I'm sure the money's great, but that doesn't mean that everyone who wants to be a wrestler would choose acting if they were offered a lucrative offer from Hollywood. It's about what they value. Some guys just love to wrestle. I hate when guys think that it's some inherent value to be a multi-million dollar actor in hollywood.

Just for the record, the rock isn't that great an actor either. Hollywood is just like the wrestling business in that it's not always about the acting ability (or the working ability) of the performer, but more about their ability to sell tickets.

I don't think the rock owes anything to wrestling as he didn't take anything. He gave a lot to it. I'm sure that he does love it, but it seems that he's listening to someone else when they say that disassociating himself from his wrestling career is what's best for his acting career. Never mind the fact that it's because of his wrestling career that he's in the position that he is.

This is one of those things where I think there's never going to be a correct answer or a consensus on who's right and wrong.

It's an opinion and while Cena's very complimentary of Johnson as a person and a worker, he believes that leaving the sport to do movies without coming back to the sport much means Johnson didn't mean it when he said he loved the sport.

I don't think that argument necessarily holds up. Evidence of loving the sport doesn't have to mean you stay in the sport your whole career in entertainment or keep coming back to it if you go off in another direction.

It seems to me that the movie industry is where Johnson's current interests lie and who can blame him? He's a very marketable person and he's improved as an actor. For any wrestler, that's a pretty good level to reach. Who can say if even Johnson himself expected to be in this position? Wouldn't you want to have full control over what you do with your career rather than work for someone else the whole time, even if you had a good thing going in the WWE?

It may be an obvious thing to say but each person has to do what's best for him and his career. If that means wrestling only, fine. If that means wrestling in between some movies, good for you. If that means getting out of the business entirely for reasons of health, money, fame or whatever, so be it. It doesn't make Johnson a hypocrite, a liar or anything else to me. I don't recall him ever vowing he'd be a wrestler for life and hell, I wouldn't WANT him to be. I wouldn't want anyone to be unless that's where they feel most comfortable.

Semantics.

C'mon Kev just call a bash a bash.

Rock may love wrestling. IT would just seem apparent that he likes Hollywood better. Who could blame him really ?

Perhaps just a tad of jealousy from the lilly white Mr. Cena? Understandable.

I am so glad that so far, this column and the comments have been handled with maturity. This stands in stark counterpoint to the "JOHN CENA IS JELOUS (sic) OF THE ROCK!" The reality is that I do not believe Cena was slandering The Rock. He was just stating a fundamental truism: If you say one thing, then do another - well, it does not make it seem very genuine, does it? That's NOT a slight against The Rock - he doesn't owe the wrestling business anything (even though you could argue that his fans from wrestling did allow him to get his foot into Hollywood). The Rock is right to capitalize on the opportunity that may not have presented itself later. STILL, I do not think it's even disputable that there's a slight bit of hypocrisy. I say that with great respect towards both John and The Rock.

The simple fact is The Rock is the only one to break through as a legit movie star and people are jealous, nobody more than HHH. Every last one Cena included would trade in the wrestling life, constantly on the road, hotels, rental cars, constant wear on the body for a career in the movies. We'll see in 10 years when Rock has a comfortable lifestyle and Cena's just another brokendown has-been who's talking then. It will be no different than this year's HOF when Rock owned Cena and Cena sat there blushing like a freshman who just got a wedgie from a senior.

Regarding the postscript: I was indeed wondering. Thanks for filling in the blank.

I think Cena is dead on and I'm glad to see that you addressed the way others on the web misrepresented your interview. Very classy move on the journalism side.

To say you love the business is fine. John just equates more passion with love because that's how he is. To say the Rock has no passion for the business is more accurate. He made a taped appearance and came to receive an award for himself and induct members of his family (probably inducted to entice him to even show up). Big freaking whoop. You're telling me out of 52 weeks in a year, he doesn't have one Monday or Sunday free to show up and cut a promo that could make someone's career and go home?

He's just like Micky Rourke keeping his distance for the sake of acting "credibility." He doesn't want to take the heat for too much of an association with the business he "loves." Wrestling is like his sister in school that doesn't fit in and he ignores her to keep his friends. It's cowardly and he does owe the business since he cut out the part of his career where he puts anyone over. Even though he catches hell, HHH has put over a ton more guys than the Rock ever did. He gave to fans, but he stole hand over fist from the business.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: One thing I can't agree with you on is that The Rock never put anyone over. When he was going back and forth between wrestling and making movies, he put over Brock Lesnar and Goldberg clean in the middle of the ring. He put over Chris Jericho way more than Triple H ever did. Even when he was one of the biggest active stars in the business, Rock did jobs for guys like Mark Henry, Al Snow and The Hurricane. I even remember one angle in which Stephanie McMahon pinned him!

Cena is worried people won't believe he is staying in wrestling, a business he loves, because someone else said he loves wrestling and ended up leaving. I am not sure that's true. How many millions of people promise to stay married "til death do us part?" And half of them end up divorced. When we are at weddings do we scoff at the vows, thinking about the divorce rate? I know I don't.

Why is there so much animosity towards Cena? My generation wasn't enamored with Bob Backlund in the '70's but I don't remember any animosity towards him. We just rooted for him to lose.

Dwayne Johnson can't win either way. If he comes back, critics will lambast him for stealing the spotlight from the younger generation, for holding them down the way that others frequently accuse Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and HHH of doing. If he does not come back, we have someone like John Cena thinking that somehow that makes him a liar when he said he loves wrestling.

I know you have to remain on good terms with Cena, Eck, but any impartial viewer can see Cena is seriously bashing the Rock. No matter how he - or you - sugarcoats the comment, it is blatantly obvious that Cena flat out called Rock a liar. That is insulting not only to the Rock but to anyone with a shred of intelligence or logical thinking.

I think one thing that a lot of people miss (including Cena, perhaps?) is that the Rock had achieved pretty much every goal in wrestling. He had main-evented Wrestlemania as both a heel and a face, worked with every big star of his generation and built a hall of fame legacy, all without doing permanent harm to his body.
Secondly, whether we, as wrestling fans, like it or not, there is a big stigma attached to pro wrestling in the entertainment industry. It's easy to say "Rock has turned his back on the business that made him" but, let's face it, his agent is probably saying to him "Dwayne, if you want to maintain the wrestling identity I can get you work, but it will never progress. You'll be making movies like Walking Tall the rest of your life. If you want to aim higher and get into bigger movies, you have to leave it behind." You'll notice that Rock never buries wrestling, he just doesn't mention it.
Thirdly, this is uncharted territory. No one, not Hogan or anyone, has ever crossed over into Hollywood so successfully that they can even consider leaving wrestling behind. The reason other guys come back so often is that it's the best way they can make money. In Rock's case, it's likely to cost him money in roles lost.
I still get what Cena means. Some guys - Flair, Terry Funk and so on - just can't walk away from the business. Presumably, that's how Cena sees himself and that's how he defines "loving the business". Maybe if he was older, had a child and had someone offering him a truckload of money for doing a job that would have far less chance of seriously injuring him than his current one, he wouldn't see it in such black and white terms.

First of all, Cena has only been wrestling 9 years so he is not qualified to talk about "love of the business" like he's Ric Flair or someone whose statements hold some form of credibility due to their legacy. More importantly, it's rediculous and immature for any wrestler to attempt to judge another wrestler's "love" for the business. That's like one soldier trying to assess how much another soldier loves his country.

Second, Cena needs to have more respect for The Rock because he (along with Steve Austin, the original nWo, DX, Goldberg and a few others) took the business to another level and opened the door for him to make the money he does today.

Third, to compare what Cena believes as the Rock's untrue love for the business to taking drugs as an athlete is stupid and egregious.

Third, Cena should be grateful The Rock left the business because if he were still around far less people would care about him and he wouldn't be getting the push he is today. And he also wouldn't be able steal all the things he did from Dwayne Johnson's Rock character...the comedy...the People's Elbow routine rip-off, the Five-knuckle Shuffle...etc, etc.

And lastly, The Rock doesn't "owe" anybody anything. Bottom line.

To me movie star or not I just commend the guy for moving on with his life. I'm sure the majority, if not all sit around and talk about how there bodies breaking down and I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. But they'll let Vince ride them till there broken down with nowhere to go. I commend the guys who get a regular job and go home to their families every night. It sure beats wrestling in a high school gym and making a fool out of yourself on some shoot interview.

“here’s a guy who, when he was with the WWE, pounded his chest that he really loved the WWE, and that wasn’t the truth.”
What was he supposed to tell the fans, “hey, if I get a nice offer I’m leaving you guys for Hollywood, but still, continue chanting my name.”

Mr John Cena and everyone, is entitled to voice their own opinion about matters,and with the media always looking for a "story" it is probably too easy to slip and say something that is taken the wrong way.

From what I understand, Cena was one of many sports entertainers who "The Rock" helped get started.

Whether or not Mr Dwayne Johnson had always wanted to be an actor but was in the sports industry,is like a lot of people who have to do a job to get by /make a living. But this sports industry was something in Mr Johnsons blood/family history, so that made it a somewhat pleasant "job" to get by.
Whether Mr Johnson never got to be an actor, he like everyone can have a dream. But Mr Johnson strived and has worked hard and has suceeded in his dream to be an actor and I wish him the best of luck in whatever career he chooses.

I think the flaws in Cena's remarks have always been two fold, firstly by trying to judge someone's "love" by how many times they come back. The feeling by Cena and a good portion of fans seems to be that the Rock has to come back for the rest of his life to prove he truly loves the business and the WWE, even though he's been back countless times since he stopped performing full time. Let's not forget that it was the WWE that let his contract expire, then blamed in on a clerical error. Like someone said earlier, he really is in a no win situation, if he comes back people will say he's stealing time from a full time performer.

The bigger flaw is that Cena seems to think that Johnson only became a wrestler as an avenue into Hollywood. That makes perfect sense at first glance, considering wrestling has launched countless acting careers (what's that you say, what do you mean there's only been one?). People's interests change over time, deciding on a different career path doesn't mean you didn't love what you first did, just that you wanted to do something different, take on new challenges. Or maybe he saw the list of wrestlers dead before 50, or those still alive who need painkillers just to get out of bed, and made a health decision.

I always chuckle when the subject comes up, and think back to the month long mini-feud between the Rock and the Hurricane before the Rock's WM21 matchup with Steve Austin. Go on youtube and listen to the pops Hurricane was getting at the end of those few weeks. He even put the Hurricane over as cleanly as he should ever beat a main eventer. So what happens a week later, HHH is allowed to completely squash the Hurricane and Pedigree him about half a dozen times. This is the company he's supposed to be giving back to?

wow their making cena sound so bad :(

Cut the BS and stop pussyfooting.
Cena is only human and part of being human is you get jealous when you see someone else doing better than you. Human nature, that's all it is.

Peace

Thanks for the response Kev. I see I'm in quite the minority, but I'm pretty stubborn.

Hurricane is tough for me to say Rock put him over. He gave him a rub, but he didn't drop a belt to him or let himself come out on the losing end of a program with him. Al Snow and Steph are cases of putting them over in a match, but there was no longterm program. You didn't watch that match with Al Snow and think you witnessed the passing of the torch the way you did when Andre put his health on the line to give Hogan is defining moment.

Goldberg doesn't count to me either. He was over before they were even in the same company. Even Mick Foley was around for how many years before their feud?

I only use HHH as an example since he's worked career changing programs with Batista, Orton, Jeff Hardy and I would say Kozlov would be next if he didn't just lay an egg at NWO. In my opinion, HHH did more on tv for Orton/Batista than Rock did for Mark Henry (let alone the rest of the Nation). Of course HHH also buried guys like RVD, so I know my logic is a little flawed.

I do admit that I did kind of gloss over Lesnar amd Jericho. Jericho is probably the best example, since he was put in a program with the Rock on day one after just being left on the midcard of WCW. The Rock def. made him legit. Lesnar was already legit, but the Rock did his part there too.

His last match is my point though. A 3 on 2 handicap match with Foley vs Evolution. Most of his selling was to Flair and Foley did the job to the RKO, which he did often that year. Rock was completely protected in that match when he should have been more like Foley. Rock never let a man hock one in his face either that I can recall.

One can say Cena's jealous, but honestly, I can't entirely say he's wrong. My take is that Johnson was always ambivalent about his pro wrestling career. He wanted to be a football player, and when he was injured and knew he'd never go pro, he fell back on the only thing he had: his family's wrestling career. Take a look at those first Rocky Maivia matches and tell me there's a surge of joie de vivre as he's wearing some spandex spaulders!

Now, the Rock actually made this situation work for him, but he's also unique in that he just learned to harness his charisma to the point where he could command an entire arena, something that maybe only Stone Cold could come close to matching. But again, it's always been a strange fit. Rather than adopt the existing parameters of the business, Johnson stretched them out to suit him. He's always been one of those guys who'll be in the business but not of it, to the point where he's now a legitimate movie actor.

Cena may have the push now, but he doesn't have "it." And Cena jobs a lot more to the McMahon creative team than Johnson ever did.

I think cena was jus telling the truth, and he was right. And I read that interview. Cena was jus telling the truth. He said that it makes their business look bad when someone from their company goes out there and say they don't want to stop doing what they do. Then turns around and quits and stops doing what they do&goes to Hollywood. And Iyk the rock he "WAS" a good wrestler, but he gave up on that, and he IS a good actor, & he looks & seems lyk a nice guy................. But cena is freakin hot, an awesome & great wrestler, a great actor I can't wait for 12rounds! LOL! And I'm NOT jus sayn that I'm TEAM CENA or taking his side or anything jus cuz he's hot! I'm sayn that I think cena was jus telling what he thought and that I think it's the truth. And for those ppl who are saying that cena is jus jelous, I don't rhnk he is.

lilly white cena now thats uncalled for thats a racist comment

I think that Cena can have his own opinion and if that's how he feels then that's just how he feels. His comment does not change the way I feel about him nor does it change the way i feel about Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. I still think that they are both so very sexy and that they both are wonderful at what they do. I'm even such a big fan that I found a website where I was able to get a john cena and dwayn johnson free screensaver. check it out
linksador.net/screensavers/?p=2227