The Rock: Examining Potential WrestleMania Opponents If He Loses at Royal Rumble

The Rock is hoping to defeat CM Punk at Royal Rumble and end the latter's 400-plus day run as WWE champion. He would then hope to keep the belt at least through WrestleMania.

However, if The Rock is unable win the WWE title, who will he face at WrestleMania 29?

The Rock is arguably the top star from the Attitude Era—along with Stone Cold Steve Austin—and he already faced today’s current top star, John Cena, at last year’s WrestleMania. Also, The Rock wouldn’t gain much from facing other top stars from today such as Ryback, Randy Orton and Sheamus.

Truthfully, there are only two reasonable opponents for The Rock to face at WrestleMania if he loses his match against CM Punk at the Royal Rumble:

Brock Lesnar

One potential scenario sees Brock Lesnar interfering in the WWE title match and helping CM Punk retain his championship over The Rock. This could lead to another Rock-Brock match at WrestleMania 29.

Brock and Rock have a history dating back to 2002 at SummerSlam, when Lesnar defeated the Great One to earn his first WWE World Title. The Rock could finally get revenge and even the score with Lesnar at WrestleMania.

While there has been a lot of criticism regarding The Rock possibly winning the WWE title due to the fact that he is a part-time wrestler, would anyone really be unhappy if two part-time wrestlers faced off at WrestleMania?

The Undertaker

Another part-time wrestler The Rock could face at WrestleMania  is The Undertaker.

Although The Undertaker is not expected to make an appearance at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, The Rock may be the one to challenge the streak.

If The Rock is unable to claim the WWE championship, challenging the streak could be another goal of his, and it would also be a great consolation prize for not ending Punk’s streak.

The Rock has already been WWE champion, making that accomplishment less meaningful than one that no Superstar has been able to do.

Instead of being known as the Great One, if The Rock is able to end the streak, he would forever be called the "Greatest One."

Conclusion

While The Rock could face any Superstar currently in WWE, why would he?

He challenged the WWE champion at Royal Rumble and won the title for the first time since Vengeance 2002, when he defeated Kurt Angle and The Undertaker in a triple-threat match.

He now has the opportunity to not only win the WWE title again, but end the impressive streak of CM Punk. If he is unable to do that, The Undertaker’s streak is another impressive one for The Rock to try to end.

The only other person The Rock should consider wrestling at WrestleMania is Mr. McMahon. It may sound crazy, but McMahon has had matches with some of the best in wrestling. The list includes Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and Ric Flair.

The issue lies with there not being any reason for the match, plus McMahon seems to be finished with wrestling in any big matches. His recent match with Punk on Raw was not a WrestleMania-esque style match.

If The Rock loses at Royal Rumble, who do you think should be his WrestleMania 29 opponent? Please leave your suggestions, ideas and thoughts in the section below.

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