The Rock Explains WWE WrestleMania Absence, Talks John Cena's 17th Title, Cody Rhodes

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson explained his decision to not show up at WrestleMania 41 during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday.

The Rock began by divulging that his involvement with Cody Rhodes and John Cena at Elimination Chamber last month was born from TKO CEO Ari Emanuel calling him to ask if he would make an appearance in an effort to help sell more tickets.

He agreed and played a role in the creation of the storyline that saw him ask Rhodes to sell him his soul.

Rhodes declined to do so at Elimination Chamber, prompting Cena to shockingly turn heel and attack Cody along with The Rock and rapper Travis Scott.

The Rock said it was at that point that he called both Cena and Rhodes to tell them, "I think the Final Boss' work is done," meaning he wanted to remove himself from the storyline for the build toward WrestleMania.

He noted that he wanted to take himself out of the spotlight and place it on Cena and Rhodes since he felt the important aspect of the angle was Cena's heel turn and his pursuit of becoming a 17-time world champion.

In the main event of Night 2 of WrestleMania 41 on Sunday, Cena beat Rhodes thanks in part to interference from Scott.

The Rock largely praised the match, including Scott and the result of Cena breaking the all-time world title reign record, although he added, "I would've finessed things a little differently," with regard to the finish itself.

During his discussion with McAfee, The Rock admitted that his initial thought with the soul-selling angle was to plant the seeds for an eventual Rhodes heel turn and to gauge how the fans felt about it.

The Final Boss suggested that WWE could go back to that in the future, or that he himself could resurface as part of the Cena storyline at some point.

On Monday night's episode of Raw, Cena cut a strong heel promo in which he criticized the fans and reiterated his intention to retire as the last "real" world champion.

At the conclusion of the segment, Randy Orton sneaked into the ring and hit Cena with an RKO, likely setting up a title match between them next month at Backlash in Orton's hometown of St. Louis.

In the wake of The Rock explaining his departure from the storyline, there is now no question that the focus is entirely on Cena and his retirement tour as a heel over the next several months.

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