless aggression, and then put on a well-fought match against one of the company's best technicians. Despite his good looks, babyface appeal, and being built like an absolute house, Cena was not resonating with fans, and there really wasn't much to like. He looked and felt like when you create a My Player in a video game and don't have any upgrades unlocked. Even though wrestling is scripted, how the fans react to the show is entirely real. Wrestlers can either lean into the fact that fans hate them and become the villain, aka turn heel, or try to figure out a way to get the crowd on their side. Both men felt their career was on the ropes, and both of them had a drive for success like no other. However, this is where Dwayne and John chose different paths. In August of 97, Dwayne deaded the Rocky name and referred to himself in the third person as The Rock. He had officially turned heel. Now portraying a self-absorbed narcissist, The Rock regularly insulted the audience, fellow wrestlers, and interviewers whenever he could. The Rock mastered the art of cutting promos. Whether he was delivering one of his signature catchphrases like, if you smell what The Rock is cooking, or roasting his opponents in backstage interviews, he had the crowd fully immersed into the world he created. It was hard for The Rock to remain heel because the crowd loved him too much, which led to him dubbing himself the people's champion. In order to stay heel, he aligned himself with Vince McMahon, who was unanimously hated by the fans as he represented the evil wrestling corporation. This became the perfect setup for The Rock to feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was easily the fan favorite, plus he was already in a vicious battle with Vince. The Rock and Stone Cold's rivalry could be considered the greatest feud of all time as these two were the biggest stars in the Attitude Era, which is unanimously agreed upon as the best era for wrestling. But that's not just the fans' opinion, it's objective fact. In the late 90s, the WWE was at its peak in average viewership and ratings. It was looking like The Rock was going to steamroll into the 2000s and have a career as dominant and long lasting as Hulk Hogan. Then, he did the unthinkable. At 32 years old, while he was still the number one draw in the WWE, he retired from wrestling and pursued a full time Hollywood career. Some criticized The Rock saying that he turned his back on the fans that made him, and John Cena made sure he would not make this same mistake. Right around the same time that Rock quit, Cena unintentionally saved his wrestling career in what can only be described as divine intervention. On the tour bus overseas, some of the guys are freestyling in the back. I just went in the back and waited for my turn and joined in, and just did the best I could to try to unleash the fury. And at the front of the bus was Stephanie McMahon. She was head of writing at the time. She was like, how did you remember all that? I kind of explained the concept of freestyling and she's like, well make something up about me right now. Sure enough, on the spot, I spit a few bars. After impressing the writers, John decided to go all in on the new gimmick. Inspired by hip-hop culture, he rebranded himself into a brash, freestyle rapping, street smart wrestler who used rhymes to insult opponents and hype up the crowd. He wore baggy jeans, throwback jerseys, a backwards cap, and a chain with a padlock. You need to hit them sit-ups too. You're not exactly the leanest. Forget seeing me, bro. You can't see your own penis. Fans loved when Cena roasted wrestlers with his bars, but even they weren't safe from his ruthless rhymes. That freestyle was whack. I couldn't wait for it to end. I got no wife, but you got a boyfriend. Up until this point, the WWE embraced rock music to match its gritty aesthetic. Cena promoting hip-hop was a fresh change for the business. Plus it was culturally relevant. In the early 2000s, rappers like 50 Cent were dominating pop culture while wearing baggy clothes and rocking diamond chains that spun. Cena won the titles and redesigned the belts to match that of a famous rapper. But that wasn't the only thing about Cena that hip-hop inspired. G-Unit rapper Tony Yayo had a signature move where he waved his hand in front of his face. And that simple move would have an astronomical amount of influence on John Cena's life. You see, John Cena was not just role-playing a rapper, he actually rapped. And to prove that, he released his debut album, You Can't See Me, in 2005. The lead single, The Time Is Now, would end up becoming his iconic entrance theme music. When playing the song for his little brother, he noticed his brother doing the hand gesture while vibing to the beat, which inspired Cena to do it on television to shout out his little bro. 50 Cent's crew had a really popular song called In The Club, and he heard it the first time, instead of dancing, he did this. And I'm like, dude, what are you doing? He's like, no, everybody does this, man. Everybody does this. And he's like, you won't do it on TV. So what the hell do I gotta lose? What am I gonna do, fire me? Of course I'll do it on TV. But instead of doing this, I did this. The phrase, you can't see me, was his way of taunting his opponents. It's kind of like saying, you're not on my level. However, as a joke, fans took the phrase literally, pretending that Cena was actually invisible, leading to countless photos and videos where people pretended to not see John Cena. Check any Reddit thread or comment section throughout the internet discussing Cena, and you will see some sort of joke referencing that they can't see him. The meme has held strong for decades. Just recently, Kaisanat and IShowSpeed collabed with John Cena and both played into the joke. Yo, who y'all talking to? Who y'all talking to y'all talking to? What? No, no, we here with John. Where's he at? Where's he at? John Cena. John Cena, where's he at? I have no idea. From there, the internet took a liking to making John Cena related memes. It's hard to explain why, he's just memeable. What kind of animal would John Cena be? A tiger, because he has the eye of the tiger. He does have the eye of the tiger. Are you sure about that? My personal favorite is unexpected John Cena, which refers to a jump scare trend that interrupts- John Cena! And while some other people would likely get annoyed if they were being made fun of by millions of people instead of being praised as the biggest, baddest dude on the planet, Cena embraces the memes, and he doesn't mind being the butt of a joke. And I never get offended. I love hearing it. I think it's extremely creative. It's something that's been in the internet cycle for so long, but it still never gets old. John's showing admiration for what most would deem as annoying is just one of the many reasons why he is seen as a man of the people. Just like The Rock, Cena quickly exploded to the top of the WWE roster and was the face of the promotion. And also, just like The Rock, he stepped into an acting role as John Triton from The Marine. WWE Films, now known as WWE Studios, is crucial in expanding the brand beyond wrestling and into mainstream pop culture. They produced No Holds Barred, one of the first films that helped launch Hulk Hogan's acting career. The company also co-produced The Scorpion King, a film that introduced The Rock to Hollywood. Now, the WWE hoped The Marine could do the same thing for another superstar. However, Cena admitted that he was not ready to step into film. It was actually Vince McMahon who basically ordered him to do it. Even though The Marine received mostly negative reviews, it garnered over $22 million at the worldwide box office. As soon as The Rock got a taste of Hollywood, he planned his exit. Cena did the exact opposite. He wanted to stay in the squared circle and help boost up the industry that made him who he is. However, playing the role of a U.S. Marine did help Cena shed his Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick. He retired the sports jerseys and massive chains and slowed down on the rap promos. Instead, Cena flipped his backwards cap forward, wore dog chains, and preached patriotic values of hustle, loyalty, respect. As the face of the company, Cena held the WWE's most prestigious title for a combined 793 days. He would briefly lose the belt only to make a heroic comeback and reign champion. This was strategically designed by the WWE's writers to establish Cena as a strong, never-give-up hero for their younger audience. And it worked. But it also led to backlash from older fans who believed it made the matches too predictable. This spawned the Cena Wins LOL meme, which has led to deep discussions of Cena Wins LOL moments where it was obvious that his special treatment in the WWE was the only reason he won. Taking a page out of The Rock's playbook, Cena aligned himself with Vince McMahon. John said, Vince McMahon to me is more than anyone could realize. He's a close friend, a mentor, a father figure. He means a tremendous amount to me. I don't know if I'll ever be able to conceptualize how much I love him and how much he means to me. That's why I've invested so much of my blood, sweat, and tears. I don't want to see it fall off. I want to see it be everywhere. I want to see it be larger. I want to see it have more success. Wrestling fans' perception of Cena was divided. On one hand, people were tired of seeing the same guy dominate. On the other hand, it's great that the face of the company is loyal to the brand and wants to continue to see it grow. Unlike The Rock, who retired early and left the business in the dust. Despite being a WWE superstar, Dwayne Johnson struggled to establish himself as a leading man in action films. He only found financial success in family-friendly films like The Game Plan and Tooth Fairy. But they didn't challenge his acting abilities, nor was this his ideal role in Hollywood. His career took a step in the right direction with his role in The Other Guys and lead in the action film, Faster. By this point, he had spent 7 years as a full-time actor, and yes, he was successful, but he still wasn't satisfied. Lucky for him, a perfect storm was developing. The Rock got an opportunity to be a part of the Fast and Furious franchise, which was a global movie empire. If Dwayne's role as Luke Hobbs went over well with fans, it would establish him as the global action star he dreamt of being. This is why many people believe he only returned to the WWE 7 years after his retirement to maximize his publicity and promotion power, as his return was, conveniently, 2 months before the release of this monumental film. Then again, the WWE needed him badly at this point, because they were a few years deep into what is now known as the PG era, and ratings were plummeting. The PG era refers to WWE's shift to family-friendly, TV-PG programming. This change was made to appeal to a broader audience, attracting corporate sponsors and securing lucrative TV deals. This PG era negatively impacted the WWE by stripping away much of the intensity, unpredictability, and edgy storytelling that made the company thrive during the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression eras. They eliminated blood, extreme violence, and risque segments, and introduced over-scripted promos, sanitized characters, and weaker heels making feuds feel less personal and intense. The overexposure of Cena as a kid-friendly superhero alienated older audiences. The crowd would scream, John Cena sucks, whenever he made his entrance. They were fed up and disappointed with the company as a whole, so they took their anger out on the top talent. This would have been the perfect time for Cena to turn heel, but in the PG era, it is nearly impossible to play a villain while still being kid-friendly. Plus, he was still the young kid's favorite. The WWE needed to come up with a villain the crowd could root for against Cena, and they brought back one of the best heels of all time, The Rock. And if you thought John Cena and The Rock's beef was nothing more than a fake feud for entertainment, you'd be wrong. The Rock made his long-awaited return in February of 2011, where he announced he would be hosting the upcoming Wrestlemania. During his promo, Johnson took shots at Cena. The following week, Cena responded with a rap where he mocked Johnson's acting career. This feud went back and forth for weeks, with The Rock constantly embarrassing Cena by making fun of his bright-colored clothes, fake gangster persona, and kid-friendly appeal. It was then established that The Rock would face off against John Cena, Icon vs Icon billed as once-in-a-lifetime, at Wrestlemania 28, making it the first Wrestlemania match to be set up one year in advance. In the meantime, Cena continued to be the antagonist in the ring, night after night for a year straight, getting booed by fans during his feud with CM Punk. The Cena hate was not fake. The fans genuinely despised this guy, they were sick of seeing him win, and he had a chip on his shoulder. So when it came time to take some shots at The Rock, the line between reality and fiction got blurry. Cena felt like he needed to remind everyone that he was the one who stayed loyal to the business, that he helped rising talent make a name for themselves, and that he will continue to remain in the ring even after becoming a mainstream superstar. But Cena was fighting an uphill battle, and the crowd favored The Legend over him. He let his personal feelings about The Rock get the best of him, and committed a cardinal sin in the WWE. Cena called out The Rock for writing his script notes on his wrist, essentially admitting that wrestling is fake. You can see The Rock stop dead in his tracks. This was a low blow, and many wrestling fans hated that Cena broke the 4th wall because he had no other way of competing with The Legend. Others saw this as him simply speaking the truth, and that Rock writing his notes on his wrist shows a lack of preparation and respect for his character in the WWE. The two continued blurring the lines between real and kayfabe when The Rock performed a concert where he mentioned Cena's rumored infidelity and divorce. Cena briefly brought back his Doctor of Thuganomics character, hoping nostalgia would the crowd over. Cena later admitted that this was more than scripted entertainment, he actually did not respect The Rock. This drama continued up until their highly anticipated match at Wrestlemania 28. However, the match needed to be choreographed, so Cena and The Rock had to be in a private room together a couple days before the event. Expecting bad blood, Cena was surprised when The Rock was professional, poised, and enthusiastic to work with him. Cena realized his own ego was getting in his way, and decided to do the match exactly how The Rock wanted to do it. Which did end with Rock securing the victory in front of 80,000 people in his hometown. It was a legendary moment for The Rock, and Cena did something that The Rock would never do, he apologized. One year later, they had a rematch at Wrestlemania 29 where Cena got his redemption and won. Cena and The Rock had a respectful handshake before leaving the ring, signaling the end of their rivalry. Just like Cena predicted, The Rock left the WWE again to focus on Hollywood, while Cena continued to stay loyal to the company. The Rock and Cena's feud was the last glimmer of excitement in the WWE, as the company's sad and slow demise was ever present in the 2010s. Social media made it easier for wrestlers to diminish the illusion of characters and storylines. The roster was objectively more athletically talented, but the company seemingly abandoned all effort into storytelling. Additionally, WWE's monopoly over the industry left little competition, making the product feel stagnant compared to the more edgy and competitive eras of the past. I don't think anyone would blame John Cena if he decided to retire at this point, but at the WWE's lowest moment, he decided he would do whatever he could to help the company. He created the US Open Challenge, where each week he would come to the ring and allow any wrestler to face him for the US title instead of strictly defending his title at pay-per-view events. By defending the title weekly, Cena elevated its status while also showcasing new and rising talent, giving competitors in the locker room a platform to shine in high-profile matches. After 10 years at the top, the WWE finally decided it was time for somebody to take his spot. Cena had been relegated to a side character in major storylines. Gradually, he made less televised appearances, and would sometimes disappear from programming for several weeks at a time. And that's because he, just like The Rock, was transitioning to Hollywood. Cena appeared in the war thriller film, The Wall, a tense, minimalist story set during the Iraq war, focusing on two American soldiers pinned down by an unseen enemy sniper. He also reprised his role as Roger in the buddy comedy, Daddy's Home 2, opposite Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. He also appeared in the animated comedy film, Ferdinand, where he played the main protagonist. Ferdinand was a commercial success, and would be nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 90th Academy Awards. Meanwhile, the WWE's next new superstar, Roman Reigns, was quick to call Cena a hypocrite for becoming the thing he hated about The Rock. He also claimed Cena ruled with an iron fist, and used his power with Vince McMahon to constantly bury talent whenever he wanted, being handed opportunities that he didn't deserve. The truth is, the WWE needed Cena, and he carried the company on his back while ratings dropped year after year. He had absolutely no problem helping new talent, trying new storylines, getting booed by the crowd. If it was helping the business, it was good with him. He remained the top guy because nobody else had the star power to take his spot. Now, it's hard to blame the individual wrestlers, as building up new talent requires great storytelling from writers, and also Vince McMahon and other corporate decision makers taking risks on guys, but at the end of the day, all of the greatest wrestlers have the ability to work a crowd and fully immerse them into their character, and it's hard to argue against Cena being one of the greats. As John exited the WWE and entered Hollywood, he may have learned what made everyone despise The Rock's films, and decided to go into the industry with the exact opposite strategy, by first, being very selective of the projects he takes on. He said, Step one is reading something and liking the material. My poor agent will be like, they're considering you for this, and I hate being a dick about it, but I'm like, send me the material. I know you think it's a great opportunity, but if you sign me up for this opportunity and my heart's not in it, it's going to suck. I'm going to suck, everybody is going to suffer, I'm going to hate promoting it, and we're going to set ourselves back. So, send it to me and let me read it. If I enjoy it, then we'll talk. This is the polar opposite of The Rock's mentality, if he doesn't love the material, he will just change the entire story to benefit him. The Rock has a contract in every one of his movies that specifically says that he cannot lose a fight on screen. He also bashed his Fast 8 male co-stars calling them candy asses that get his blood boiling because he didn't have creative control. We found out this rant was targeted at Vin Diesel specifically when a production source told TMZ, in part because Vin is a producer and has made decisions that didn't sit well with the former wrestling champ. Another source explained that Vin was having problems with The Rock because he kept showing up late for production, sometimes failing to show up at all. Even during the filming of his 2024 Christmas movie, Red One, he admitted to the criticism of him showing up 7-8 hours late for filming and even peeing in bottles when he wasn't near his trailer. But The Rock doesn't only throw little temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way, he once tried to restructure the entire DC extended universe just to give his role as Black Adam a more favorable outcome. Dwayne tries to sell himself as bigger than the movie, said a high ranking Hollywood executive who asked for anonymity. He's one of the few people who always thinks he's the most important person in any situation or room. Dwayne posted on his Instagram, the hierarchy of power in the DC universe is about to change, hinting that he was going to try to make Black Adam the center of the DC universe. It was revealed that the main issue behind the scenes was that Dwayne did not want Shazam to be Black Adam's rival, even though that's how the original story is written. Instead, he wanted Black Adam to fight Superman, who is a Bro just wants Black Adam to be DC's Thanos and go up against Superman to lead to an eventual draw because his ego is inflated and also he puts in the contracts that his character can't be beaten. But when John Cena got his chance to play a DC character, he did the opposite. He trusted the writers, directors, and actually satisfied fans with his role as Peacemaker in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. Peacemaker is a violent, ultra-patriotic mercenary who is both ruthless and hilariously misguided. He also lost the final fight in the film to Bloodsport, something The Rock would never do. Cena's performance was so good he got a spin-off series on HBO Max. Beneath the bravado exterior, Cena challenged himself to portray a deeply broken man struggling with trauma, self-worth, and the toxic influence of his father. John Cena is the actor Dwayne Johnson thinks he is. While The Rock tried to undermine and decision-makers at DC Studios, John Cena praised them. At this point, it seems like what Cena is doing is intentionally being the opposite of The Rock, because he said he would support DC's vision whether or not he is included in future films, whereas The Rock was asked to make a cameo as Black Adam in Shazam 2, but said no. The Rock is also a family man, and John Cena shocked the world when he said he didn't want any kids. Even their Instagram accounts, which is a celebrity's main vehicle for promotion and public relations, couldn't be any more drastically different. The Rock uses his Instagram to relentlessly push his larger-than-life persona, but also tries to be relatable at the same time. He posts about him being the biggest, strongest, hardest working man in the gym, who travels the world promoting his box office hit movies and is also the most electrifying entertainer of all time, all while having the perfect family, being humble, and having a heart of gold. But despite all of that, he claims to be just like you. One of his favorite ways to display that is with his cheat meals, because even though he is a 52-year-old with 262 pounds of pure muscle and an extremely strict diet, he needs some junk food for the soul, just like you. But these days, all of his cheat meal posts are interrupted with an ad for his tequila brand. Drink whatever I want. Listen to whatever I want. It's Wednesday, midweek. We've worked hard. We've earned it. We deserve it. So let's go. So tonight, it consists of the sushi train, which is rolling out of the train station right now. As you see, a frosted bottle of Terramana right out of the This is the one thing that The Rock had that everyone unanimously agreed made him actually relatable and human, but he ruined that by now turning the segment into just an ad for his tequila brand. Every facet of The Rock's existence is a carefully crafted PR campaign to sell you something. The Rock started out as an American football player, so he purchased a football league. The Rock likes the gym, so he started a gym clothing brand. The Rock has a skincare routine, so he started his own wellness brand. The Rock likes tequila, so he started his own tequila brand. The Rock likes energy drinks, so he started an energy drink brand. Sign up for The Rock's debit card. Listen to The Rock's Spotify playlist. If there's an area of his personality or life that can be exploited for profit, he will do it. John Cena's Instagram, on the other hand, is quite literally just a bunch of random photos with no captions that he wants you to decipher what they mean. He has never posted a picture of his face. He doesn't disguise some life moment as an advertisement. He doesn't try to glamorize his life or tell you about it at all. He treats his Instagram like art. It has become like art, and I think there's not enough vehicle for interpretation nowadays. Everything is presented and thoroughly explained. I want people to think for themselves, and I've dropped some serious clues and spoilers on there and like real inside baseball stuff, but if you're not looking for it, you don't know. And I don't care if you know, because that's not the point. The point is, if you come to there as a forum, you can check out the images, you can get a look into my life, or maybe you can get a look into your own life. And The Rock thinks that what his art is, is authenticity. Do you consider yourself an artist? I have a fear about what your art is, but I'm curious what you think. What I feel the art is, is authenticity. That's what this art is. Perhaps this is the ultimate difference between these two men. The Rock will tell you he is authentic, and John Cena will just be authentic.