PWTorch Specialist Roundtable Question: Hypothetically, if The Rock and John Cena were to have a Best-of-Three Series, how would the series play out? Who wins the first match in the series at WrestleMania 28?

Nathan Kyght, PWTorch PPV specialist

Obviously, if the scenario is a "one and done," then I think the right move for business would be John Cena winning at WrestleMania. A non-finish would be too anti-climactic for the main event of Mania, and The Rock going over, while certainly being the move that pops the crowd in Miami, is not good in the long run. It would send the wrong message if their top star loses, yet the guy who beat him doesn't stick around full-time.

However, if indeed WWE decided to go with a three-match series, I'm all for The Rock getting his hand raised to close out "The Show of Shows." It's WrestleMania. It's undoubtedly the biggest show of the wrestling year, and it has always been about the proverbial "WrestleMania Moment." In front of what I'm sure will be a rabid Miami crowd, one of the all-time stars of the business getting the clean win and sending the crowd home happy would be a truly awesome spectacle.

No matter how the company decides to play it out, though, I can't see any logic whatsoever to Cena not getting the best of The Rock in the series. As I said, Rock is maybe going to be around a handful of times a year; business-wise it's pointless to have him show up, beat the full-time wrestlers, and leave. The Rock should be an attraction, not a guy who is perceived as better than the roster and is trying to get people to watch the shows and buy the pay-per-views on a weekly basis. (Read Kyght's PPV Evaluation column after each major PPV.)

Matt Baxendell, PWTorch contributor

If the plan is for a Rock-Cena trifecta, then The Rock has to win in Miami. That would allow Cena to turn into a full-fledged heel running roughshod over WWE in anger at his loss until Summerslam, where Rock rides in as the savior. But, Cena would get the win there, too, and any heel character would take off for having beaten the most popular in-ring performer today. People would REALLY hate him, then.

That brings it full circle to WM29 for Rock to get his redemption. If done right, this could create a game-changing heel character for Cena and shake things up more than Punk did last summer. But, of course, Vince won't want to give up the t-shirt revenue, so what I just wrote will never happen. (Baxendell regularly contributes to TNA coverage.)

Jon Mezzera, PWTorch Hits & Misses specialist

God forbid! I really hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling that by the time we get to WrestleMania 28, we will be glad that the feud will finally be over. To have it go best-of-three doesn't sound like a good idea to me. But, if that is the plan, then The Rock should definitely win the first match. It makes sense to have him win in Miami to send the fans home happy and have a satisfying ending for the PPV buyers out there, a majority of whom presumably will be rooting for Rock.

There is potential for an interesting angle coming out of WrestleMania if Cena loses. What will that do to him? How will it effect his career? Will it play into Kane's attempts to have him embrace the hate? Cena would obviously have to win a re-match, so the question then becomes who wins the final match? In a one-and-done situation, the current star should really win, and I would say the same for the rubber match of a best-of-three series, so Cena needs to win in the end. (Read Mezzera's regular Hits & Misses column after each Raw and Smackdown episode.)

Anthony Beckingham, PWTorch reviewer

Ever since The Rock and John Cena shook hands on a WrestleMania match almost a year ago now, I have been trying to work out how WWE is going to get themselves out of one of the worst cases of "booking yourself into a corner" since they booked John Cena to defend the WWE Title against Rob Van Dam in the Hammerstein Ballroom.

On one hand, WWE has their full-time babyface versus a returning legend, which makes it obvious that the full-timer should win, as he needs more of a rub. On the other hand, it's in the returning legend's hometown mixed with the kind of passionate fans who are going to fly around the world and pay ridiculous sums of money to see the show. I went to see Mick Foley's stand-up show in London this weekend and talked to a few of the people who are willing to pay thousands of pounds to see said show and, let me assure you, they are not Cena fans. I genuinely don't know which way WWE goes with that, especially if it's the last show of the evening.

So, if they can turn this into a three-match series, suddenly the trouble is wiped away by having Rock win the first one and then Cena go onto win the next and probably the third. That is the way you'd have to do it. But, this could be a dangerous road to travel down as 2011 was one of the worst years for Raw and a lot of it is due to John Cena having no sense of seriousness or urgency because he knew and we knew that everything was filler until this match. I don't know if I can take another year of that. (Read Beckingham's regular Shimmer DVD reviews.)

Check back for Part 2 on Monday morning!

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