Original subtitles

We are going to talk about John Cena and The Rock.

Call us for a little bit of this.

This will indeed be a story of multiple perspectives.

Get ready.

Two faces of their generation.

Two icons in their prime.

Two of the greatest WWE superstars ever going head to head.

2011. The Rock has not been in a WWE ring in years.

And John Cena starts questioning whether or not The Rock cares about the

business. John's popping off at the mouth, and this is what happens when

have confidence.

WrestleMania 28, John Cena versus The Rock.

The buzz was huge.

Everyone was talking about it. My size 15 boot right up John Cena's candy ass.

mean, it's really going to be a beautiful thing.

Oh, no!

First bottom to Cena!

On a personal level, I just don't like you.

He came out swinging. I came out swinging. It was as real as you could

I will be damned if you come in a visitor and take my life from me. As a

management, I'm thinking we really got to get these guys on the same page. But

another part of me as a fan is saying this is incredible.

Once in a lifetime, you will always be a little boy.

who will go down in history as the Rock's bitch.

When two legends collide, their

rivalry stays pinned in our minds forever.

This is where we break down the legendary stories behind the greatest

of all time.

I'm Freddie Prinze Jr.

And this is WWE Rivals.

This is a big fight.

It'll get any bigger than this.

Two heads of the company at different times, John Cena and The Rock.

It's just icon versus icon.

When I tell someone what I do for a living, they say, oh, what's that like?

like, no, like The Rock or like John Cena, what they do. Oh, okay, yeah.

You know, it's hard to explain.

But you can say two names and people get it.

You want your superheroes to be bigger than life.

You know, that's one of the reasons you like guys like Cena and Rock. These guys

are bigger than life.

It's two alpha males trying to show who is the better champion from their

respective eras.

Finally, The Rock has come back to Las Vegas!

The Rock was the most electrifying man in sports entertainment.

and a charisma that was second to none. It doesn't matter what you think!

I had watched how The Rock had climbed the ladder and really had this business

down to an art form.

In four seconds, they will all chant The Rock's name.

Some of the most classic backstage interviews with him were so awesome. A

professionalism, Lillian Garcia, please!

The Rock, he was white hot. You don't have enough hair on your Rudy Pooh!

He spent a lot of time experimenting. He turned the promo into

his own work of art.

To help paint the picture, we're mid -2000s, and The Rock has left the

He had a role in a movie called The Scorpion King.

Three, two, one, go.

You started to see him develop, and you saw his work develop, and all of a

sudden, The Rock becomes a massive star in Hollywood.

There was a lot of concern in the company.

The Rock had become the face of the WWE.

I mean, he was a guy that could go on late -night talk shows.

I mean, he could host Saturday Night Live. So that's why everybody was

Now there's this huge hole in the lineup, and we need someone to batten

hatches, and that somebody's John Cena.

John Cena, the Doctor of Thuganomics!

What John was able to do, like when he would come out and he'd rap when he'd

in the ring, wasn't something that was done before in WWE.

It's time to make John Cena a household name. I'm going to win the U .S. title

and keep changing the game.

Rod is heavy.

Rod is heavy, baby.

I think it was like kind of picking up where the Attitude Era left off. It just

hit a certain chord with the youth of that era.

John then became the face of the company on every billboard and poster, sides of

the truck, and on the Today Show.

And for the company, that was a huge boon.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend. It looks great on you.

John worked his tail off to get that position.

He built it brick by brick. Now the company got behind him. And the fans

want that. They want to be the ones that choose. They want to have that effect.

So if the company's choosing him, we're going to boo him.

Cena sucks was like, wow.

But I mean, every kid had a hat, a shirt, and I was just thinking to myself

like, oh, I get it. He's laughing all the way to the bank.

It just kind of cements the fact that it was John's company.

Undeniably, unquestionably, John Cena has been the biggest star in the WWE.

For years now, I think I'm going to find out John would go out publicly and he

would say disparaging things about me in this roundabout way.

This is my take on The Rock, and he's a genuinely nice guy. What I kind of get

peeved about is he at one point loved wrestling and wanted to do this all of

life. Then explain to me why he can't come back for a 15th anniversary show or

why he can't make an appearance at WrestleMania.

Simply put, it's because he wants to be an actor. So I get why he doesn't come

back. Don't look me around and tell me that you love this when you're just

this to do something else. Just show up. Just say hi and leave.

That's all he's got to do, the eyebrow one. Get out of town.

You say things like that, and you say things in such a dismissive way, like

back and do your little eyebrow and leave?

You've got to be careful.

with things you say like that.

What I was thinking was get Rock back on television, 100%. And he gave me an

opening. And because I was doing all the shows, the same thing he'd done in 99,

to bring the company to unseen heights.

You can't see me!

I was telling him, he didn't feel the way he said that he was all talk.

You see a guy with the world in the palm of his hand, and I'm just flicking a

pebble at him.

It really got to him, which proves he really loved the WWE.

So in 2008, Rock comes back, WWE, to induct his father and grandfather into

WWE Hall of Fame.

And Rock was like, what could we do that's going to be really fun?

And the idea was we'd do like a little roast of the WWE stars.

Let's do a John Cena Marine joke.

I was patrolled by John Triton. They have a hostage.

It's my wife.

You know, there was big controversy with the WWE and illegal torture.

They would find Iraqi insurgents, they'd sit them down, they'd tie them up, and

they'd make them watch copies of the DVD, The Marine.

And now I really have something, and I think we really got a chance.

If he's going to come back, I got a chance on, you know, Dancing with the

So this rivalry kicks off on a Monday Night Raw in February.

When The Rock is announced

as the guest host of WrestleMania.

And I give you my word, I am never, ever going away.

This was what really kick -started things, because afterwards, mainly

were talking about, you know, all the John Cena jokes.

You can't see me.

You can't see me. What are you playing, peek -a -boo?

You can't see me. I can see you. Can you see me?

Oh, believe me, we are.

can see you how the hell you think we can miss you come out here with your

bright ass purple shirt and before that your bright green shirt before that your

bright orange shirt you're running around here looking like a big fat bowl

fruity pebbles john cena the rock will see you at

wrestlemania this is the pinnacle of entertainment

wrestlemania the rock is hosting wrestlemania the time finally

So the main event of WrestleMania is John Cena versus The Miz.

The Miz will defend the WWE title against John Cena.

You always wondered what the interaction between The Rock and John Cena would

look like.

This is the first time I feel really you kind of had a sense that, oh, maybe The

Rock and John Cena could cross paths and something could happen here.

The Great One coming back. And remember, it's no disqualification.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

The rock bottom

of John Cena.

Don't miss. Take advantage.

Rock interferes in the match. And he catches Cena with the rock bottom. He

him the title.

And this sets us off to the races in a collision course with two gigantic men.

The Rock says we make history.

The Rock says we do something that's never been done before.

On the grandest stage in the world, WrestleMania 28, John Cena versus The

Rock.

We've all collectively made the decision that we're going to announce this match

a year in advance.

WrestleMania, The Rock versus John Cena.

You don't do it in boxing.

You don't do it anywhere else. But in WWE form, we're going to do something

and do it differently.

We're going to grab this opportunity and we're going to go to the moon

and put on the show.

Of a lifetime.

How is this even going to work?

Because we're not going to have The Rock around that often. It just seemed

impossible based on the amount of stuff he was doing in Hollywood.

But they can take shots at each other on social media now.

When The Rock talks on Twitter, things trend worldwide.

The best part about having John on Twitter is every once in a while, I'll

with him.

Thousands and thousands of tweets from his fans.

You're so mean. Stop being mean to John Cena.

He's the best. C -Nation.

You want to be like, hey, if you think I'm mean now, you just watch what I do.

This is an innovative thing.

Just when I think I don't have to deal with him until he shows up again.

You know,

going at each other's throats on Twitter.

If somebody's talking trash.

And I ain't performing until I'm back.

I'll jab you back.

I give a damn that he had the balls to stand in the middle of this ring.

I said that he was back and that he was never leaving again.

Yet here I am.

And we all wonder, where is the so -called people's champion?

The Rock's Twitter blew up.

When The Rock said he was never going away, that he has to be at every single

show, every single night, every live event. No, John Cena, that's not what it

means.

Idiot. The Rock has already done it.

Every single thing you're doing right now in the WWE, John, go into every

Run in your mouth. I'm here, everybody.

I'm here. I'm here. Rock's not here. Shut up.

I'm the type of guy that people do come at.

But I'm also the type of guy who enjoys that.

Rock's vignettes are gold.

They're just gold.

John Cena.

You got a lot of nerve coming to The Rock's house.

Do you know why you'll never be as good as The Rock?

Because I'm not that talented?

Yes, John Cena, because you're not that talented.

How does it make you feel?

It doesn't matter how it makes you feel!

Rock is a brash, smack -talking, his personality is super masculine.

The Rock is back to scratch a major itch, so enjoy your Fruity Pebbles, you

yabba -dabba bitch!

I can't help do that.

And the thing is, I'm not looking at that defeated. I'm looking at it like,

okay, what can I do now?

This Fruity Pebble that you're dealing with?

I'm not your average jabroni.

I'm like a big purple pinwheel, Rock, so go ahead and blow me.

Rock called me a Fruity Pebble.

Got a serial sponsorship with that.

Fruity Pebbles is my champion job.

The Rock starts poking holes in John Cena, like how many different colorful T

-shirts are you going to wear? He manages to take this insult and flip it

Fruity Pebbles endorsement.

Only John Cena.

Action!

So after G .I. Joe wrapped, Rock had the opportunity now to come back.

And it was perfect timing because Survivor Series is kind of like, you

people say Royal Rumble kicks off WrestleMania season.

You know, for us behind the scenes, like Survivor Series really kicks it off to

really ramp up a good WrestleMania main event.

I'm not going to do this out of friendship.

But if I'm going to defeat The Miz, in our truth, my partner is going to have

be somebody who's going to bring it.

And Survivor Series.

I choose my partner to be The Rock!

Sort of a staple in WWE, opponents teaming up.

There's a lot of interesting elements to having John and The Rock team with each

other at Madison Square Garden.

It's a great shot of him.

You know, with the tattoos and he's so handsome.

I'm expecting to see a very emotional crowd, you know, very happy to see

back.

I'm very emotional about seeing him back here in the garden.

We miss him in the ring.

It would be great to see him back in the ring, and I know he's feeling it too.

Survivor Series, where these two men are forced to be a tag team, and you were

there, and you saw Dwayne.

I'm sitting there, and Dwayne came down there, and I just remember saying to

myself, he's the only guy on the roster that looks better than the video game.

Like, the actual human looks better than the video game. I'm just like,

he was in shape.

He's walking in the back, and you're about to see him go back out there after

long. You have the goosebumps.

You have the chill.

I miss it.

I miss seeing him perform.

I want to see what type of ring shape The Rock's in.

When he came out, oh man.

Oh wow!

Whoa! Big old train.

And The Rock is cooking!

This is like ride the bicycle, man.

Electric. Always is electric, like at the garden.

Survivor Series was when they really started planting the seeds of division

frustration and resentment between The Rock and John Cena.

Rock started rocking

and rolling.

I didn't think they'd do. They stayed on the same page.

But what's going to happen when the next chapter of this rivalry is written?

Whoa! Oh, no!

Oh, my goodness.

Rock bottom to Cena.

I just didn't get a little physical with Cena.

I rock bottomed that motherfucker's lips through the mat.

That's beyond a little physical.

Tonight was my night.

In the end, I got one up on him, but we got a long road to go.

They did not like me last night at all. But it's weird.

They'll tell you to fuck off and then they'll go buy you stuff.

It's tough.

I don't know.

I don't know.

We were playing with a lot of different elements between WWE schedule, between

Rock's schedule, what dates Rock will be there, what dates he won't be, but we

could still keep the storyline alive.

I was out here to talk about The Rock, the guy who's not here this week, the

who's going to be here next week to address me.

That's going to be a fun time.

He should show up, raise an eyebrow, hold the millions in the palm of his

like only he can, and then kick it back to Hollywood.

John's popping off at the mouth, and this is what happens when idiots have

confidence.

You find this all around the world. We all know that. Like sometimes there's a

lot of idiots out there who think that they're kings of the mountain when in

reality they're just assholes on a little hill.

This gigantic figure in The Rock is coming back and everyone is on

Rock's side.

It's like John Cena versus the world.

I got to do whatever it takes because this isn't a promo. This is now war.

Rock doing his thing with... me going out to interrupt him, and 90 seconds

before my music hit, someone, to not be named, said, yo, do you see that?

I said, see what?

I think Rock has something written on his wrist.

Everyone was like, yo, because that's just not allowed.

The greatest on the mic is using marker and writing his promos on his hand?

What?

Now I'll tell you something, Jack.

I don't need words like respect and loyalty to Trent Worldwide.

Just like I don't need my notes for my promo on my wrist.

I think John saw that as an opportunity to level the playing field a little bit,

which is a very ballsy decision because you're basically violating the trust of

your dance partner.

And I don't like Dwayne Johnson.

It just created this disconnect that was growing.

I was around during that time backstage.

I remember there being real tension. You come out of a promo segment and you

think everybody's going to be fine. They're like, oh, they can't even talk

each other. They can't even be in the same room. And I was like, whoa.

But it was making for great television.

You ready?

Watch this.

Understand this.

You strip away WrestleMania.

You strip away the glitz, the glamour, the lights. You strip away Hollywood,

movies, the fame. You strip away the catchphrases. You strip away trending

worldwide. You strip it all away.

Look at me. You strip it all away. At the Rock's core.

What do you got? At the Rock's core.

You strip it away. What do you got? The Rock is 6 '4", 260 pounds, a man that

will rip your throat out.

You will always be.

A little boy who will go down in history always as The Rock's bitch.

We know when The Rock gets out there and he starts feeling the crowd, and John

Cena gets out there and starts feeling the crowd, these are two guys who are

more capable than just about anyone in WWE history at going off the top of the

head. I don't care if he's sick.

What did he say? I don't care if he's 6 '4", 265 pounds.

For the

past few weeks, Rock's been legitimately

pissed.

If you get stuck singing your song tonight, Rock, it's all in the riff.

Bet you're all happy you're listening to me and not some goofy M &M

wannabe.

Who won that promo battle?

The fans. But that's what I'm saying. Like, most of the time you can say, hey,

beat Y.

Y beat X. Not in the match, but in the promos. In this, it's so even.

And they made us want to watch it for a year.

For them to be able to pull that off in the modern era, I always thought was

special.

Past year, we've said a lot of stuff to each other, and I feel real comfortable

saying this to your face.

I will be damned if you come in a visitor as good as you think you are and

my life from me.

The Rock ain't no visitor in the WWE.

No.

This house, your house, The Rock helped build.

On a professional level, The Rock needs to beat you.

On a personal level, I just don't like you.

Cena and Rock are headed down the road to WrestleMania.

Feeling good?

Yeah, feeling great.

The last year has been real stressful.

It's a very comforting feeling to walk into the stadium today and see that

finally here.

All we've got to do tonight is back up all the trash talking and put on a hell

of a show.

I mean, there was no other way to put it. There's two of the greatest

in the business going head to head.

And it had been built up for an entire year.

The fans had been waiting for this match for an entire year. And finally, it was

here.

The energy was electric.

I mean, the thing with two performers like The Rock and John Cena is that

they're both, I mean, especially John Cena, super polarizing.

which can create this incredible energy in the audience.

And our fans love to cheer them and boo them and just be engaged with both of

them. So it was one of the loudest audiences I've ever heard.

Clear, clear, clear.

This is where I got to leave you guys.

I'm going to go out and mess around.

The anticipation in that building was unbelievable. The hair was standing up

the back of my neck. That doesn't happen often.

There was tremendous pressure on Rock and Cena to deliver.

The stakes were incredibly high because you don't want to have that match with

so much hype and so much personal stakes going into it flop.

Two faces of their generation.

Two icons in their prime, and this match epitomizes WrestleMania.

It is thunderous inside sunlight. Here we go, once in a lifetime.

For that night, it was the two best where people could see that they're in

prime, and I don't know what the outcome's going to be.

And that's what makes it so special.

You felt the fans on that ride through every single step of that journey

from beginning, middle to end of that match.

Even backstage, we were all just like, whoa.

I mean, just to be there, it was unforgettable.

I went out and I watched it live.

I felt like a fan, too, because you are.

You're feeling that whole place erupt.

This is it. You know, you may never see this ever again.

The Rock.

You don't see Rock go up there very often. The Brahma Bull perched on the

rope.

Crossbody. Cena rolls through.

Cena.

Powering. Powering. He's got the Rock up.

Responding to the audience live is something that I know Rock and John take

lot of pride in.

Maybe it was like I've taken enough and now I'm going to throw it back in these

people's faces.

When you lose the World Series, you have to get out of the dugout. So there's a

long walk back.

And some players just sit in the dugout and like,

contemplate the season and its enormity.

Cena had him! John Cena had him! But The Rock prevailed!

And then you just gotta look out in space and be like, what went wrong?

What does the future hold for John Cena?

What a night! What a match!

Boy, boy, boy. What a WrestleMania, Michael.

The goal was to put on the biggest match of all time and create the biggest

WrestleMania of all time. It was a team effort. I had John Cena.

Even though we have our personal issues, at the end of the day, he just wants

one thing. He wants to entertain the fans.

We went out there tonight, gave it our all. We left everything in the ring for

record -breaking crowd.

It was a dream come true.

I thought we had a great conversation.

The basis of my conversation was, I hope you can see now that this was just

business. And I'm sorry that I didn't let you in on the fact that it was

business.

And that was a choice I made, and that's not fair to you because it didn't give

you a choice.

You had to come at me with your best.

But in doing so, I really think we were

successful.

Did the show in a stadium. It's the biggest buy rate in pay -per -view

There's a reason for that.

When I tell you I was just trying to do some good business, my intention was for

the greater good. My execution was awful.

I just did this to get him back in the ring.

After WrestleMania 28, Cena and Rock found common ground.

I think we are going to see the most electrifying move in all of sports.

They were able to take a step forward and have a mutual respect.

And you can feel that.

The problem with this is your arms are way too damn big. Look at this thing.

The way with Dwayne and how I know he is as a person, he's going to try to find

the ways to work through everything.

You know, once you go out there and you do business, you do business.

Because once you get out there and you guys got to make that magic, you'll make

the magic.

The fact that they had a great WrestleMania main event that people were

about.

It's sort of like, hey, we went to war together and we came out whole on the

other side.

The Royal Rumble is a very important event on the WWE calendar.

The winner of the Royal Rumble has the opportunity to take on the champion of

their choosing at WrestleMania.

John Cena wins the men's Royal Rumble.

The next match, in the main event, The Rock is back in a championship match

now -champion CM Punk.

This is Vintage Rock! Another people's elbow, yes!

The Rock has done it! The Rock has done it! The Rock has done it!

And at that moment, you as a fan know, wow, we're getting Rock Cena 2.

The stage is set at WrestleMania.

John Cena will face The Rock for the WWE Championship.

It does not get any bigger than that.

When you have something that is magic that people want to see, you just keep

doing it until they don't want to see it anymore.

Because those are moments.

No one in that WWE locker room has what you got. No one has your passion, your

drive, your fire, your will to win.

You're willing to succeed. You're willing to be great. No one has that

The Rock.

Before, I had to punch up to be equal.

And that morphed into our why about respect.

And it crafted a different narrative for the match.

You know, in order to electrify, as I like to say, in order to lay the smack

down on candy asses and things like that, you need a partner.

And as much as we have had our differences in the past that have been

differences, there is no one better of an opponent for me than John Cena.

No one even comes close.

Now we're in New York City.

We're in the mecca of fighting.

And John Cena is coming back to win the war.

Our second time around, hell, that was much more fun.

Because we could talk to each other.

Man, does it say a world about Dwayne Johnson.

To come back to something he does not need to and give of himself and give to

the business.

It's just super special. It says a lot about him as a human being.

So here we go.

A big fight feel here tonight.

And there's a good reason it's a big fight feel. This is a big fight. It

get any bigger than this.

And The Rock.

Looks primed. He looks ready to defend that championship.

Here we go.

Rock versus Cena. WWE title.

It was a huge moment you didn't think you'd get the first time, let alone

time. And now it's a different story.

Two guys just wanting to assert.

And there's the Rock we know.

Who is the number one alpha dog in WWE.

Is it still The Rock or is it John Cena?

The Rock mocking Cena.

Cena caught him.

Hey, hey.

Redemption. Redemption.

Uh -oh. Wait, wait, wait. Last year when Cena did it, he got caught.

And he's really mocking The Rock now and this is not good.

The Rock was waiting again.

John Cena.

Sucked in the lock -in!

Hey! Zeta! Unbelievable!

Sucked in the man!

Rock countered!

The rock countered!

The rock countered!

Zeta! Zeta survives!

These guys are throwing everything at each other.

He's got to keep getting up.

It's an incredible moment.

He's got a feeling back there. He's got to know it.

Get Zeta counters!

AA! Cover!

Zeta got him! He got him!

John Cena!

A team redemption!

I

thank them for

what he's done for me, for our company, for our business.

He's been an area of positive reinforcement in my life. He made me

when we were at each other's throats.

It was a moment for me to tell him what he meant to me.

And I'm so glad we got to share that.

Rock knew that this was going to be the last match, at least as far as this

storyline was concerned. And Rock's old school as they come. You know, on your

way out, you do the honors.

Hogan did the same thing for Rock in 2002 at WrestleMania 18.

Even though Rock was an established star, Rock wanted to do the same for

the end of that match at WrestleMania.

What's so cool at the end of this rivalry, The Rock takes Cena's hand and

it up after this match.

It was almost like, it's not my time anymore, it's his.

The Rock is still The Rock.

Cena now is the ordained one from The Rock by going through the fire with The

Rock. And you leave it like this. People cheer The Rock. People cheer John Cena.

And everybody goes home happy.

I started my career in New York, Madison Square Garden, 15 years ago. And it's a

beautiful thing when it could come full circle like this and end here at MetLife

Stadium.

Truly, it was an honor to do these honors. It was an honor to have the

was an honor to be out there in front of the crowd.

You guys should be very, very proud of yourselves.

Very proud.

We're in the business proudly tonight, I can tell you that.

Oh, my God, yes.

Tonight was the greatest night of my career. I'm very, very grateful for it.

John Cena, we have a lot of love and respect for each other and for each

families, and I couldn't have done it without him.

You could have done it without me.

So, like some brotherly love going on in there.

We've come a long way.

What I know now is that's not the way to do things.

You don't jump somebody like that. I should have found a way to contact him.

should have found a way to talk it out. And I should have found a way to make it

happen. And that's how you do business.

If you listen to what John says now that he's gone on and become a huge star in

Hollywood, he acknowledges that and holds himself accountable and says, I

wrong. I get it now.

Rock, he's in his own universe, running that hard, managing everything,

especially with me having a different perspective of what that means now.

My day is like his breakfast.

Do you have kids?

I'm sure I do.

I miss the business every day.

But I just can't do both.

And quite frankly, at 45, I can't do it.

I have to do it much less.

When you look back on The Rock and John Cena, you've got to realize that these

are two of the greatest superstars ever, and maybe the two greatest

superstars ever in this business.

They were more than just WWE superstars. They were amazing entertainers. They

had a relationship with the fans that was unequal.

The Brahma Bowl is back!

So for The Rock to come in, I think it put WWE on a whole different platform

because Rock was able to bring more eyes from outside our world into our world.

And I think it took John to even greater height after his feud with The Rock.

It's a package with the bow tied very nicely at the end. I would say it's just

classic passing of the torch.

I had to earn his respect and it was a long process.

I would have done it differently and thankfully I got the chance to.

But it was fun.

If anything else, it was fun.