The Rock’s feud with 16-time World Champion John Cena back in 2011 and 2012 received mainstream attention from many places and it was truly a ‘huge deal’ as far as pro wrestling spectacles go. John Cena vs. Goldberg was pitched for WrestleMania.
The Rock was defeated at the hands of John Cena at WrestleMania 29. However, The Rock defeated John Cena in the previous year’s WrestleMania, in a victory that shocked the entire pro wrestling world.
Several reports had stated that The Brahma Bull and John Cena had legitimate heat around that time. Veteran referee Mike Chioda recently spoke on Monday Mailbag on AdFreeShows. During the podcast, Chioda went into detail regarding the backstage heat between The Rock and John Cena before their WrestleMania 28 encounter.
Chioda revealed that Cena was upset at having to lose to The Rock.
“I’ve always admired the Rock over the years in working with him, and then, Rock set me up to be the referee for that match when he came back with Cena.”
“And I was like, awesome. Had this match, you know, Rock wanted me to do it and everything, and I think Cena had a little bit of a problem doing the job as here is Cena, carrying the torch for the last ten years I think at that time, and he was busting him a** day in, day out. And here comes The Rock back after so many years of being in Hollywood, and he’s got to job out to The Rock? Well, of course, the show is in Miami. The Rock is a big Hollywood Superstar now, and I think there was a little heat there. I think there was a little dissension. But, you’ve got to go where the money goes. I mean, they put Rock over, and I was happy about that. I was like, yeah, you know.”
