Backstage Details On Ego Issues & Heat Between John Cena & The Rock

Former WWE referee Mike Chioda has revealed some insight regarding heat between John Cena and The Rock ahead of WrestleMania 28.

Rock beat Cena at 28 in Miami with the idea that John Cena would get the win back a year later, which he did, but according to Chioda, Cena wasn’t happy about taking the L the first time around.

Speaking on Monday Mailbag, Chioda said:

“I’ve always admired the Rock over the years in working with him, and then, Rock set me up to be the referee for that match when he came back with Cena. And I was like, awesome.

“Had this match, you know, Rock wanted me to do it and everything, and I think Cena had a little bit of a problem doing the job. Here is Cena, carrying the torch for the last 10 years I think at that time, and he was busting his ass day in, day out. And here comes The Rock, back after so many years of being in Hollywood, and he’s got to job out to The Rock?

“Well, of course, the show is in Miami. The Rock is a big Hollywood superstar now, and I think there was a little heat there. I think there was a little dissension. But, you’ve got to go where the money goes. I mean, they put Rock over, and I was happy about that.

“Here are two guys that were making big money. And that’s why, it’s not even like, ‘Okay, I’m getting big money for this match. I’ll do the job.’ It becomes about ego and pride. It really does. When it comes down to it, money is not even the issue. It becomes an ego thing and a pride thing.

“Like, ‘I’ve been carrying this business for the last 10 years, I should go around him first, then he’ll go around me.’ ‘No, no, Rock’s going to go around you first.’ I’m sure John was pissed at Vince.”

The first match, which Rock won, was non-title, while Cena’s win at WrestleMani 29 saw him win the WWE Championship after Rock had won it from CM Punk a couple of months prior.

The Rock has only had one official match in WWE since then, which was an under-10-second win against Erick Rowan at WrestleMania 32.

Quote via Cultaholic

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• Heat
• The Rock
• John Cena
• wwe

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