What if The Rock had never left WWE?

#3 “Once in a lifetime” comes much sooner

The Rock vs. John Cena surely would have happened sooner if The Rock had stuck around WWE.

WWE billed the WrestleMania 28 dream match between The Rock and John Cena as “once in a lifetime”. The tagline got undermined when the two were booked for a rematch the very next year but nonetheless felt special for the novelty of two of the top ten biggest stars of all time, who had been featured during different eras, going head to head at the biggest show(s) of the year.

Had The Rock never left WWE, though, we have to assume this match would have happened much sooner.

Maybe The People’s Champion would have taken on young upstart John Cena early in his tenure, or put the Doctor of Thuganomics in his place. Or maybe WWE still would have saved this match for a time, but given it a featured spot sometime around 2005-2007 when Cena was shoring up his spot as the face of the company.

Regardless, while this may well have been a big-time match whenever it was booked, it surely would have happened at least five years sooner had The Rock never left WWE.