WWE Storyline of the Week: The Rock's Reasoning Behind Wanting to Beat John Cena

The Rock and John Cena have made their personal feelings toward each other very clear, and let’s just say that neither of them cares for the other guy too much. 

That is, after all, what is at the center of most great feuds: An intense hatred for your bitter rival. 

As we’ve seen over the last several weeks, the animosity between The Rock and Cena has resulted in a number of great promos, and whenever those two are in the ring together, you can almost feel the tension through your TV screen. 

But two weeks ago, The Rock said something that has stuck with me ever since then. He said that he had already beaten “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania, but to truly be considered the greatest WWE superstar of all-time, he had to beat Cena at WrestleMania as well. 

That was one of the first times that The Rock had given Cena any type of compliment, and he did it again during their promo exchange at the end of this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw. 

The Rock told Cena that no one has ever beaten Stone Cold, Hogan and Cena at WrestleMania, and then said, “On a professional level, The Rock needs to beat you to become the greatest WWE superstar of all time. On a personal level, I just don’t like you.” 

Excellent touch there. 

This was the perfect mix of showing Cena some respect for everything that he’s done in the wrestling business, while also showing that The Rock really loathes the guy. Essentially, The Rock compared Cena to arguably the two biggest names in wrestling history, which is a huge compliment to “The Champ.” 

It not only stressed the importance of this match to The Rock, but it also made Cena look really good because even his archenemy places him in the same category as two of the most popular wrestlers ever. 

At the same time, The Rock broke off from his traditional character and said “I.” He told Cena, “I just don’t like you,” rather than “The Rock just doesn’t like you.” 

This, of course, stressed that The Rock meant business. While he may recognize Cena’s talents and all of his accomplishments, he still hates Mr. Fruity Pebbles and wants to kick his ass at WrestleMania. 

Personal feelings about either man aside, it’s hard not to look back at that promo from Monday night and realize that this match really is one of epic proportions. 

It’s one of the biggest stars ever vs. the biggest star of today. It’s “The Champ” vs. “The People’s Champ.” It’s The Rock vs. Cena. 

And it is indeed the biggest match ever.

Note: As part of the new WWE blog, I'll be asking all of the B/R wrestling readers for questions for a new mailbag that I will post on Fridays. It will be a slideshow featuring 10-20 questions and answers on a wide range of topics. You can submit questions either through Formspring or Twitter, and the best ones will be answered in the B/R mailbag.