WWE: Cena/Rock to Tag at Survivor Series, How Will This Impact WrestleMania?

The Rock and John Cena teaming together, I never thought I’d see that one happen. But when the ratings fall below 3.0, anything can happen in the WWE.

A poster for Survivor Series was just released featuring none other than the two foes that will face-off in the long anticipated WrestleMania main event this spring.

The poster reads: Never Before. Never Again.

Needless to say, it appears this duo will be in the main event at the company’s biggest show of the fall. It takes place at Madison Square Garden and has already sold out, even before it was announced the Rock would actually be competing in the ring—not just out to cut a promo and a few backstage interactions.

This will be the Rock’s first match since his handicap match against Evolution at WrestleMania 20. There has been much said on either side since rumors began circulating that the Rock would be participating in more than one match this year.

Some say it’s a mistake, because it will make the WrestleMania confrontation less special. Others, including myself, are willing to pass up this single night of bliss for the opportunity to see arguably the most talented wrestling entertainer of all time in the ring on several occasions.

Since there is nothing I enjoy more than booking WrestleMania, as you may have noticed if you look at my article history, let’s take this single match and book it through to the big show.

At Night of Champions, Alberto Del Rio defeats John Cena with the help from Ricardo Rodriguez, setting up a rematch for Hell in a Cell. At NoC, Punk defeats Triple H with the help of Kevin Nash, who stares down Punk afterwards. Triple H refuses to step down as COO because he was attacked by Nash, which Punk accepts under the terms that he is inserted into the Hell in a Cell WWE Title Match with Cena and Del Rio. Triple H agrees.

Come the Hell in a Cell main event, they battle it out for 20 minutes before Nash comes out to ringside. He just walks around the ring ominously. Before long, Triple H comes down to the ring seemingly to keep his eye on Nash, who breaks open the cage door and goes inside.

Triple H runs in behind him with a sledgehammer, only for Nash to hit a huge boot to Del Rio and Triple H to drill Cena with his weapon of choice. Punk, Nash and Triple H exchange smiles. Punk grabs Cena, lifts him up on his shoulders and hits the GTS in the ring for the pin and the title victory.

Triple H, Nash and Punk are the new power group of heels. Punk has gone corporate, even shaking hands with Johnny Ace. Nash explains that all he has wanted the entire time was to get the three of them on the same page. That he knew Punk was the future, but HHH was stuck in the past. And that HHH had the power, the clout, the knowledge to make Punk one of the greatest of all time, but Punk was too stubborn to listen.

Nash takes credit for being the mastermind of the group and bringing the forces together. Furious, Cena runs down Punk for being a hypocrite, and Punk refutes by mocking Cena for being upset that he’s no longer the company’s golden boy, that Punk is just better at being a ‘company guy’ than Cena.

After Punk, H and Nash beat down Cena for two weeks, on the third week—in the main event when Cena is facing HHH and Punk in a handicap match—the Rock’s music hits and he comes running down to the ring. He and Cena clean house and stare each other down to close the show. The next week on Raw, HHH and Punk say they want Rock and Cena in a match at Survivor Series. Cena says he’ll do it with the stipulation that, if they win, Cena gets a shot at Punk at TLC for the belt. Agreed.

At Survivor Series, we Cena and Rock work well as a team to start, until miscommunication leads to Cena playing the face in peril as HHH/Punk take control. Rock gets the tag and whips ass for awhile, until he hits the Rock Bottom on Punk and the People’s Elbow.

While hitting the ropes on the People’s Elbow, Cena tags himself in, knocks HHH off the corner, grabs Punk and hits the Attitude Adjustment before pinning him as Rock looks on pissed. Cena and Rock stare each other down as HHH and Nash pull Punk out of the ring.

Cena and Punk face off in a TLC match at the TLC PPV (I’m going to this show, so yes, I’m selfishly booking the best match of the feud here.) They rack up another classic match, with Cena ultimately winning despite interference by Nash and Triple H.

The next night on Raw, HHH and Nash beat down Punk. Cena runs down to make the save and comes toe-to-toe with HHH. Hunter says that he’s taking Punk’s place at the Rumble in his rematch for the WWE Title.

It’s later announced that, due to an increased buyrate at Survivor Series, the WWE Board of Directors have gone over Triple H’s head and signed the Rock to appear at the Royal Rumble as a Special Guest Enforcer for the WWE Title match.

At the Rumble, Triple H defeats Cena for the belt. During the match, we get a ref bump, followed by Nash coming to the ring and distracting the Rock. At this point, HHH gets out the sledgehammer and clocks Cena, tosses the weapon and covers. Nash takes a few big punches followed by a haymaker and scampers away. Rock turns and sees HHH covering the Rock. He runs down, slides into the ring and counts the pinfall. Later in the night, Punk wins the Royal Rumble.

The Road to WrestleMania begins with Cena cutting a promo on how the Rock cost him the belt at the Rumble. Rock sends a satellite promo the next week saying that the Rock was there to call it as he saw it, and Cena needs to stop placing blame and get himself ready to go one-on-one with the Great One.

At Elimination Chamber, Triple H retains the title cleanly, taking us to WrestleMania with the two top matches being Triple H vs. CM Punk for the WWE Championship and John Cena vs. The Rock.

At the show, Punk finally wins the title back from Triple H to close the show, making him a made man and true face of the company. In the Cena-Rock confrontation, Cena turns heel, going off with weapons to win the match, setting up a summer of Cena vs. Punk for the title.

Explanation:

Many here will roll their eyes at the CM Punk heel turn and short John Cena title reigns, but this scenario works. First, the re-introduction of The Rock three months before earlier than anticipated means that Punk will be taken down a notch as a babyface.

He won’t out-pop The Rock in any situation, and any attention spent on Cena-Rock will take away from the existing top storyline of HHH-Punk. So instead of trying to give both programs fair time while promoting other feuds, they should be intertwined.

Also, think about the idea of Rock and Cena tagging for a minute. These are two of the biggest draws in the world over the last decade. For these two giants of the industry to justify tagging with one another, they can’t face just anyone. Even Truth and Miz feels weak. They need someone on their level, and the only option is HHH and Punk. It also stalls the Punk/HHH rivalry for a few months until it can be kick-started heading toward WrestleMania.

The Punk/HHH rivalry hasn’t felt right in the last few weeks anyway because there is no clear face/heel alignment. Honestly, Punk is the one being presented more as a heel in this matchup, despite getting solid crowd support.

Turning both men heel against Cena, only for HHH to double-cross Punk allows Punk a justifiable face turn to crusade against HHH, creating a true No. 1 babyface, which then allows Cena to turn heel.

Of course, none of this will happen. I’m willing to bet Cena and Rock team up against Miz and Truth in a non-title tag team match, bury them and tease animosity that isn’t revisited again until the Rumble.