BRIAN GEWIRTZ Recalls ABOUT THE REAL-LIFE TENSION BETWEEN JOHN CENA AND THE ROCK
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena did not get along. Not only in wrestling, where they had been opponents for years, but in real life as well.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena did not get along. Not only in wrestling, where they had been opponents for years, but in real life as well.
Brian Gewirtz, former WWE writer and current creative partner of Johnson, recently spoke on the “Under The Ropes” podcast about Cena and The Rock’s intense three-year war at WrestleMania. “It was a trip working on that aspect for three years with both of them,” Gewirtz remarked, stressing that “you never fully know[s] how anything is going to go.”
“Obviously, Rock vs. Cena is box office on paper, and box office in reality,” Gewirtz concluded. “But the truth is, they weren’t on the same page at first, and there was real-life enmity between them that has obviously since dissolved, and they’re very close friends today.” Cena and Johnson not only competed in two consecutive WrestleMania main events, but Johnson also hosted WrestleMania 27 the year before, which led to his involvement in Cena’s main event fight against The Miz.
“I was actually in the midst of them in rooms, trying to be like ‘You guys, if you just got to know each other, you’d be such amazing friends,'” Gewirtz recalled of the three-year feud between the two WWE superstars.
“It started with an interview John did in the UK,” Gewirtz explained. Johnson had taken issue with a series of interviews Cena gave in 2009 in which he criticised The Rock’s work ethic. “Whatever terminology he used, it irritated Dwayne,” Gewirtz said, recalling “some simmering hostility from the very beginning.”
Gewirtz described the scenario as “extremely touch and go,” but he couldn’t be happier with the outcome of the match and angle, despite Dwayne Johnson’s injury.