The Rock Responds to Criticism Over Lack of Involvement at WWE WrestleMania 41

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson took to Instagram on Wednesday night to address criticism for his absence from WrestleMania 41 and the build toward the WWE Championship match between Cody Rhodes and John Cena.

The Rock commented on a video on the Busted Open Instagram page, which featured Busted Open co-host Dave LaGreca going on a rant about The Rock and comments he made about the WrestleMania main event during an appearance Tuesday on the Pat McAfee Show:

In response to LaGreca's disapproving comments, The Rock called the pro wrestling business "a complete work," and invited LaGreca to sit in on creative discussions with himself, Rhodes, Cena and writer Brian Gewirtz in order to "expand your perspective."

The Rock played a pivotal role in Cena turning heel on Rhodes at Elimination Chamber, but The Final Boss was not a part of the rest of the WrestleMania build and he did not show up at WrestleMania.

Instead, rapper Travis Scott interfered in the main event of WrestleMania 41, helping Cena beat Rhodes to become a record-breaking, 17-time world champion.

Two days later, The Rock appeared on the Pat McAfee Show and revealed that he made the decision to not be part of the build or WrestleMania, opting instead to put the spotlight fully on Cena and Cody.

The Rock also noted that he would have done things a bit differently with regard to the WrestleMania finish, prompting LaGreca to call him a "Monday morning quarterback."

Despite The Rock not being involved with the WrestleMania build, there was still a large portion of fans that expected him to show up on the Grandest Stage of Them All to help Cena and screw over Cody.

After that didn't happen, it left many to question why he played a role in Cena's heel turn in the first place.

The Rock said it was merely a case of TKO CEO Ari Emanuel contacting him and asking him to do a big angle at Elimination Chamber in an effort to boost ticket sales.

Regardless of the reasons for The Rock's initial involvement and subsequent WrestleMania absence, the finish to the biggest show of the year left a bad taste in the mouths of many.

That was the entire point to a large degree since Cena is now a heel who is actively trying to avoid giving fans what they want, but the biggest issue may have been the lack of continuity when it comes to The Rock.

It seems Cena has now fully moved on from his alliance with The Rock, though, as he cut a promo on his own to open Monday night's episode of Raw before getting hit with an RKO out of nowhere by Randy Orton.

That was the likely setup for a WWE Championship match between Cena and Orton at Backlash in Orton's hometown of St. Louis next month.

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