John Cena publicly apologizes to Dwayne Johnson for violating his trust with WWE feud

John Cena has publicly apologized to Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson for a feud he had with the People's Champion more than a decade ago.

The Rock became one of the biggest stars in the WWE's 'Attitude Era' in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Johnson would eventually retire as a professional wrestler and pivot his career to acting with his first film appearance in The Mummy Returns, before taking on a starring role in The Scorpion King and going on to become a box office hit.

At the time, Cena criticized The Rock for departing from wrestling for acting, something he himself also eventually went on to do.

Now, Cena has apologized to Johnson for the feud, admitting that he was wrong.

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Speaking after a press conference for the WWE pay-per-view event Fastlane on Saturday, he said: "I 100 percent see and understand that perspective and if you've been following what I've tried to do, especially as of late, both publicly and personally to Dwayne Johnson, I've stated that, although I thought I was trying to do what's best for business, I went about it the wrong way."

He added: "I violated his trust and I made allegations about his perspective that I knew nothing about. And deep down, I was a fan. I wanted The Rock back [in WWE]. I wanted to do anything to get The Rock back, but I did it the wrong way, I didn't do it the respectful way.

"I had to eat a little bit of crow. I had to say 'I’m sorry and I was wrong,' because I am sorry and I was wrong, and that’s a very humbling experience."

Cena continued: "Dwayne is a hell of a guy. We had a conversation. We've grown. I was able to welcome him home, which was like a full true circle moment."

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The pair had previously gone head to head in the ring as the headline event of WrestleManiaXXVII at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida in 2012, with The Rock claiming victory.

Now, the SAG-AFTRA strike has seen Cena return to the ring until the strike is resolved.

However, he has ruled out staying in wrestling once the strike is resolved due to the risk of injury affecting other people employed on films he may be working on.

Cena said: “If I were trying to juggle both that’s very selfish because I’d put a whole lot of people in the movie business out of work if something happened to me.”