WWE held a press conference earlier this afternoon in Miami, Florida to promote this Sunday’s WWE WrestleMania XXVIII pay-per-view. The press conference began with a video package showcasing the match between Triple H and The Undertaker with various WWE legends discussing the match. Josh Mathews and Matt Striker then welcome us to the show and talk about Team Johnny vs. Team Teddy as David Otunga and Santino Marella join both men. Santino says on Sunday “justice will perserverance”, however Otunga tells Santino that Team Laurinaitis will be victorious on Sunday before noting that WWE hasn’t seen a physique like his since the days of “Ravishing” Rick Rude. A video package then aired showcasing The Rock and John Cena’s feud including some clips of the Once in a Lifetime show as The Miz then crashes the party and talks to Josh and Matt about being included in the 12-man tag team match and how he is the Peyton Manning of the match and the only person people will be talking about post-WrestleMania.
The press conference then began proper as Michael Cole welcomed us and stated that millions are watching this live press conference online right now on YouTube, Facebook and WWE.com before introducing the Commissioner of Miami-Date County, Mr. José Diaz, who commented on how pleased he was to be able to bring WrestleMania to Miami this year, before introducing WWE executive John Saboor. Saboor thanked everyone for coming out and said that the WWE will be all over the place this week and no matter where you go this week, people are going to be talking about WrestleMania. Saboor then started to comment on the WWE Hall of Fame and made an error by calling 2012 WWE Hall of Famer Edge as “The Edge”, before bringing out Triple H for a photo opportunity and more, with Saboor given a key to the county.
Triple H got on the microphone and said that Miami has really rolled out the red carpet for the WWE this week and that since he has a key to the county, he’s keeping it open late tonight and then talked about the work that the WWE does with various companies including John Cena being the most requested celebrity for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and stating that on Sunday, the WWE talent have a chance to become a part of history. Hunter then noted that he’ll see The Undertaker, just like he’ll see everyone else this Sunday.
Michael Cole then took to the podium again to talk about WWE’s social media activity for WrestleMania and brought out Kofi Kingston, David Otunga, The Miz, Santino Marella and Ricardo Rodriguez to talk about the usage of Twitter as they all took photos and videos. Cole then introduced Mike Pouncey, representing the Miami Dolphins, who noted that he was a huge WWE fan growing up and tried stuff all times with his brother growing up. Following this Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres came out to discuss the tag team match against Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos this Sunday and talked about Maria’s rib injury on Dancing with the Stars. Eve Torres also talked up the company’s work with Be A Star and The Creative Coalition. Cole then introduced Rosa Mendes who talked in Spanish about the show before quickly departing to the back.
Michael Cole then returned to the podium to introduce CM Punk who came out wearing a Colt Cabana “Colt of Personality” t-shirt and jeans with the WWE Championship in hand and noted that he was wearing a suit earlier this morning and decided to take it off because the weather is too hot and said that doesn’t matter because what does is that 100 countries are going to watch him kick Chris Jericho’s a** this Sunday at WrestleMania and apologized for Michael Cole boring them to death. Punk then noted that he’s excited to be in Miami and hyped up some of the matches for the pay-per-view. Punk then teased taking his t-shirt off as it was getting warm and turned it into an auction, as one girl offered Punk $100 to do so, which he later cut off doing.
John Cena was the next to be introduced as he came out in his normal attire and talked up this Sunday’s WrestleMania pay-per-view, the enormity of the event and more. Cena said that it really is the biggest event of the year, before telling a story of 3 weeks ago in Cleveland, Ohio when he met a 12-year-old child named Dylan backstage at RAW and how he was informed that the child wouldn’t have 24 hours to live despite overcoming cancer and that now the child is still fighting and will be one of his special guests at this Sunday’s event, before noting that he’s waited seven years to finally come face to face with The Rock inside a WWE ring. The Rock was then introduced as Cole noted that he will be portraying the character of Roadblock in G.I. Joe this June. Rock said that he’s excited about competing at WrestleMania like he’s always been and that his family’s history in the wrestling business is huge and he’s looking to add to it by beating the best opponent that he could face at WrestleMania in John Cena. Rock stated that it’s going to be an honor for him to step inside the ring with Cena on Sunday before endorsing the rest of the roster and commented on CM Punk’s match with Chris Jericho before noting that being able to come back home is really meaningful to him and that this Sunday he will give Cena the hurricane a**-kicking of a lifetime.
The Rock then requested that Cena comes back out on stage for a face-to-face as the podium was moved away. Cena came out and went into a UFC-like/boxing-like pose as The Rock stuck out his chin as a taunt. The Rock then ended the staredown smiling, before patting Cena’s gut and walking off-stage as Cena noted that he’s the number one guy and he’ll see everyone at WrestleMania. The video went back to Matt Striker and Josh Mathews as both men wrapped up the press conference.