John Cena is the new Undisputed WWE Champion. He defeated Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41 and secured his position at the top of the history books. But there was one individual who was missing during this moment. In fact, they were missing the whole weekend. The Rock was nowhere to be seen, and fans are upset that he no-showed the biggest event of the year.
WrestleMania week is set up to be a massive public relations tour of everything within the company. The top stars and executives are all present, as the promotion touts another year’s worth of successes. The Rock holds a special place in the organization, not only as a TKO Group Holdings board member, but as a beloved character in the ring. The latter identify inserted itself into perhaps the biggest angle of the year, only to not be around when it mattered most to close out the story.
The Rock wasn't needed in the build to WrestleMania 41
John Cena’s heel turn at Elimination Chamber created a laundry list of questions. Particularly, fans wanted to know why Cena aligned himself with The Rock who was looking to find a corporate champion. Not only has that question not been answered, but The Rock wasn’t really mentioned throughout the build to WrestleMania.
There was speculation that he’d show up during the Night Two main event, and perhaps Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman were also in on the turn. But none of that came to pass, causing several online to be upset with his inclusion.
The build to WrestleMania 40 was almost derailed by The Rock doing the same thing. He was added to the top story, almost taking Cody Rhodes’s spot. Instead, fan backlash led to WWE making a shift to keep the focus on Rhodes and see him “Finish The Story.” He’s since made sporadic appearances at WWE events, leaving fans to develop wild stories about how things will unfold. Once again, it’s unfolded to mean nothing.
It must be hard for WWE Creative to have to add The Rock to a major angle at the last minute and not know if it will pay off to anything bigger than that. Viewers pop for his return every time, just to be let down in the long run. The Rock no-showed WrestleMania 41, and truth be told, no one should be surprised.