John Cena Reveals What He Told The Rock After WrestleMania 29 Main Event, Talks Past Heat With Rock
Recently, WWE's John Cena participated in a Q&A session at the Salt Lake Comic Con. Among other things, Cena discussed his most memorable matches as well as what he said to The Rock after the final pinfall in their WrestleMania 29 match.
On memorable matches, the 15-time world champion said he often leaves it to fans to debate such questions, but went on to name matches with The Rock, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and AJ Styles.
"Well, when it comes down to being most memorable, I kind of leave it in the hands of people like you. I think a lot of people remember the few matches I had with The Rock because those were on a really, really big platform. I know that some of the matches I had with CM Punk are quite memorable. There was a SummerSlam match with Daniel Bryan that was memorable. And, hell, I'd like to think the match I just had with AJ Styles [at SummerSlam (2016)] was pretty decent."
'The Leader Of The Cenation' spoke more about his WrestleMania main event matches with The Rock. Cena divulged that he told The Rock after their second WrestleMania bout that they took a picture together when Cena was a low-level employee at Gold's Gym and that it meant a lot to him.
"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. And 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 of that grey area, each watching the other's every move and not too happy with the other party. We had a match in Miami [Florida] at WrestleMania, of which I finished second place. I'm very proud of that. That's a polite way of saying I lost. But we had a followup match at MetLife Stadium [in East Rutherford, New Jersey] and I was good enough to finish first that day and when I did, I was well-aware of the amount of work Dwayne Johnson had on his plate and the fact that he did not need to come back to the WWE. I talked all that trash many years ago just to try to get him back because I, like you guys, am a fan of The Rock. So he comes back and stays for the better [part] of two years, only to lose in one of his final matches in WWE.
"After the three-count in the match in New York, we had a moment where we had an embrace and I said something to him. And there have been a few people who asked me what I said and I always said, 'well, that's between me and him'. 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. And he didn't need to pay any attention to anyone, but people who could possibly do things for him. Here's this low-level employee at Gold's Gym wowed by the unbelievable personality of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. I went up to him and said, 'Rock, is it okay if we get a picture together?' And he gave me the picture, he gave me some advice on how to further my career, and he didn't have to do any of that. And now, being in the return seat, I understand, truly, how valuable his time was and how much that meant to me as a person. And I held him close and I said, 'you're never going to 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.' And then, I thanked him very much for all he has done for the [professional wrestling] industry, all he has done for me, and we went backstage and had a shot together in celebration."
Check out the video here. If you use any of the quotes that appear in this article, please credit the Salt Lake Comic Con with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.