John Cena Reflects On 'Special' Build To WWE WrestleMania 28 Showdown With The Rock
The reality of John Cena's retirement sets in stronger each day as the dates on his retirement tour wind down. The current Undisputed WWE Champion undoubtedly has one of the greatest careers of any pro wrestler ever in the history of the industry. While going through his career highlights as a guest with "Vanity Fair," Cena looked back on the Road to WrestleMania 28 for his "Once In A Lifetime" match against The Rock.
"This was a wonderful journey to get to this. Lots of live moments before this WrestleMania; in sports entertainment sometimes, we tow the grey area between entertainment and realism, and I think that's a lot of the cache that WWE and sports entertainment has," Cena would say. "What was special about this is a lot of the moments along the way crossed the lines of 'hey, I know this is sports entertainment but man, those guys really hate each."
The promos that Cena and Rock cut on each other on "WWE Raw" each week leading up to WrestleMania were filled with remarks that came from real-life animosity. In a moment he regrets and has sincerely apologized for, in late February 2012 on "Raw," Cena openly acknowledged that Rock has his promo notes written on his wrist, exposing a weakness in "The Great One" that left Rock trembling his words after Cena left the ring. Through his reminiscing, Cena remembered the backstage effect that his WrestleMania 28 match had.
"A few days before this we began to put this puzzle together and I think that's when Dwayne finally realized that I'm not in it to take anyone's spot, I'm just trying to do good business," Cena stated. "For a year I went on television saying 'there's no effing way you can win,' and we divided our locker room; man, my best friends were extremely upset about what was going on... If we had worked together, I don't know how great it could've been; like, it could've been so much better."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Vanity Fair" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.