Lately, there have been a lot of reports discussing John Cena’s feelings regarding Dwayne Johnson; the man wrestling fans came to know as The Rock, and his leaving the professional wrestling business in order to devote his complete attention to the pursuit of success in the film industry. While John Cena is entitled to his opinion, on this matter, John Cena is dead wrong, especially if he had been any kind of true wrestling fan (as most professional wrestlers claim to be).
During the Rock’s heyday in the WWF/E, the producers to WWF/E television seemed intent on ensuring that wrestling fans did not forget the story of Dwayne Johnson’s background. We were constantly bombarded with the tales of where he came from, what he did before he became a wrestler, why he became a wrestler, how he became a wrestler, how his parents felt about him becoming a wrestler, and what happened to him once he became a wrestler (how he became “The Rock”). Every wrestling fan who watched WWF/E television saw these stories dozens of times and many of them bought the book “The Rock Says…” and read even more.
Dwayne Johnson’s desire was always to be an entertainer, even when he was pursuing a career in football. Everyone knows that Rock would sing, break-dance, do impressions, and rap to entertain his friends and football teammates…at least everyone except John Cena. Everyone knew that when Rock failed to catch on in the National Football League, he continued to play football in Canada and was a teammate of football legend Doug Flutie…at least everyone except John Cena. Everyone knew that only after he was positive that he would not be a star in professional football that he turned to the world of professional wrestling…at least everyone except, awww, you get it.
Once he got into the business, of course he is going to say that it was all that he wanted to do because he knew that this would endear him to the fans. If you grab a microphone and say that you are just using pro wrestling as a means to garner a career in Hollywood, then you would not only be the most hated wrestler in the business, you would be forced to live with what has come to be known as “X-Pac Heat”, which, for those who don’t know, is when the fans genuinely hate you no matter what you do on screen or who you are aligned with, either on screen or off. This is something that John Cena knows all too well.
Now, before I get too much further into this, please allow me to set the record straight. I am not a John Cena hater. I am actually becoming a fan of Cena’s ring work and he still is one of the better promo men in the game today. Having said that, John Cena is way off base, and even worse, it seems that Cena is a little jealous.
Cena’s comments stem from the perception that the Rock was more than a bit aloof backstage at the 2008 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, and his comments during his induction speech for his father and grandfather came off as nothing more than a Dean Martin Roast (a reference that shows my age), even though his comments were written by Rock’s good friend Brian Gerwitz. Oddly, Cena made these comments while he was away from WWE. The ironic part is that Cena’s absence was due to the fact that he was on location in New Orleans, Louisiana, filming what will be HIS second movie. Despite this obvious hypocrisy, Cena declares that he will never leave professional wrestling for a career in Hollywood. Is it because no one has truly asked him to, based on the fact that his two films were both produced by his current employer? Can Cena honestly say that if Hollywood offered him $5-10 million to do a movie devoid of WWE influence that he would not consider the offer? I doubt it, especially since Cena, even as one of the highest paid wrestlers in the business makes only around $2 million per year and the WWE year consists of working some 300 days while it generally only takes about 6-8 weeks to film a movie and get paid in excess of $5 million for a starring role. Also, according to IMDB (dot) com, Cena was a struggling voice actor who was tabbed to be the voice of Dave the Barbarian before his wrestling career truly took off, so his lack of Hollywood aspiration would be, in wrestling terms, a work.
The other thing that I find hypocritical about Cena’s comments is the fact that he doesn’t discuss Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, The Big Show, Bret Hart, Kevin Nash, Kane, Triple H, Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam, Ken Kennedy or any of the other professional wrestlers who have ventured into Hollywood during their wrestling careers. Is it because these men did not find the success that Dwayne Johnson did and chose to stay with what they did best? John Cena was a Division III All-American football player in college, but does he bare animosity towards Jason Taylor for wanting to give up football for movies? He might if Taylor becomes successful. It just seems as if Cena is only angry with the Rock because Rock doesn’t want to come back to WWE and wrestle a match from time to time while Hulk Hogan is begging for one more match and one more big payday.
Does Cena know that if Rocky wrestles it will be difficult for him to get insured for his films because of the risk of injury? I am sure that he doesn’t since Cena’s films are produced by the people who PAY him to wrestle. This looks like one of those situations where Cena should probably have spoken TO the Rock instead of ABOUT him.
As I said, I am a Cena fan, even though most men are not. I like his work in the ring, in interviews, and I even like his work in The Marine, but this constant diatribe about the Rock abandoning professional wrestling after wrestling made him the star that he is has got to stop. It is a nonsensical attack on a man who, if he had become successful in entertainment or football before discovering professional wrestling would never have joined the fraternity. The same, it appears, could be said about John Cena, but since Cena has not left wrestling for Hollywood, this would appear to be by choice. No one is faulting Cena for his choice to stay in wrestling, so no one should fault the Rock for his choice to leave.
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