John Cena reveals he and The Rock ‘really hated each other’ ahead of WrestleMania match: Inside WWE’s bitter rivalry, where real-life grudges almost led to backstage fight

John Cena and The Rock (Image via WWE) John Cena and The Rock are now considered WWE legends who share a lot of respect for each other. But before that relationship developed, the road to their showdown at WrestleMania 28 was filled with real tension, with Cena admitting that the animosity between the two wasn’t entirely part of the script.For more than a year, the two traded personal blows before finally meeting in the main event in Miami. The fans understood that they were watching the game of a created rivalry. Cena later revealed that the bad blood underneath was real enough to worry him.

Cena admits the hate was real

Cena explained that the promos sometimes veered from sports entertainment to something more personal.“For a lot of moments leading up to this fight, we crossed the line into sports entertainment and people could tell we really hated each other,” Cena said.The two men, by his own account, had genuinely different views of each other at the time. “Even though he’s always been nice to me, I did something stupid and started spreading rumors about things I had no idea about,” Cena added.None of this was standard advertising nonsense. Cena publicly questioned The Rock’s commitment to WWE after the former champion left to pursue a career in Hollywood.

Why Cena had a problem with The Rock

The Rock left the ring and became one of the biggest names in film. Meanwhile, Cena settled into the role of WWE’s full-time leading babyface, the guy who never quit.He particularly criticized The Rock for pursuing acting while still talking about his love for wrestling. In 2010, Cena said, “He’s a really nice guy. I’ve met him and he’s a fantastic human being.”Then came the sting. He asked why The Rock can’t come back on major occasions: “Just don’t screw me and tell me you love (wrestling) when you’re just doing it to do something else.” These comments became the fuel for everything that followed.

It comes almost to the wound

When The Rock returned in 2011, he hosted WrestleMania 27 for the first time. This engagement quickly developed into a rivalry with Cena, and they staged a reunion a year later.Things escalated through their promo battles on Raw. At one point, Cena mocked The Rock for apparently using notes on his arm to memorize lines, a jab that visibly angered him, and the confrontation reportedly turned heated backstage.Both men have since admitted how close it came to boiling over. “We could totally fail at this,” The Rock said of the risky approach they took to the rivalry. “But in this case, it worked out very well and through all the edge and attitude and bite we had and we almost got a shot backstage and one night in the ring. He remembers the face-off getting really intense: “We were literally nose to nose, it was every second.”

Cena knew The Rock would win

Cena publicly insisted for a year that there was no way The Rock could beat him. He privately knew the outcome almost from the start.“I’ve been telling people for a year that there’s no way he’s going to beat me, but I knew he was going to win the minute the feud started,” Cena said.However, reports at the time indicated that WWE initially considered Cena winning at WrestleMania 28 before changing the course of the event. The final decision saw The Rock emerge victorious in his home state of Florida. Former referee Mike Chioda later recalled some backstage tension surrounding the decision, with Cena carrying the WWE as its full-time star for years before being asked to lose to the returning Rock.

Cena apologized after the loss

Once The Rock pinned him, Cena did something that changed their relationship going forward. “The first thing I did after he beat me was apologize to his mother,” he revealed. He then walked right into The Rock’s dressing room. “Then I went straight to Dwayne’s dressing room and apologized to him.The dispute did not quite end there. The Rock defeated CM Punk for the title at the Royal Rumble the following year, setting up a rematch at WrestleMania 29. This time, Cena won.

From real enemies to friends

The rematch closed the book on the rivalry. Somewhere in the years that followed, genuine respect and eventually something like friendship crept in, an odd outcome given how personal things briefly became.There’s also an irony worth sitting with. Cena spent years criticizing The Rock for chasing Hollywood for wrestling. He later followed much the same path himself, building a movie career while cutting back on his WWE schedule.None of this made Cena vs. Rock memorable purely because of the size of the matches. It was so that for a while no one knew where the story ended and where the real hostility began.