Rock bailing on the entire Cena storyline is honestly some inexcusable shyt

[R=G]

In retrospect, Cody should’ve turned heel, aligned himself with The Rock, 2-3 other main event level heels (Scratch off Travis Scott) and then have a babyface Cena feud against both Rock and Cody on some DBZ save the WWE universe type shyt where Cena will have to align with Punk, LA Knight, Roman (they would likely go with Jey USO) and now you have a major war games match with 8 months plus of storylines, animosity and etc.

Cena is Cena so he’s gonna be meaningful and impactful regardless but they could’ve gotten so much more out of him and he would’ve went out with a more consistent, memorable story.

I’m just spitballing nh but HHH seemed to fell asleep behind the wheel after Elimination Chamber and The Rock being egotistical in his own way while HHH is also? They both did damage and are responsible for the hot streak ending creatively.

HHH has done more damage since he’s in charge of creative but this entire year has been a complete mixbag for the WWE. 2025 reminds me a lot of WWF 1999 after the boom period/excellent year in 1998.

Here's the thing...if the weekly guy Cody sells out and he's had that belt for a year and the Rock helpls him keep the belt as a heel, then it sets up a time for Cody obviously having to turn on the Rock and you get the Cody payoff to keep him going for years. Rock KNOWS what he's doing. He's the smartest top guy ever. His feuds all made money and are legendary while everyone else fell off..they had Austin fighting Flair and Big Show in 2002 while the Rock was against Hogan, punking out Jericho for the early jobs, and then coming back for the Lesnar feud while getting in a classic Triple Threat with Taker and Angle. Then when he was deemed a sell out..he went Hollywood Rock and outshined, Austin, Hogan, Vince, Booker T, Cripple H, Hurricane, Jeff Hardy, and Goldberg. Made it look like child's' play. Same thing when he saved WM 27 and 28. Rebel caught feelings for not headlining WM 29? Tough shyt because WM 29 sold 50000 tickets first day after Rock announced he was going for the WWE title after WM 28 and that show was a huge success.

So it's really Cripple H and everyone else with the bad track record. Look at what he's done with Tiffany Stratton, Jade Cargill, Charlotte's original return this year, Drew being held down again, LA Knight not doing NOTHING, and the Wyatts just floating around. Gunther gets a endless push and he dont' draw shyt..at some point, the math has to be dissected and I know Cripple H's patterns. Giving his favorites long title reigns and wanting attention for him and that Stephanie McMahon hoe....stupid.

 

[Killer Instinct]

Who was screaming for years for a Cena heel turn and complained when they got it? Wrestling fans. Who wanted Cody/Roman as the main event and are now complaining because we didn’t get Rock/Roman? Wrestling fans. Who are now complaining about Cody as champion even tho that’s what they originally were campaigning for? Wrestling fans.

Put the belt on LA Knight. I want to see something.

 

[Norrin Radd]

I’m curious as to how much they’re going to rewrite history on this subject on season 2 of Unreal

 

[Straw Hat Luffy]

Doesn’t start shooting until next year. How about the time between Mania 2024 and now?

I mean you’re asking the wrong questions

Why even wrestle again at all if you’re getting big roles again

rock loves wrestling but at the same time call a spade a spade

Wrestling is his side chick

What 99 percent of wrestlers don’t have the advantage of doing… Rock is one of a very short list who has the wrestling world in the palm of his hands. Every wrestling promotion would bend backwards for him

But he wants Hollywood… so he’s back on business

 

[Straw Hat Luffy]

If Marty is co-signing Rock, this says something. He’s capable of actually being a solid actor. Haven’t seen Smashing Machine yet, but his acting in Southland Tales always stood out to me.

Marks will forever be mad because he “ruined” Cena’s heel run.

I mean they shouldnt

I was mad when he announced he’s stepping back. But it’s his choice, go do what makes you happy.

Cena heel run was ruined by triple h/creative team

turning cena heel in the first place and the idea of Cody turning never has to happen if Rock never makes those multiple appearances that meant nothing


Bad blood pisses me off the most lol

 

[DaHNIC82]

It's funny you mention NXT this way because HHH has been booking that for months too while Shawn has been out recovering from surgery

And NXT got worse too

That explains Trick jobbing

 

[TripleAgent]

It joins ranks with the Vince McMahon death angle as ambitious and potentially GOATed storylines that were derailed by real-life BS
Shame because a Final Boss/Heel Cena team-up at Survivor Series against Cody/Roman would've done numbers

Don't forget Ultimate Power Regal

 

[Osmosis]

Cena was barely on TV during the RTWM but you expect the Rock to be? Cena didn't even explain his actions until like a month after Elimination Chamber.

Rock should have been at Wrestlemania but there was no way he was going to appear on TV with all of the projects he was involved with and I'm sure HHH/creative knew that.

 

[Art Barr]

Ruin your only redeemable current relevent babyface legacy character breh.



Art Barr

 

[Art Barr]

All wwe had to do was the simple legacy repaint by numbers booking.


Have cena go over gunther and one reign with their nee big gold.

You did not even need the rock to show up at all. All you had to do was put jey uso over cody. Similar to the heel turn rock made at survivor series for his championship first run.
Jey creates a new bloodline and swerves cody at mania.


Instead more cripple ache fake over thinking. Which is all disguised. To protect his legacy in gate receipts. Instead of making a high quality compelling drawing product.



Art Barr

 

[O.Red]

This is probably true actually but I saw it as a Hoegan type move. All of the hype with Cena's turn died without the Rock's involvement. Wrestlemania the past couple of years have been all about him in the main event scene. When he disappears, the story made no sense. Its way smarter than what he tried with DC thats for sure but yeah HHH is attaching himself to EVERYTHING now as he probably feels exposed without Vince's constant backing.

What was a Hogan type move? The only Hogan move Rock pulled was trying to hijack mania from Cody. It backfired because he didn't expect the backlash and it affected his ego, but in the end it worked out(Mania 40 fukkery)

You can't put Cena's bad heel run on Rock's shoulders this is what I'm talking about when I say nikkas give HHH too much benefit of the doubt. There's 100 ways to make a compelling Cena heel run and they managed to do none of it How much more do nikkas need to see to acknowledge how bad HHH is at this?

Heel run was so bad Cena called an audible like hey y'all I was trippin these last few months forget that shyt even happened

Did Rock stepping off fukk up the momentum? Sure. But he didn't do 6 subsequent months worth of damage.

 

[Beautiful Bobby Eatin]

What was a Hogan type move? The only Hogan move Rock pulled was trying to hijack mania from Cody. It backfired because he didn't expect the backlash and it affected his ego, but in the end it worked out(Mania 40 fukkery)

You can't put Cena's bad heel run on Rock's shoulders this is what I'm talking about when I say nikkas give HHH too much benefit of the doubt. There's 100 ways to make a compelling Cena heel run and they managed to do none of it How much more do nikkas need to see to acknowledge how bad HHH is at this?

Heel run was so bad Cena called an audible like hey y'all I was trippin these last few months forget that shyt even happened

Did Rock stepping off fukk up the momentum? Sure. But he didn't do 6 subsequent months worth of damage.

Nah HHH doesnt get a pass at all. He is ass as a booker and always has been (Dusty and Regal were responsible for prime NXT) but im also not going to sit and act like the whole premise of Cena's heel turn didnt completely surround around Rock because it did. To your point, HHH was never going to salvage that on his own and Rock knew that.

And i need yall to understand that Hoegan was much much more than "that doesnt work for me, brother". Hoegan would pull preemptive moves like minimizing his dates and choosing times when WCW would be rescheduled due to playoffs or something similar and then show back up around the summer when ratings would go back up. It put him in the best possible light and any executive that didnt understand Goodhart's Law would fall for it. Rock knew it would fail without him and it was a direct shot. HHH deserved that and all of the booking flack that followed if im being honest but I cant act like Rock didnt play a chess move here to fukk with plans.

 

[Straw Hat Luffy]

I saw the post about wrestling fans complaining and always being a problem… we are but at the same time that post oversimplifies everything with no nuance

Yes there are wrestling fans who are complaining it should have been Rock vs Roman instead of Cody… but if you look at who’s saying it.. it’s mother fukkers on here with Roman and rock avatars who think Cody sucks ….. basically the Johnson lovers in this thread finding every answer to the book in how Rock has no blame in what’s been going on……..

That’s actually not the concensus and we need to remember this is the internet where group thinking seems bigger than it is when in reality Cody is still self-made


Fans wanted cena to turn heel… it’s not our fault wwe… triple h… gave us fukking mid… don’t do something if you don’t have any plans for it


Triple h puts titles on dudes and makes big moments then promises a crazy storyline and telling us we shouldn’t miss anything…. Just for the nikka to do the bare minimum for 4 or 5 months until it’s Summerslam.. rumble….. etc….


Yes we complain and a majority of wrestling fans are stupid…… but for the most part rock pulling out and hhh doing the bare minimum on everything deserves all the complaints and groans their way until they start showing they care.

Again everyone is at fault.

Rock is a board member and has so much power in the company… if the company gets the blame he gets the blane

So does triple h who has creative responsibility and is letting people down

fukk them both lol

 

[Beautiful Bobby Eatin]

I saw the post about wrestling fans complaining and always being a problem… we are but at the same time that post oversimplifies everything with no nuance

Yes there are wrestling fans who are complaining it should have been Rock vs Roman instead of Cody… but if you look at who’s saying it.. it’s mother fukkers on here with Roman and rock avatars who think Cody sucks ….. basically the Johnson lovers in this thread finding every answer to the book in how Rock has no blame in what’s been going on……..

That’s actually not the concensus and we need to remember this is the internet where group thinking seems bigger than it is when in reality Cody is still self-made


Fans wanted cena to turn heel… it’s not our fault wwe… triple h… gave us fukking mid… don’t do something if you don’t have any plans for it


Triple h puts titles on dudes and makes big moments then promises a crazy storyline and telling us we shouldn’t miss anything…. Just for the nikka to do the bare minimum for 4 or 5 months until it’s Summerslam.. rumble….. etc….


Yes we complain and a majority of wrestling fans are stupid…… but for the most part rock pulling out and hhh doing the bare minimum on everything deserves all the complaints and groans their way until they start showing they care.

Again everyone is at fault.

Rock is a board member and has so much power in the company… if the company gets the blame he gets the blane

So does triple h who has creative responsibility and is letting people down

fukk them both lol

This. But for the subject of conversation are we fans talking about it and the TKO board viewing success differently?


Fans want a good product. TKO wants money. On the money front, they are technically succeeding even if the product is ass. If Rock is on the board, and the company is receiving record products, does he have incentive to care how bad storylines get?

In that regard, I see where fans solely blaming HHH are coming from. He is bad at his job. The WWE side makes money despite this. He is the easy target. Not saying I agree with this but its a linear thought to blame what is clearly not working even if it means not looking at the qualative things

 

[Straw Hat Luffy]

This. But for the subject of conversation are we fans talking about it and the TKO board viewing success differently?


Fans want a good product. TKO wants money. On the money front, they are technically succeeding even if the product is ass. If Rock is on the board, and the company is receiving record products, does he have incentive to care how bad storylines get?

In that regard, I see where fans solely blaming HHH are coming from. He is bad at his job. The WWE side makes money despite this. He is the easy target. Not saying I agree with this but its a linear thought to blame what is clearly not working even if it means not looking at the qualative things

Nah you’re right. And it’s why they both get blame.

They’re not trying… the company to board of directors to creative team. And they’re logic is why should they if they’re making $$$$

I feel like hhh gets more of the blame because he was viewed as someone who’s going to be different and seemed to understand the IWC…. But just like any booker he’s going to book it how he wants

I feel like people don’t understand what board of directors means or what they do… which would make sense if most wrestling fans don’t have board of directors to work with….

Some board of directors join board just to make their names look good, but at the end of the day they have major responsibilities to bring some type of success to the company and roles they must always do…. And if not they get blame just like anyone else in the company…. Sure they join boards just to look good, but it doesn’t mean people like the rock in that position are there just to be a public figure

And this is why I say the real truth is probably simple. Rock probably hinted at wrestling Cody and wwe banked on that. Rock got busy and said he can’t do it. And then after everyone tried covering their tails from public scrutiny and it’s why everyone story is different.

Like I said I don’t think it was that deep that wrestling fans portray it as lol