John Cena Recalls 'Uncomfortable' Situation Putting The WWE WrestleMania 28 Finish Together With The Rock

It’s been 12 years since the ‘once in a lifetime’ match between John Cena and The Rock, with the two main event icons clashing in the closing match of WWE WrestleMania 28.

However, the match wasn’t so straightforward, with Cena revealing on The Howard Stern Show that the finish was only decided two days before Mania, despite a year’s worth of build:

“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,” revealed Cena.

The two would fight ‘twice in a lifetime’ at WrestleMania 29, with Cena getting the win - and the WWE Championship - from Rock. The two would cross paths again on the September 15, 2023 edition of WWE SmackDown.

H/T: POST Wrestling