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?

Justin James, PWTorch contributor

If it is going to be a three-match series (and it really shouldn’t be; another month of this, let alone two years. will drive me away from Raw for good), I’d give Cena the initial win or perhaps a draw to stun The Rock into taking him as a serious threat. Then, get Rock on a more frequent in-ring basis, where his rationale is that “Cena took me past my limits because I’ve been out of the ring too long.” From there, give Rock the second win, but just barely.

Another variation would be to use the final few weeks before Mania to build Rocky up as a total unstoppable force, and have Cena manage to hang on to the bitter end, but still lose; just “going the distance” will be a victory. Then, give Cena a big win in the second match (yes, this is a total rip off of "Rocky," but WWE likes to steal popular ideas, anyways). Either way, fans will want to see who the better man is for the third match (which would be an “I Quit” or “Last Man Standing” match), if they can tolerate these two jabbing at each other via Twitter and 15 minute promos for three years straight. (Read James's weekly reviews of WWE NXT and Superstars.)

Shane McKinley, PWTorch Absurdity specialist

No matter if Cena remains a face or turns to the dark side at Mania, Cena should win the Mania match. The Mania match is most likely going to end with a suspect finish to give either Rock or Cena an out. Neither one of these characters would take a clean loss straight-up. It's just not fathomable. Say Rock takes a straight loss and goes back to Hollywood until his next match with Cena. It would portray him as a guy who's not a wrestler any more and scampered off to the safety of Hollywood. Going that route, no one would care about seeing the next Cena-Rock showdown.

The Cena-Rock storyline, as of right now, has that "professional wrestler vs. Hollywood action star" theme. In wrestling, attaching the word "Hollywood" to any wrestling character naturally means the guy is a conceited asshat heel who thinks he's better than everyone else. Overall, I think the finish to this three-match series should be these two guys shaking hands (Cena is still babyface) or Cena proclaiming his dominance over Rocky and receiving a Rock Bottom (Cena as heel). (Read McKinley's Absurdity column on a regular basis lampooning events in wrestling.)

Jon Cudo, PWTorch specialist

They shouldn't even go here, hypothetically. What they have shown to-date is a petty Twitter battle filled with juvenile barbs, jealousy, and irrational pot shots that make both stars look small and trite. A three-match series would only tell me that they know they have painted themselves into a corner in Miami, where Rock can't lose without upsetting a big chunk of their fans and the live crowd.

We don't know what they have together as far as in-ring chemistry, but, right now, their year-long hype has been a flop. When Act 1 is as ill-conceived and executed as this has been, I, for one, don't care to see Acts 2 and 3. (Read Cudo's weekly True-False-TBD column covering hot topics in wrestling.)

Charles Cress, PWTorch humor specialist

Hypothetically, if this were to happen, I'd open my skull up with a can opener. Three-match series are saved for grandiose encounters of apocalyptic scale, wherein it's more of a reward for the fans than the wrestlers. Who's being rewarded for watching these two go at it for 20 minutes? Let's be honest: The Rock's moveset was never really that interesting. The best part of his matches were the crowd, and his opponent. Watching the Rock huff and puff while exchanging awkward punch for awkward punch with the one guy who looks sillier than him would be a nightmare. Not counting finishing moves, I think there will be a grand total of one bodyslam/suplex in this match. It's like when two over-eager fat kids get their chance in the backyard wrestling league. (Best part of any backyard wrestling league, by the way: when the two fat kids keep pulling their shirts down to avoid having their goo spill out. It's like punch, pull shirt, punch, pull shirt. You know, like how the pros do it.) Plus, who is this really putting over? You know, that Cena guy, he could use a push. He never gets the World Title and doesn't have the benefit of being in movies like The Rock. Oh wait...

But, in the spirit of being sporting, I'll try to answer the question without taking off my dome like a can of Chef Boyardee. I hate fantasy booking, so I'll make this vague and to the point. Rock would win the WM28 encounter, if only to give Cena something to do. Having a crisis of character and maybe coming to grips with the fact that he's not invincible any more would be compelling from a story perspective. Maybe the stark realization of his own mortality would drive him, change him, maybe it'll endear him to fans. Cena can build himself back up and meet Rock again, this time hungrier and victorious. The final match would have them both focused and sharp for a blow for blow, tit-for-tat match-up contested under Last Man Standing rules that has Cena standing tall after a scrappy performance that abandons many of the lame tropes he encompasses. Rock would shake his hand afterward and effectively pass the torch, and go away forever. And ever. And ever. Also, this is basically the first three Rocky movies minus Mr. T.

I shall now light myself on fire. (Read Cress's Alphabet Soup column after each week's Raw and Smackdown episode.)

George Chiverton, PWTorch specialist

The idea of a series poses both positives and negatives in relation to Rock, Cena, and WWE, but if it were to happen, then, in my opinion, there is only one logical chain of events.

Firstly, and, most importantly, Rock wins in Miami for three reasons. (1) It logically leads to a re-match. (2) People would hear about a Rock win in a way a Cena win wouldn't. (3) If Cena won, there would be a genuine riot in Miami. After all, who puts their best heel over the hometown hero without an aggressive disdain for the city? Imagine if Punk had lost to Cena in Chicago, or, perhaps worst, Cena had beaten RVD at the Hammerstein. Basically, if Cena strings together a couple of meaningful wins, you're facing a national disaster.

So, yes, Rock wins. Cena, facing confliction starts to turn semi-heel, doubting his own messages and image. This leads to a couple of nice main events on the way to Summerslam against the likes of Ryder, Mysterio, and maybe even Kingston. At Summerslam, a heelish Cena faces Rock, arrogant that now he can easily beat Rock. Instead, Cena gets absolutely humiliated by Rock, beating him as quickly as a Summerslam main event allows for. Perhaps a 30-minute Iron Man match is the best way to go with Rock achieving a victory margin of at least five pinfalls.

Cue Cena's road to redemption, where he is aided by Rock, who is desperate to recreate the (hopefully) great match from the previous year's WrestleMania. This sets up a respectful face vs. face match, which would hopefully give Cena a much more positive rub than this feud currently has. Of course, Cena wins, they shake hands, and everyone walks away smiling.

I think this set up is a guaranteed winner, although, it's highly dependent on whether WWE can generate another year of decent feuding. Admittedly, Summerslam will help break this up, but I really don't want another year of petty twittering. That's Chris Brown's idea of a fight, and he engages in boxing for foreplay. (Read Chiverton's NXT Weekly Rankings & Evaluation column on Wednesdays.)

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