[2012-04-01-WWE-Wrestlemania XXVIII] The Rock vs John Cena

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[G. Badger]

This is a Once in a Lifetime ©®™ dream match between the company's biggest stars of the 2000's. It was 30 minutes long and it was Wrestlemania so, you kinda know they were going for WM moments throughout. It was good though since skill wise they're similar. Simple moves, so-so punching, taunts, and then the signature moves that couldn't crack an egg. Seriously though, I enjoyed myself and it lived up to the hype and drama. If I was younger then, I probably would have been losing my marbles but, otherwise it was a good match & probably one you could show someone who doesn't know much about wrestling.

[Superstar Sleeze]

John Cena vs The Rock - WrestleMania XXVIII

Thanks to this match I ended up with front row tickets to Machine Gun Kelly, Sia and Flo Rida. I totally forgot MGK rapped. God he fucking sucks...he made for a great Tommy Lee in The Dirt. Flo Rida is good craic as the Irish would say. This match is also good craic and better than I remembered. I talked about this in my HHH/Taker review but I had shit seats at this Mania so I. Don’t remember a lot because I couldn’t see. I said prematurely that Punk/Jericho was the MOTN but this match was a frog’s hair better as Stone Cold would say.

Very well-laid out Clash of Titans. All the highspots popped and Cena played a good subtle heel ring general guiding the rusty Rocky through the match. Lots of good symmetry in this match which makes sense as this is being billed as Icon vs Icon so they are equal footing. Each shoving the other off during the opening lock ups was a nice touch. Rocky doing La Magistral was great to establish Rock still remembered how to wrestle. Rocky goes for the Sharpshooter and Cena heads for the hills. Cena looks like he underestimated The Rock. He STEAMROLLS The Rock with a clothesline in the best move of the match. Cena plays heel in the control segment working the midsection. Rock still sells well. Rock hits his DDT and they do an extended finish stretch that is well-paced. Rock does his little comeback routine and when he goes for the People’s Elbow. Cena picks the ankle. I like how the camera still went wide. It sold it well. Cena does his comeback sequence. They trade the FU and the Rock Bottom early. That’s smart because it put heat on the bear falls after because people already saw the big hits. It also was not rapid fire. They would re-build to the highspots. Sharpshooter vs STF was good. I popped huge for The Rock top rope crossbody into an FU! Cena is the Man. Great nearfall for Cena. Glad they went home right after that with Cena looking to steal the People’s Elbow but getting stuffed with a Rock Bottom! The finish makes sense given the rematch the following year. 

Really well-structured clash of titans match where they played all the right notes even if it could have used a little more soul. O I really liked the slugfests in this much better than the NJPW strike exchanges, I liked Cena’s punches and the register of each men. ****

[cactus]

After a year of build, there was no way they were ever going to match the hype. One thing that would of helped this greatly is that if they didn't go 30 minutes. There's a lot of lying around here. After some neat power struggles to kick off the match, Rock gets gassed early on and it's up to Cena to carry this. Cena is taking the role as heel as the Miami crowd are never going to be cheering him over the Rock. Cena as always, is at his best when he's getting under the skin of the older fanbase. He takes an extra second to perform his big moves and the crowd are out for blood. Could of easily been a  ★★★★+ 20 minute match if they trimmed the fat.

★★★