It’s been three and a half years since John Cena’s seemingly endless feud with the Rock finally came to a close at MetLife Stadium at WrestleMania 29. There, Cena avenged his loss from the previous year’s Mania and left the building that night as the WWE Champion to a resounding meh from the 80,000 or so people. Still, one of the questions still unanswered from that feud is just what Cena said to the Rock moments after pinning him in the main event. If you play the ending back on WWE Network, you hear something about Cena being 20 years old and working in California, but the rest is lost to the bass booms of “The Time Is Now.”
Now, during a recent Q&A at Salt Lake City Comic Con, Cena came clean with what he said that night, remarking:
“I actually told him that he had taken a picture with me when I was an employee at Gold’s Gym back in the year 2000 when The Rock was like, meteoric. He didn’t need to pay any attention to anyone but people who could possibly do things for him, and here’s this low level employee at Gold’s Gym, wowed by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. I went up to him and asked if we could take a picture together, and he gave me the picture, and he gave me some advice on how to further my career, and he didn’t have to.
I held him close and I said, ‘You’re never gonna remember this but you took a picture with me in 2000, it helped me stand here today, and if it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be here today.’ Then I thanked him very much for all he’s done for the industry, and for all he’s done for me, and then we went backstage and had a shot together in celebration.”
Go figure: John Cena was a hustling, loyal, respectful guy after all. Who knew? (Oh, wait — everybody.) The biggest mystery in pop culture has been put to bed, so now let’s focus on getting the beans spilled about the end of Lost in Translation.
(transcription h/t Still Real To Us)
