WrestleMania 41 left a bitter style in my mouth. Regardless of that includes numerous nice matches throughout its two-night run, the primary occasion of WrestleMania, which noticed John Cena tackle reigning champion Cody Rhodes, ended with a dud. The results of the bout, which noticed Cena lifting the WWE Championship for the seventeenth time in his profession, was the precise one, and I can’t wait to see what an precise heel championship run for Cena seems to be like within the last months of his profession. Regardless of this, the way in which through which Cena ended up changing into champion was embarrassing and may nearly completely be blamed on The Rock.

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Whereas The Rock himself wasn’t current at WrestleMania 41, the “Closing Boss” set this storyline between Cena and Rhodes into movement. Again in February, The Rock made an look on SmackDown and made it identified that he needed to personal the soul of Cody Rhodes. This promo and supply from Rock was complicated and nonsensical within the second, and it wasn’t made a lot better weeks later when he appeared at Elimination Chamber in Toronto, this time with rapper Travis Scott by his aspect. What occurred subsequent has gone viral a thousand instances over as Rhodes would shun Rock, just for Cena to flip heel and align himself with the Closing Boss, seemingly ushering in a brand new period of the Authority.

On the time, this transfer was thrilling for numerous causes. Not solely had been we lastly seeing a heel model of Cena come about after many years in WWE, however he was doing it by working with Rock, who was as soon as considered one of his largest opponents. Naturally, it was anticipated that Rock would proceed to play a significant half on this storyline shifting ahead as Cena would push towards WrestleMania and his conflict with Cody. However that’s removed from what occurred.

Briefly, The Rock hasn’t returned to WWE since this second on the Elimination Chamber. No Uncooked appearances, no SmackDown surprises, and nothing at WrestleMania over this previous weekend. Regardless of being the catalyst that brought on Cena to grow to be a heel and kickstart this feud, Rock has chosen to be off of WWE completely. Not solely does this make for a poor narrative, but it surely resulted within the WrestleMania foremost occasion changing into a borderline laughingstock.

As an alternative of seeing The Rock seem within the last moments of WrestleMania, we had to accept Travis Scott making his return to the ring to throw a wrench into Rhodes’ title protection. Nevermind the truth that Scott has no proper being concerned in such a high-profile WWE second (not to mention two in a span of months), his three-minute strut to the ring slammed the brakes on any momentum that Rhodes and Cena had constructed up. Whereas he ended up being nothing greater than a distraction that may permit Cena to win the WWE Championship, it’s apparent that Scott’s position on this match ought to have been performed by The Rock. Not solely would this have made extra sense narratively and introduced this arc full circle, however it might have prevented the blatant stupidity that comes with throwing somebody with no wrestling expertise into the center of the most important WWE occasion of the yr.

On Cena’s half, I really feel dangerous that he had to win his seventeenth WWE Championship on this method. Successful it in heel trend by means of exterior interference is one thing I’m advantageous with, because it’s a significant departure from the norm within the grand scheme of his profession. However when followers look again on this second sooner or later, questions are positive to naturally come up about why Travis Scott was a part of this historic second in any respect. There wasn’t an excellent reply to this query final night time, and there nearly definitely gained’t be within the many years to observe.

What’s much more irritating about The Rock’s present position in WWE is that that is the second yr in a row that he has thrown a wrench into the plans for WrestleMania. In 2024, he confirmed up and instantly demanded a title match towards Roman Reigns, which WWE initially appeared content material to give him. Followers revolted, Cody ended up getting his title shot, and the WrestleMania 40 card ended up being a lot better for it. However the truth that The Rock even brought on this difficulty to start with, solely to do the same factor lower than a yr later with WrestleMania 41, reveals how badly he wants to go away.

Look, I get that The Rock is busy. He’s an in-demand actor, he owns quite a lot of totally different enterprise ventures, and he can solely be in so many locations without delay. It’s comprehensible that he’s stretched about as skinny as one individual might be. But when that’s the case, simply keep away from WWE. These temporary appearances from the Closing Boss are insulting not solely to those that devour WWE TV on a weekly foundation, however extra so the expertise like Rhodes and Cena who then have to carry the torch for what he haphazardly units up.

Except The Rock actually desires to come again to WWE, lace up his boots, and get within the ring for a match, he wants to get misplaced. Whereas an look from considered one of WWE’s favourite sons used to be electrifying for the hundreds of thousands (and hundreds of thousands) of followers across the globe, Rock has as a substitute come throughout as nothing greater than a narcissistic, out-of-touch part-timer the previous two years. Moderately than proceed to taint his personal in-ring legacy, he wants to keep behind the scenes when it comes to his position in working WWE. Doing in any other case will solely lead to Rock getting the identical greeting 20 years down the highway that Hulk Hogan obtained on Uncooked again in January.