Dwayne Johnson and John Cena’s rivalry started in 2011 when Johnson made fun of Cena’s catchphrase, and Cena responded with a rap about The Rock abandoning WWE. During this period, Cena also had a rivalry with CM Punk and the two were slated to contest at SummerSlam that year for the Undisputed WWE Championship title.
Meanwhile, Cena and Johnson had already set up a WrestleMania match, a full one year ahead of the 28th edition. Both the wrestlers managed to keep the steam between for the Once in a Lifetime bout between for the whole year. This meant that Johnson made appearances throughout the year to run his mouth at Cena.
One such appearance from The Rock took place during the contract signing of the Undisputed WWE Championship match between Cena and Punk at SummerSlam. Punk introduced a video where Johnson dissed Cena, even calling him a “bloated transvestite Wonder Woman.” However, Punk wasn’t too kind to The Rock after showing the video.
CM Punk made The Rock look like a fool after the latter’s rant about John Cena
John Cena appeared alongside Triple H to meet CM Punk in the ring for the contract signing of their SummerSlam match. Tensions were high, and Punk kept mocking both Cena and Triple H. He then went on to play a video message for Cena from none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
In the video, The Rock makes fun of John Cena’s entry into the ring, sharing, “You’re looking like a bloated transvestite Wonder Woman, ready to fight crime” (via WWE/YouTube). Johnson went on to claim that Cena would enter the ring to the crowd chant, “Cena sucks!”. He concluded his video by sharing that he could “smell a phony punk a mile away.”
After the video, CM Punk shared that there was a lot wrong with The Rock’s video. He shared that the crowd chant wouldn’t be actually “Cena Sucks!”, but “CM Punk!”. Punk went on to insult The Rock, sharing that the Fast Five star calling John Cena “phony” was ironic. CM Punk shared:
You’re a phony like he says, but the ironic thing is, while he’s calling you a phony, he doesn’t realize he’s just as big a phony as you are.
Punk further added that he didn’t want to upset The Rock anymore, as he didn’t want him to mock him just like he did with Cena. In the main event of WrestleMania 28, The Rock defeated Cena. But they set up another main event at WrestleMania 29, where Cena beat Johnson to claim his eleventh Championship title.
John Cena and CM Punk had a historic WWE feud
On the episode of Raw on June 13, 2011, CM Punk pinned down John Cena for a victory. Punk later revealed that his WWE contract will expire on July 17 at the Money in the Bank competition. He vowed in front of his fans to leave the competition with the WWE championship.
However, before the match, he was suspended from televised WWE events for his scathing remarks against Vince McMahon. He was later reinstated upon Cena’s insistence and the duo would go on to face each other at the Money in the Bank match.
In a match that became the first five-star-rated WWE match since 1997, Punk defeated Cena to become WWE Champion on what was supposed to be his last night with WWE. However, Punk would return to the company and lose the title to Rey Mysterio, only for him to later lose it to Cena.
Cena and Punk both made claims to the WWE Championship and they were given the SummerSlam match in August 2011. Punk defeated Cena at the SummerSlam once again but lost the title to Alberto Del Rio a few minutes later.
Punk’s rivalry with Cena would last until 2013, amidst which they would also fight in a match to decide who gets to fight Dwayne Johnson in the main event at WrestleMania 29.
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