In what proved to be a twice in a lifetime match, it’s safe to say that John Cena and The Rock managed to live up to the hype on both occasions.
Obviously, neither match was going to be a technical masterclass that had fans and journalists raving. Instead, it was a chance to see a dream match finally take place and in their first encounter, we had a year of incredible back and forth promos to get even the most casual of fans watching.
WRESTLEMANIA 29
The second time at WrestleMania 29, it was a slightly different atmosphere. We had already seen the match, so that aura of only seeing it once was taken away. But perhaps the most frustrating aspects of this match, though, were that the WWE cheaply took the WWE Championship off CM Punk to give it to The Rock, meaning the second clash against Cena was predictable beyond belief.
What drew The Great One plenty of praise, however, is the fact that he fought through an injury to finish off the main event.
When he was speaking at the Los Angeles Laker Genius Talks, Rock revealed that he felt something pop at the 15-minute mark and had to make sure that no bone was sticking out during it as he tore his adductor and the top of his quad completely off his pelvis.
INJURY
According to the Daily Express, he said: “At the 15-minute mark, ‘Bang!’ I feel something pop, and I’m like, ‘What the ****?’ I’m laying there, and both of us are out.
“I said, ‘Oh ****, something is going on.’ 85,000 people and I sort of roll over and stick my hand down in my trunks because I wanted to make sure no bone was sticking out.
“In the world of wrestling, when you have a big show like this, a big main event that the entire show is based around, the wrestlers will come up to the two people in the main event, at some point all throughout the night in the locker room, and be like, ‘Hey, thank you for the house.’
“What that means is thank you for drawing - helping draw 85,000 people - and putting a lot of ******* money in my paycheck. We got a lot of 'Thank you for the houses' that night.
“Final move of the match, it's his big finishing move, and I remember, I'm getting up, and I'm turning and he's going to hit me with his big finisher. It's like a massive Suplex where I go over his head, and he slams me down. I feel 'boom!' and I don't know what just happened. Luckily the match is over, one-two-three.
“Get to the back, can't move, now I'm getting a little nervous. Doctors come in, John comes in, 'You okay?' We like to celebrate with some booze, he brings moonshine, like legit moonshine. It's some crazy white boy **** that they bring in a jar.”
We do often see the dreaded ‘X’ being thrown up by the referee whenever there is an injury.
You have to comment The Rock for his effort, though, as there was no way he was going to let an injury keep him from finishing the main event in epic fashion - and still taking bumps.
It’s no wonder Hollywood studios don’t want him wrestling again while he’s filming.
What do you make of what The Rock did as he got injured against John Cena at WrestleMania 29? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.