Matter of Opinion... WM 21 - Hollywood vs. Hollyword

October 1st, 2004

Well it’s 6 months away, but you’ll soon start to see Wrestlemania shaping up pretty soon, especially once we hit the Royal Rumble in January. Over the next few weeks and months, I will be shaping my own WM 21 card right here, only on this site in the Matter Of Opinion section.

One match I would like to see is John Cena vs. The Rock. It could be billed as Hollywood (Rock) vs. Hollyword (Cena). Here’s how it would go:

Cena comes back from filing his new movie and is cocky. He has been bitten by the Hollywood bug. He dresses like the Rock, flashy shirts, shades, etc. Cena believes that he is now the Peoples Movie Star and starts to berate the absent Rock. Such remarks from Cena as, “From what I hear, when it comes to the bedroom, The Rock is Walking Small”. This goes on for a few months with no word from The Rock, which encourages Cena to comment that the Rock is chicken.

It’s January and it’s time for the Royal Rumble. As always, have one or two surprise entrants to the Rumble match itself. Cena is in the ring during the Royal Rumble match. The countdown clock is ticking down to zero……”If you smell…” booms out over the P.A. system. The next entrant is the Rock, a surprise entrant (this helps build some kind of suspense to the WWE PPV’s, something they are lacking). Cena cannot believe it as Rock was not scheduled. Rock comes in, goes to work on Cena and after a ‘People’s Elbow’, dumps Cena over the top rope, eliminating him from the Royal Rumble and ruining his chances to go to WM 21 for a shot at the WWE Title. The Rock then jumps over the top rope, eliminating himself. The Rock is not there to win the Rumble, but to shut up Cena. Rock brawls with Cena all the way to the back.

On the Smackdown! following the Rumble, Cena, pissed that he has no title shot at WM 21, issues the challenge to the Rock, one on one, to be settled, in Hollywood, at Wrestlemania 21. The next week, the Rock appears ‘via satellite’ to accept the challenge. From there to WM 21, the war of words continues. I can even see a skit between Ebert and Roper commenting on both guy’s movies.

The raps and the promos from both sides have the potential to be hilarious.

To me, this is probably the most entertaining way of having Rock involved in WM 21. It only involves two live appearances and maybe a taped piece here and there. The people are over Rock and Foley and it’s time to move on. Cena is a star waiting to explode and I feel he makes a better heel than a face. He can become one of the most hated individuals in the WWE, let alone the Smackdown! roster. A match with Rock can definitely elevate Cena up the ladder where he belongs. The whole rapping gimmick, which would be phased out leading through this storyline, is not championship material and would not be a successful portrayal of the WWE Championship.

Cena is a great, great talent, he just needs a more serious avenue to display how good he really is and I believe this is it. As mentioned at the top, over the next weeks and months, I’ll be creating my own full Wrestlemania card, which will involve certain special guest appearances. Stay tuned!