The Rock's controversial comments do not justify WWE WrestleMania 41 absence, explains former AEW champion

WWE Superstar The Rock recently talked about the reason behind his absence from WrestleMania 41. Former AEW Women's World Champion Thunder Rosa explained why The Brahma Bull's comments are unjustified.

After aligning with John Cena at WWE Elimination Chamber, The Brahma Bull did not show up on any shows leading up to 'Mania after the Chamber. Many fans still expected him to make an appearance during John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes, but that did not happen either.

During a recent edition of The Pat McAfee Show, The Rock revealed that he only showed up at WWE Elimination Chamber because he received a call from the CEO of TKO, Ari Emanuel, asking him to make an appearance because of the low ticket sales. These comments have attracted a lot of controversy from fans on social media, as they believe The Final Boss shouldn't have become a part of Cena's storyline if there was no plan for him to show up at The Show of Shows.

During a recent edition of the Busted Open Podcast, host Dave LaGreca asked Thunder Rosa if John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes would have been different if The Rock had never shown up at Elimination Chamber due to low ticket sales.

Rosa said she believed if The Brahma Bull hadn't gotten involved in John Cena's and Cody Rhodes' storyline, then there could have been a better build-up to their match at WWE WrestleMania 41.

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"I mean, I honestly think that it would've been still, you know, John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes. Maybe we would've seen a better build-up for this because I feel like even for this WrestleMania, this is something that we've talked about for weeks, the build-up for this WrestleMania specifically wasn't as good as it was last year. Not even close, not even close," she said. [From 0:58 - 1:17]

The former AEW Women's World Champion added that The Final Boss' comments on Pat McAfee's show did not justify his absence because fans never got the reason for his inclusion in Cena's story.

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"This year it was different and again the lacking of the 'why,' the motives for certain things and certain storylines, it was needed and it was never told to the fans. And I think no matter where they're moving, the hardcore fans and the fans that have been making things work, they deserve to get this story. We deserve to get what, you know, professional wrestling is like, the whole psychology, the 'why' of why we're doing certain things, because that's a thing I feel like in many different companies is missing. They insert stories or they insert people, then there's no follow-up, then they expect the fans to figure it out or to understand it and it just never happens," she added. [From 1:28 - 2:12]

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WWE veteran believes The Rock made a statement with his absence from WrestleMania 41

WWE veteran Jonathan Coachman recently took to X (fka Twitter) to react to The Rock's comments on The Pat McAfee Show. Coachman said he believed something was going on between The Brahma Bull and the Triple H-led creative team, which was the reason behind Rocky's absence from WWE WrestleMania 41.

The veteran added that Dwayne Johnson made a statement by not showing up and left things for the company to fix.

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"I don't know what is going on, but something is going on. I've been around enough backstage to know when, creatively, you don't get along. They are not getting along. And The Rock somehow wanted to make a statement. Well, statement made loud and clear. Now, they are doing cleanup. And that, that was not it," he added.

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It remains to be seen if The Final Boss will ever show up alongside John Cena on WWE television before the latter's retirement at the end of this year.

Please credit the Busted Open Podcast and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling if you use quotes from the first half of this article.

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