John Cena

Legendary WWE Superstar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson celebrated the 25th anniversary of his first-ever wrestling match Thursday.

On Instagram, The Rock posted a photo of himself giving Brooklyn Brawler a hip toss during a match in Corpus Christi, Texas, on March 11, 1996.

The Rock, who went by his real name of Dwayne Johnson in the untelevised match, noted that it was not only his first match in front of a crowd but also his first match of any kind after following the footsteps of his father, Rocky Johnson, into the wrestling business.

He made his televised debut about eight months later as Rocky Maivia and had his first televised match at the 1996 Survivor Series pay-per-view.

With regard to the match against Brawler, The Rock revealed that he was so broke at the time that he borrowed wrestling tights from his uncle and former WWE Superstar Haku and wrestling boots from his father, who gave him boots worn by his old tag team partner George Wells.

The Rock would go on to become one of the biggest stars in WWE history, and he is currently one of the biggest stars in Hollywood as well.

On the subject of his first match, The Rock wrote: "Man, I look at this picture in complete awe and gratitude for the wild, unpredictable journey and at times—the tough roads this hard-working, fanny pack-wearing kid would go down."

The Rock also noted that Brawler was "gracious" enough to allow him to win his first match, adding: "Which is why it was important to me to [lose] my very last match. May sound strange, but that's how you give back to the wrestling business when you leave it. You lose."

Technically speaking, The Rock's last match was an impromptu bout against Erick Rowan at WrestleMania 32, which The Rock won in seconds. Before that, his last match that was advertised ahead of time was a WWE Championship match against John Cena at WrestleMania 29, which The People's Champion lost.

The Rock's comment could be deciphered as him being done with wrestling for good and counting the loss to Cena as his last match, or it could be a sign that intends to step inside the ring again at some point and do the honors.

A dream match against his cousin, Roman Reigns, has been discussed often in wrestling circles, and both men appear open to it. If it is going to happen, WrestleMania 39 in the Los Angeles area seems like a good target.

If that match happens, it will be yet another reminder of how far The Rock has come from the humble beginnings of his wrestling career in March 1996.

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On his own, Paul Wight probably wasn't going to move the needle much for All Elite Wrestling heading into Sunday's Revolution pay-per-view event. 

But Wight showed up Wednesday night on Dynamite and wasn't technically alone: He arrived alongside a promise that AEW was about to sign a "Hall of Fame-worthy" Superstar and that "it's not who you think." 

That's certainly one way to help the man formerly known as Big Show make a massive splash in 2021. 

The mind could get overwhelmed trying to figure out who in the world he might be talking about, though the main goal will certainly be accomplished—fans will go overboard catching the show to see who the big reveal might be. 

And the possibilities are what make this so great. Being "worthy" of the Hall of Fame (and which hall are we talking about?) is a fun way to keep the fan-theorizing at an all-time high. Is it Hall of Famer and wrestling-worthy Hall of Famer like Shaq? What about any number of potential football players and former boxing or MMA stars? 

Most interesting, of course, is strictly looking at wrestlers themselves. Throwing out a Hall of Fame tag is a big deal. The mind immediately wanders to whether this is another great swiping of talent from WWE. Could it be an older legend like Kurt Angle or Christian? What if it's something as absolutely wild as a Brock Lesnar or John Cena? 

And if we're not talking stolen Superstars from WWE, what if it's the long-awaited return of one CM Punk? 

See why it's so exciting? Tony Khan himself further elaborated on Wight's comments on an episode of AEW Unrestricted: (h/t Bill Pritchard of Wrestle Zone):

"He told the world, and it's true, that there's going to be a big star signed with AEW. He's coming here and it's absolutely true what Paul said, this Sunday, a major star in the world of wrestling. A huge star is going to come and sign a multi-year contract with AEW on Sunday at the pay-per-view. So, I can confirm what Paul said is true—and I'm not talking about the person in the ladder match. I'm talking about—we have a fun sixth person in the ladder match but the person that I'm saying is going to come and sign a multi-year contract with AEW, the person that Paul referenced, that's not the sixth person in the ladder match."

So, maybe not somebody from outside of the wrestling world, though even that has a loose definition these days with guys like Shaq and Pat McAfee taking to the squared circle. 

One thing to consider: AEW wouldn't hype this in such a manner if it wasn't an actual huge name. This can't be some undervalued WWE guy who merely thinks he's worth the Hall of Fame. That would be a huge misstep as an underwhelming payoff in the escalating wrestling war between AEW and WWE and would mean fans wouldn't take what AEW hypes at face value anymore. 

That loops back to the same old question, though: Who? One could easily fantasy book it into being Lesnar. He's been missing in action from WWE for the majority of the pandemic era and even as fans get back in stands, he's been gone.

Now, WWE has a dominant good guy capable of being top dog (Drew McIntyre) and a dominant, Lesnar-type heel in Roman Reigns, who even comes equipped with Paul Heyman. 

If the money is right, maybe it's Lesnar. The same applies to Cena. As absolutely ridiculous as it sounds, Cena has been pretty clearly focused on his non-wrestling career. Maybe he wants to put in a very small number of dates per year and the cash was right. 

The same applies to someone like Batista. He's an international movie star right now, and he can deny it on Twitter all he wants, if the company offered the limited dates he wants, the right cash and some dream matches, it would be a welcome surprise. 

Maybe most unlikely at this point is CM Punk, purely because Wight said it was someone they wouldn't seem to expect. Fans have long expected a Punk return and the 2021 Royal Rumble would've surely featured chants of his name again had a full crowd been in the stands. 

Still, a slight fib on Wight's part will be long forgotten and forgiven if that static hits and Punk walks down a wrestling ramp again to be a competitor while contributing in the war against WWE, the place he left via a very public, messy breakup. 

Just on the little bit outlined above, it's easy to see why the idea of AEW landing a major Superstar is such an intoxicating thing. The company has gone from little upstart with high goals to playing in the big leagues and even putting a hurting on WWE (check those NXT ratings) seemingly overnight. 

So far, AEW has done a magnificent job with the maturity of their big adds. Jon Moxley is an international treasure, Sting has been handled excellently, and Wight is just getting started in a smooth role. Confidence in the company brilliantly handling another massive name is warranted. 

And refreshingly, unlike WWE's insistence on announcing big returns beforehand for a ratings pop, AEW isn't spoiling the surprise. There will be one—but we don't know what. That's fun for the buildup and better if the payoff is worth it.

As long as this isn't AEW face-planting by hyping something up too much only for it to be a letdown, it's nothing but a good thing for the industry as a whole. Dream matches are dream matches. Seeing active legends partake in the sport, regardless of company, is a good thing. And competition will only make both companies better. 

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Chioda Says Cena Wasn't Happy Losing to The Rock

Longtime WWE referee Mike Chioda officiated the first match between John Cena and The Rock at WrestleMania 28, and this week he provided his thoughts regarding Cena's mindset at the time.

During an appearance on the Monday Mailbag podcast (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Sai Mohan), Chioda said he felt Cena wasn't exactly over the moon about losing to The Rock: "I think Cena had a little bit of a problem doing the job because here's Cena carrying the torch for the last 10 years at that time. He was busting his ass, day in and day out. Here comes The Rock back after so many years of being in Hollywood and he's got to job out to the Rock?"

At the time, The Rock had not had a match in more than seven years, while Cena was well on his way to tying Ric Flair's all-time record of 16 world title reigns.

The Rock's return to WWE in 2011 after such a long layoff was a huge deal, though, and given WWE's desire to get multiple matches out of him, it ultimately made sense for him to beat Cena.

Rock would go on to beat CM Punk for the WWE Championship the following year, and then he put it on the line against Cena at WrestleMania 29.

It was there that Cena got his win back over The Rock and became WWE champion. The Rock also proverbially passed the torch after that match by shaking Cena's hand and raising his arm.

While The Rock did strike the first blow in his rivalry with Cena, the program was really designed for Cena to become even more firmly established as the face of WWE.

Simply beating The Rock at both WrestleMania 28 and 29 wouldn't necessarily have accomplished that, but after facing adversity with a loss, the WrestleMania 29 win meant that much more.

Moxley Talks Wanting Christian in AEW

AEW star Jon Moxley made a pitch Tuesday for a veteran talent to eschew a return to WWE in favor of AEW.

In an interview with Gary Cassidy of Inside The Ropes, Mox talked up Christian, who made his in-ring return at the Royal Rumble last month: 

"I'll tell you, a guy I'd like to see here is Christian. I don't know if that was a one-off for him in the Royal Rumble, but he looked frigging good to me, looked like he was in great shape, he looked sharp, man.

"I tell you, he's one of the guys that's—the wrestlers know it more so than anybody—Christian is so good. Like, his brain and his execution, and his mind for wrestling is just like next-level."

The 47-year-old Christian had not wrestled a true match since 2014 after essentially getting forced into retirement by injury, but he looked like he hadn't missed a beat when he entered the 2021 Rumble and was among the final few competitors remaining.

It remains unclear if there are more matches on deck for Christian in WWE, but if there aren't, Mox made a compelling argument for why AEW would be a good fit:

"The things that he could do with the wrestlers in AEW and all the creative freedom, but, you know, taking things but there's no hindrance on anything creatively here, obviously, we're having a frigging Exploding Deathmatch, so the things Christian could do at AEW, I would be extremely excited to see that. That would be my No. 1 dream guy."

While it doesn't seem like Christian's wrestling future is set in stone, it stands to reason that anything he does as an active competitor will happen in WWE since that is where his emotional return occurred.

Also, his longtime best friend is Edge, who will be challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 37.

Christian could help Edge out in that rivalry, or he could have a great feud and match for WrestleMania in his own right against someone like AJ Styles or intercontinental champion Big E.

Landing Christian would be a major coup for any company, including AEW, but given how good he looked in the Rumble, the odds of WWE letting him walk seem slim.

Booker Discusses Sting's Powerbomb Bump

WWE Hall of Famer gave his thoughts this week on 61-year-old fellow Hall of Famer Sting taking a big bump on AEW Dynamite last week.

On his Hall of Fame podcast (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Marco Rovere), Booker expressed his opinion on why Sting felt the need to take a powerbomb from Brian Cage:

"You want to be a team player, you don't want to be a guy sitting on the sidelines, sitting on the bench. You want to get in the game. I know that's Sting's mentality, he's not going to want to go there and just get a paycheck. Don't treat me like I'm one of the old guys, he wants to feel like one of the boys. One of the ways to ingratiate yourself with the boys is to go out and take a big bump, go out there and do something crazy, jump off something.

"That's what Sting did, went out and took the biggest bump you could possibly take, which was the powerbomb by Brian Cage. It was a hard bump, definitely one of those bumps after coming off the deal with Seth Rollins he said I want to test myself. Let me test myself, go out here and see if I can still take it at 61 years old."

Booker made reference to Sting's last match, which was against Seth Rollins at WWE Night of Champions 2015.

That match marked the end of Sting's in-ring tenure in WWE, and for quite a while it looked like he would never wrestle again. Sting suffered a scary neck injury in the match, after which WWE shut him down, inducting him into the Hall of Fame and primarily using him as an ambassador.

Sting apparently wanted more than that, and he made his AEW debut in December. Recently, AEW announced that Sting will team with TNT champion Darby Allin to face Cage and Ricky Starks in a street fight at March 7's Revolution pay-per-view.

While Sting may have proven something to himself by taking the powerbomb, Booker said that he, at 55 years of age, wouldn't have done the same thing:

"I know taking a bump like that for me, I'll be 56 in a couple weeks and I know I'd be in a straight jacket. I can only wonder how he feels today after taking a powerbomb like that. Was it something that was warranted was my question. My answer is no. Beat me down, all you gotta do is beat me down, I will sell it like a car ran over me. We would've got what we needed out of this deal, but for him to actually go and take a powerbomb cold? Because you can't warm up to take a powerbomb if you haven't had a match, there ain't enough stretching in the world."

Sting deserves a lot of credit for being willing to put his body on the line given his age and injury history, but Booker's point seems to be in reference to working smarter rather than harder, especially at this stage.

If Sting wants to have some level of longevity in terms of being able to work some matches in AEW, avoiding big bumps like the powerbomb may be in his best interest moving forward.

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