Marking Out: The Rock vs. John Cena: So It's Come to This

Hello again, and welcome to the latest edition of Marking Out. Let me start off by saying that this edition will be slightly different from the usual breakdown of events from a fan's perspective. In this edition, I will dissect the main event for WrestleMania.

WWE has found a way to set themselves up for either the biggest match in the company's history or its biggest flop. In all of my years of being a fan of pro wrestling, I have never seen a feud built up to be so epic, yet built around two wrestlers with such muddled receptions from the audience.

Neither John Cena nor the Rock have really won the war of words in the eyes of the fans.

For a feud to work, there has to be a villain and a hero with whom the fans can attach themselves.

Look at the Rock's last big feuds before he left to star in movies. Up against fan favorites Stone Cold Steve Austin and Goldberg, the Rock was clearly playing into his role of the Hollywood heel. The fans were clearly against the Rock, as they should have been with how he was talking about the industry that made him into a star, which led to fans paying for the chance to see his comeuppance.

And for Cena, look no further to his feud last year with CM Punk, where for as much as the WWE didn't want him to be, he was the heel in that feud against the skyrocketing face Punk. The reasoning for Cena being the heel was rare in that it was all due to him being a top face for so long.

Yet for some reason, the WWE has allowed both Cena and the Rock to make themselves as middle men, not wholly good or bad, but not even a tweener character. It couldn't be more evident that neither man is completely over in this feud by looking at the end of last night's Raw, where again Cena and the Rock confronted each other.

They basically were saying the same thing that they have been, but when either talked there were the big cheers, but also the big boos.

And for something that is being touted as a “once in a lifetime” event, that should not be happening. Look at the last “once in a lifetime” match that occurred at WrestleMania, when the Rock faced off against Hollywood Hulk Hogan. That match had that good vs. evil feel, and both men were playing into the crowd perfectly for their roles.

During their promos, it looks like WWE wants the fans to really be behind the Rock with how they are letting Cena portray himself. If it was any other superstar, they would be getting major heat for saying that the haters can hate all they want, but you'll still be winning.

The best way that they could have played the feud is to have the Rock come back as the Hollywood star who was too good for the WWE. That way you have a definite heel going against a baby-faced Cena, who is trying to defend the honor of the WWE. If not that, since WrestleMania is going to be in the Rock's hometown, the WWE could have had Cena play the jealous superstar who envies the Rock's success in and out of the ring.

The Rock could have furthered this feud by saying that Cena is jealous that he is only as big as he is because he's just a big fish in a very small pond and that he never had a “once in a lifetime” match. Of course, the Rock has had numerous matches of that type against the likes of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Goldberg.

That scenario would have made this an ideal storyline for WrestleMania.

Yet we have what we have, and we have to make the most of it. And I do hope that the match is fantastic, because we the fans deserve the best that can be given, especially at WrestleMania.