John Cena Talks The Rock, Rollins on Retirement, WWE Rumors on Raquel Rodriguez Injury

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

John Cena Talks The Rock's Involvement in Heel Storyline

During his appearance on What Do You Wanna Talk About? with Cody Rhodes (h/t Andrew Ravens of WrestleNews.co), John Cena explained neither he nor Rhodes really focused on what the plan was for the dropped feud with The Rock and Travis Scott that started at Elimination Chamber:

"Hey, you have The Rock and Travis Scott. Awesome, we can plan all this stuff. 'Hey, you don't have those two guys anymore.' Not once did you and I, the whole world has had the conversation of, 'What would it have been like if?' The two guys in it, with their d--k in the dirt, not once had a conversation about, 'Man, what would it have been like if we had those guys?' No. It was, 'What do we do now?'

"Let's walk down hypothetical street. Let's say everyone who showed up at the Chamber is active until August. That robs us of John Cena, Randy Orton, that robs us of John Cena, CM Punk, John Cena, Ron Cena, John Cena, AJ Styles, John Cena, Logan Paul, me, and you for the last one. So yes, the story that might have been might have had star power, and gravity, and who knows what, but what we got by just being like 'these are the pieces left'. What we got, for me personally, was beautiful."

One of the biggest criticisms from Cena's final in-ring run with WWE this year stemmed from Elimination Chamber. His heel turn and aligning with The Rock was great in the moment, but the follow-up was disappointing because there was never a good creative reason they came up with to finally have him go heel after all these years.

The Rock and Scott disappearing from television after that event also left a lot of questions. Namely, what was the point of their involvement if nothing was being built up to pay off?

Cena is correct that some of what came out as a result of having to pivot led to some great matches. His second bout with Rhodes at SummerSlam was great and finally brought an end to the failed heel turn. The clash with AJ Styles at Crown Jewel was yet another great chapter in their storied rivalry.

Even though it wasn't a perfect year-long run for Cena, there were plenty of high points along the way that some of the points that could be nitpicked will eventually fade away.

Seth Rollins Not Thinking About Retirement

In the wake of Cena's retirement, some other prominent WWE superstars have started to talk about when their in-ring careers might end.

One person who has spent a lot of time considering that is Seth Rollins, who was asked if he thinks about retiring during an appearance on Ross Tucker's podcast (starts at 9:00 mark):

"Nah man, not really. I got a lot more years left in the tank, so I'm not sure I'm there just yet. I think often, I guess, about the mortality of my career because I started when I was 17 and now I'm nearly 40 and I'm certainly not going until I'm 60. I'm almost closer to the end than the beginning.

"So I think about, I suppose, like the mortality and the fact that it's winding down. Maybe there's some urgency to do some things that I haven't done or contribute in a different way. But, my last match, my last moment, that's so far away that I haven't quite got there yet."

Becky Lynch, who was also being interviewed along with Seth, had an even simpler response: "Nah, not yet."

Rollins was in the midst of arguably the best run of his career before a shoulder injury knocked him out of action in October, resulting in him vacating the world heavyweight championship. He has targeted WrestleMania season as a potential return timeline.

Given how well things were going for Rollins in the ring and with his character prior to the injury, there's no reason to think he can't keep going for many more years.

Raquel Rodriguez Cleared to Return

A mishap on Monday's episode of Raw led to Raquel Rodriguez being evaluated for a concussion, but she may not have to miss any time.

Per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Joseph Currier of F4WOnline.com), Rodriguez has "been cleared" by the WWE medical staff.

The incident occurred when Rodriguez was wrestling Stephanie Vaquer for the women's world championship. Nikki Bella interfered and attacked both women, with Rodriguez appearing to hit her head on the steel steps at ringside.

Rodriguez was able to record a promo afterward in which she vowed revenge on Bella.

Rodriguez has been enjoying the biggest push of her career recently. Monday's match with Vaquer was her second consecutive title match on television. La Primera won the first meeting on the Nov. 10 episode of Raw to retain her championship.

Based on the results from this past week's Raw, Rodriguez appears to be in line for a high-profile singles match with Bella at some point in the near-future. The next big show for WWE isn't until Saturday Night's Main Event on Jan. 24, followed by the Royal Rumble on Jan. 31.