The Rock has fooled the WWE Universe with "tiered, progressive" story featuring John Cena, says former star (Exclusive)

Modified Apr 23, 2025 07:32 GMT

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The Rock's absence from WWE WrestleMania 41 has seemingly struck a nerve with the fans, leading to a significant backlash. A former star of the company recently shared his thoughts on the matter, providing his perspective.

The Rock was instrumental in the storyline involving John Cena turning heel at Elimination Chamber 2025. Naturally, many expected him to be an active part of programming heading into WrestleMania 41, or at least make an appearance at The Showcase of The Immortals. When that didn't happen, fans were left disappointed and chose to express their frustration on social media.

Speaking on UnSKripted, former WWE star EC3 explained that fans were accustomed to grand finales at WrestleMania. However, The Rock's absence could imply that the storyline was far from over:

"We are accustomed, I mean what he had, Cody and Roman two years ago, Cody and Roman last year, a lot of like the escalating 'Final Boss' battles. You know, the arms race of dudes coming out and kind of one-upping each other, and we didn't get that (this year). (...) They expected this to be the first act in a long-form, sort of tiered, progressive sort of story. But maybe, this was just Act 1 of that overall story." [9:15 onwards]

For now, it remains to be seen what The Rock does next in WWE.

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About the author

Shubhajit is a pro wrestling journalist at Sportskeeda, reporting on WWE news. He has a Master's degree in English and has been working in his current role for over 2 years.

A fan of pro wrestling since childhood, Shubhajit decided to start creating content on the sport out of passion. Before covering a piece of news or rumor, he conducts thorough research, ensuring information in his work is reliable and completely accurate.

Although Shubhajit admires numerous pro wrestlers, his current favorite is WWE superstar Drew McIntyre. He is fond of The Scottish Warrior’s character work and innovative quips.

If there is one storyline he can work on in WWE, Shubhajit would book Roman Reigns’ future with The Bloodline following WrestleMania XL, where he lost to Cody Rhodes. He would have Reigns’ stablemates excommunicate him, laying the foundation for a gimmick change for the former. After Reigns’ exit from the faction, Shubhajit would portray him as an anti-hero trying hard to claw his way back up to the top.

Apart from reporting on pro wrestling, Shubhajit enjoys competitive gaming and reading.

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Edited by Harish Raj S