10 WWE Champions Who Vanished Without A Trace After WrestleMania

The Rock’s 2013 WWE Championship reign was a big deal on paper. He ended CM Punk’s historic 434-day run, brought mainstream buzz back to WWE, and headlined WrestleMania 29 in a “Once in a Lifetime” rematch with John Cena. But once the final bell rang in New Jersey, The Great One didn’t just leave the building — he vanished.

What fans didn’t know at the time was that The Rock had suffered a brutal injury mid-match. He tore his abdominal and adductor tendons clean off the bone — reportedly during the first Attitude Adjustment — and wrestled the rest of the match in excruciating pain. He flew home to Miami immediately after and informed WWE he wouldn’t be at Raw hours before the show went live.

The result? A chaotic Raw after 'Mania. Cena was left cutting promos on thin air, and the WWE Title picture moved on without any closure. No farewell. No explanation. Just a tweet and a rehab hashtag.

For a man who once electrified arenas, The Rock’s 2013 exit felt less like a grand finale and more like someone yanked the plug mid-promo.