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| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
On April 1st, in Miami Florida, The WWE will present it's biggest show of the year, Wrestlemania. The main event will be The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) taking on John Cena. This match was made following the controversial ending of the main event of last years Wrestlemania, when then WWE Champion, The Miz, was able to record a victory against heavy favorite John Cena in part thanks to the interference from The Rock.
The very next night on RAW, on April 4th 2011, Cena and The Rock were in the ring together,
verbally sparring. The Rock claimed that him and Cena were
complete opposites and that The Rock flat out doesn't like Cena. Cena
responded quite simply by asking for a match, there and then! The Rock, then layed down the gauntlet, of having the match at Wrestlemania 28, and it
was sealed with a handshake and an obligatory stare down. The main event of WWE's marquee event was made an entire year in advance, this was unprecedented in the 28 year history of this event.
The WWE had one of its biggest challenges in recent memory. How would they promote this match? On name value alone, both The Rock and Cena would be able to sell out an entire arena, so putting them against each other would seem to be a marketing no brainer, yet what was hook, the substance, the rationale for these two fighting one another. In wrestling terms, what was the angle? Sure, Cena was angry about his Wrestlemania 27 loss, but that momentum could never last a full year.
The Rock is still a Hollywood movie star, and was not returning to the WWE full time. Yet Cena and The Rock were able to continue their verbal sparring for a few months, mostly with the Rock appearing via satellite, much to the chagrin of Cena. The Rock made the occasional (heavily promoted) live appearance, and during the Survivor Series pay per view, The Rock and John Cena were tag team partners (with the tag line, never before, never again!), but again after Survivor Series The Rock would be needed back in Hollywood.
In The Rock's absence, Cena continued being John Cena, rarely changing the act that had made him one of the biggest superstars of this generation. However this act, as The Rock was never shy in pointing out, was getting a little tiresome for the WWE Universe's 18 + demographic. The kids still adored Cena, but the boos outweighed the cheers considerably. The irony here of course being that The Rock made his triumphant return to the WWE, after a 6 year absence, and came back with the exact same act that made him one of the biggest superstars of all time. The only difference was the lure of nostalgia, which continues to work in The Rock's favor.
Now, as we approach Wrestlemania 28, with all the hype and publicity focusing around this match, the angle is perfectly clear to me, and with the help of Sport Psychology, I will explain it. You see, The Rock was wrong on April 4th 2011 when he declared that him and John Cena were complete opposites. They are in fact, far too similar, and this is what makes this match so exciting. In the history of the WWE, this match will go down as one of the most important ever. In sport psychology, we learn about personality types, and how they can often be used to predict behavior. Using a simple personality test such as Eysenck's Personality Inventory (1965), both The Rock and Cena would be described as being
extroverted and
stable. It should have been obvious that as soon as The Rock cost Cena the main event of Wrestlemania 27, Cena would become obsessed with an adequate
response. Both men are extremely
talkative, and have at one point in their careers been the
leader of the WWE brand. John Cena always elicits a powerful reaction (sometimes cheers, but mostly boos) and The Rock is justified by calling himself "The Most Electrifying man in all of Entertainment", as both men are exceptionally
lively in front of a live audience. The similarities are exactly what makes this match so important.
The WWE universe, at various times have both cheered these men to heights never before seen in their respective generations, only now that the WWE universe is having to choose, nostalgia is playing a role. Yet at Wrestlemania 28, The Rock is the hometown hero, and Cena will be revered by the majority of the audience. You will still have your Cena loyalists, but I do not think it would surprise anyone to hear Cena booed louder than ever. I also feel that this is more a reflection of The Rock's mainstream hollywood popularity and nostalgic wrestling return than it is on Cena's legitimate unpopularity. The crux of this main event comes down to a personality clash between two of the biggest superstars in modern day professional wrestling. Can two extroverts share the spotlight? Can two stable men keep their game faces on and focus on the match rather than the spectacle that is Wrestlemania? These are the questions that will define this match, and one year in the making, John Cena Vs The Rock is a mouth watering prospect!
