50 Things You Learn Binge-Watching Every WWE WrestleMania

23. The Rock Overshadowed XXVII’s Main Event

WWE WrestleMania Biggest Lie John Cena The Rock
WWE

The Miz was WWE Champion and third wheeling hard during the road to 'Mania XXVII. They didn't want to admit this, but creative's attention was firmly on possibilities of a match between The Rock and John Cena. That'd be formally announced on Monday Night Raw the night after WrestleMania, which only further pushed reigning champ Miz into the background.

Arguably, it would've been impossible to promote Rocky as guest host for the show without all eyes going on him. That's fair. What isn't fair is that Miz won the main event vs. Cena but nobody was talking about that coming out of the card. Nope, they were far too busy discussing a Rock Bottom on JC. That'd rapidly develop into a match one year in the making for 'Mania XXVIII.

So, impossible for Rock to do anything else other than hog the spotlight and overshadow full-timers...right? Not really. Look at WrestleMania 40 in 2024 as an example of Rock influence done better. It's night and day between how he handled business for that weekender and how things went down 13 years prior. Yes, he was vital to 2024's story, but Dwayne wasn't presented as the only thing fans should care about.

He was the spotlighted star name for 'Mania XXVII. Christ, Rock was bigger than Cena, Miz, Triple H, Randy Orton and a leaping Rey Mysterio on the poster. That'd be fine for a few of those names, but the main event? They needed to feel equal to the guest host, and that wasn't the case.

WWE got better at this in recent years, and that's fun to figure out.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.