John Cena Responds to Possibility of a Third WWE Match Against The Rock

It could be argued that John Cena vs. The Rock is the defining rivalry for WWE's PG era. The global leader in sports-entertainment promoted this feud like nothing before, planting the initial seeds of a showdown between these two generational talents a full 14 months before they would actually clash. Cena and Rock made the match official one full year before it took place at WWE WrestleMania 28 and spent the subsequent months slowly building to it with one-off segments on WWE TV and constant jabs thrown on social media. After Rock picked up the first victory, WWE ran back the match one more time the following year, with Cena getting the 1-2-3 over the Great One at WWE WrestleMania 29. While there were rumblings that the two would have the rubber match at WWE Extreme Rules 2013, an injury to The Rock halted any future in-ring plans.

Now more than a decade later, both Cena and Rock are full-time Hollywood actors. Cena still wrestles one or two matches per year, but Rock has not even made a WWE appearance since Fall 2019. While both men have had plenty of pitched opponents for final feuds before they retire, one clash that is rarely brought up is a deciding match between themselves.

"I'm so old. I haven't won a match in like five years. No one notices, thank you, but if you check the stats, I'm on a bit of a slump," Cena told Happy Sad Confused when asked about a third Rock match. "He's not exactly an easy opponent. I need to get somebody really easy to get another win on the board before I go knocking on The Rock's door again."

Cena won a handful of WWE live event matches in Summer 2021 but has not picked up a televised singles victory since 2018. His most recent win came on the December 30th, 2022 edition of WWE SmackDown when he teamed with Kevin Owens to defeat Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn.

As for The Rock, his last match and win came at WWE WrestleMania 32 when he beat Erick Rowan in an instant classic. Rock has gotten physical a couple of times on Monday Night Raw in the years that followed but he has not wrestled a proper match since. He reportedly turned down a WWE WrestleMania 39 match against Reigns earlier this year.