The Rock was quick to praise his and WWE’s own storytelling in the wake of John Cena’s plot twist on Saturday night, but one star has been eclipsing them all.
Both wrestling sensations turned Hollywood megastars, Rock and Cena joined forces at WWE’s Elimination Chamber at the weekend.
It made for a compelling storyline twist for fans, who got to see Cena as a heel – the wrestling term for a bad guy – for the first time in decades.
He’s aligned with The Rock in a bid, it appears, to take down Cody Rhodes and snatch his WWE title in a storyline that has roots going back all the way to the early part of 2024.
Even the recruitment to the cause of Cena looks as though it had seeds planted on screen six months ago – The Rock hinting as much when he hit back at fan criticism by saying he’s a ‘long gamer.’
Rock prides himself on the art of the story over the years but, it seems, there might one master of the long tale that does the job even better than he does – so much so that he’s still doing it from beyond the grave.
Windham Rotunda, better known in wrestling circles as Bray Wyatt, tragically passed away in 2023 at the age of just 36, having already established himself as one of the industry’s best storytellers.
Known for portraying characters with incredible depth and artistry, Wyatt was the master behind The Fiend and The Firefly Funhouse during his cruelly short career, enjoying tenures as a world champion in WWE along the way.
Of his many, many rivals, one of the greatest was undoubtedly Cena. The pair duelled during the Pandemic era of WWE programming and faced off in the sensationally creative Firefly Funhouse Match at WrestleMania in 2020.
The two pulled off a masterpiece of cinema, telling the story of Cena’s rise and, Wyatt felt, the veteran’s fall. He beat Cena in the match in one of the finest highlights of his time in WWE, but not before laying down some heavy messages at the star’s feet.
One such verbal takedown has resurfaced in the wake of the decision to turn the 47-year-old heel, something which seemed utterly unthinkable back in 2020.
Wyatt, fans feel, had Cena pegged the whole time, predicting his need to trample over others to succeed in the end in what they’re calling an eerie but sensational foreshadowing of what was to come five years later, and three years after Wyatt’s own death, which The Rock said left him ‘heartbroken.’
“I’m not sick, you are,” Wyatt told Cena in the ring back then. “I know why you came here, John, and I know why you can’t say no.
“You don’t really think we think that you care about the future, do we? I mean, John Cena cares about John Cena, right?!
“It doesn’t matter who he has to smash or bury along the way, as long as he gets his spotlight. Spotlight, yeah, that’s what it’s all about. You crave it, like an addict. You fiend for it…”
Wyatt’s words were, as ever, prophetic, with fans calling back to that address, saying: “Bray Wyatt really foreshadowed about John Cena it actually happen, I miss that man.”
Of the clip that’s now been seen over a million times on X since Cena’s character twist, another added: “Bray Wyatt was ahead of the curve.”
A third said: “A prophet’s prophecy fulfilled. [Bray Wyatt] tried to warn us five years ago,” while another note read: “…Bray knew back then is crazy. Wish he was here to see it…”
Not for the first time since Wyatt’s passing, it seems evident that while he may be gone, the Eater of Worlds is far from forgotten.
