On the February 14, 2011 episode of
Raw, The Rock was revealed as the Host of WrestleMania XXVII, appearing live on
Raw for the first time in almost seven years. During a lengthy promo that ran 20 minutes over the usual
Raw end time, The Rock addressed the fans, Michael Cole, The Miz, and John Cena, calling him a "big fat bowl of Fruity Pebbles", as a response of a shoot interview Cena did on The Rock a couple of years ago.
After numerous appearances via satellite, The Rock made a live appearance on
Raw
to confront Cena, whom he had been feuding with through social
networking. At the beginning of The Rock's live promo, he again made fun
of Cena's accessories, calling him a "homeless power ranger" and "Vanilla Ice". After an exchange of words with Cena, The Miz and Alex Riley appeared and attacked The Rock. The Rock fended off Miz and Riley, but Cena then blindsided The Rock with the Attitude Adjustment.
The Rock talking at WrestleMania XXVII.
At WrestleMania XXVII on April 3, The Rock opened the show by cutting a promo. After numerous backstage segments that aired on camera, The Rock appeared during the main event
between Cena and The Miz to restart the match that ended in a draw,
making it a No Disqualifications match. However, in response to the
Attitude Adjustment that Cena performed on The Rock on Raw, The Rock hit
Cena with his finisher, the Rock Bottom, this allowed The Miz to pin
and retain his title. However, Rock then nailed The Miz with The
People's Elbow right after The Miz retained his title.
The Rock and John Cena agree to a match at WrestleMania XXVIII, one year in advance.
The next night on
Raw, The Rock and Cena had a confrontation, after Cena called out The Rock and challenged him to a match which he accepted for WrestleMania XXVIII on April 1, 2012 a little under a year. The two of them then came together to fend off an attack by The Corre (which at that time consisted of Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel and Ezekiel Jackson).
The Rock made an appearance live on
Raw in his hometown of Miami on May 2, 2011 to celebrate his 39th birthday.
On the same night John Cena stated that he would keep the WWE Championship until WrestleMania XXVIII so that their match would be for the WWE Championship.
On September 16, 2011, WWE.com reported that The Rock was then
confirmed to take part in a tag team match alongside his WrestleMania 28
opponent John Cena at the 25th anniversary of Survivor Series on November 20.
This stipulation was changed on the October 24 episode of
Raw, when John Cena chose The Rock as his tag team partner in a standard tag team match against Awesome Truth, an alliance formed by Miz and R Truth. The following week on the October 31 episode of
Raw,
The Rock, appearing via satellite video announced that he would accept
John Cena's offer at Survivor Series albeit the hyped tension between
them.
The Rock celebrating Wrestlemania 28
On the November 14 episode of
Raw before Survivor Series The Rock presented himself for a three-hour episode named "RAW Gets Rocked". Mick Foley returned as well to present Cena his very own
This Is Your Life segment that included the returning cameo of Cena's old tag team partner Bull Buchanan
as well as an appearance by Cena's father. Trying to amend the
hostility between The Rock and Cena, Foley kept on insisting for both
men to become friends, only to have The Rock come out and give a
Rock Bottom
to Foley, thus abruptly ending the segment. Later that night, Miz and
R-Truth called out The Rock and Cena, only to receive a beat down and a
Rock Bottom
each, closing the episode before Survivor Series. Despite the hatred
between Rock and Cena both men managed to win their tag team match at
Survivor Series against The Miz and R-Truth with Rock winning the match
by giving The Miz his finishing move
The People's Elbow and
pinning him to pick up the victory. Following the match, The Rock gave
John Cena a Rock Bottom. After Survivor Series went off the air, The
Rock delivered a promo thanking all his fans and ending it with his
signature catchphrase, "If ya smell what The Rock is cookin'".
On the February 27, 2012 episode of
Raw The Rock returned and addressed the crowd about comments John Cena made against him in the previous episode of
Raw and about their upcoming match at WrestleMania XXVIII. At WrestleMania XXVIII, Rock defeated Cena, pinning him after a Rock Bottom.
[1 The next night, he announced that it was just the beginning and that he intends to become WWE Champion one more time.
