The finish was not locked until two days prior.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is back in the mix of WWE storylines as a member of The Bloodline and the latest on that front is at the Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event, he was called out for a one-on-one match by Cody Rhodes.
Johnson’s comeback to WWE was discussed by John Cena during his appearance on the Howard Stern Show. Looking back at their history, Cena dove into their match at WrestleMania 28. He said the finish to the bout, which saw Johnson get the win, was not finalized until two days prior.
I kind of knew what was gonna happen like a year in advance (for my match against The Rock at WrestleMania 28). But the decision on how the end would be was put up for debate until about two days before WrestleMania; about who would win and this is a very important thing I think. Certainly, a lot of weight rested on Dwayne’s shoulders because he’s the one who came back and he didn’t need to come back. Right then, he’s on the way to becoming his own universe. He doesn’t need to grace us with his presence. He’s doing okay. So he comes back and he does a lot of dates for us and the build-up is fantastic, we build the thing for a year. It breaks records for WWE, we break attendance records. One of the most successful events of all-time in the company. Two days before, we begin going over what we’re supposed to do… For like five minutes (it was uncomfortable), because we had buffers in Pat Patterson and Arn Anderson and Michael Hayes. We finally have to be in the same space and eventually, we do have to work together and he is so professional and so meticulous and I just wanted to get the match in the ring. So it wasn’t like, hey, we gotta do this and this and this. Ideas would come and I would be like, ‘Yeah, let’s do that, let’s do that, let’s do that.’ So we incorporated every one of his great ideas into the match, even the very end where I get too cocky and ended up losing and the fact that it was a clean loss and he had his moment, this wonderful WrestleMania moment, the reason he came back, this is why he did this.
Johnson is scheduled to be at the March 1st edition of Friday Night SmackDown.
In the same interview, Cena weighed in on the sex trafficking allegations against Vince McMahon. To read his remarks, head over to this link.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit the Howard Stern Show with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
