Jonathan Coachman Says The Rock Not Showing Up At WrestleMania 41 Hurt The Storyline

Jonathan Coachman believes that The Rock’s lack of appearance at WrestleMania 41 hurt the storyline and WrestleMania as a whole. The former WWE announcer appeared on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast and spoke about the Final Boss not appearing on the PPV, where John Cena defeated Cody Rhodes to win the Undisputed WWE Championship. You can see highlights below (per Wrestling Inc):

On Rock not showing up for the show: “He knew by not showing up that all anybody would talk about was him not showing up. And then what happened? The 13 other matches, two nights of WrestleMania, nobody talked about any of them. You watch any of the recaps, any of the shows, nothing. And that to me was a real disservice to the talent that got onto the shows. He sucked the entire oxygen out of that entire event by simply not showing up and then two days later giving us that excuse for not showing up.” 

On the notion that Rock’s character work in the story is done: “When you’re doing a wrestling angle, you start it and you finish it. But when he said, ‘Oh, I called Cody and I called John afterwards and said, I think the final boss’s job is done.’ Remember when he said that on McAfee? ‘I think my job is done.’ All you’ve done is this [throat slash gesture].” 

On what he would have had happen in the storyline: “So, I would have let [Cena] win as a babyface and go crazy, and the crowd would have gone bananas. And then you spend this summer, he can sell his soul the next night. You could have brought Rock out.”