It's pretty hard to believe, but fans once chanted "Die, Rocky, die" at the man who would become beloved movie star Dwayne Johnson. Some of his fellow superstars feel the same way, or at least did at one time or another.
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00:00It's pretty hard to believe, but fans once chanted,
00:03"'Die, Rocky, die' at the man who would become beloved movie star Dwayne Johnson.
00:07Some of his fellow superstars feel the same way, or at least did, at one time or another."
00:13After two years and one failed attempt, Cody Rhodes finally finished his story at WrestleMania
00:1740 by defeating Roman Reigns for the undisputed WWE Championship.
00:21But it almost didn't happen.
00:23Fans had to demand it after The Rock nearly took it all away.
00:26After winning the men's Royal Rumble match for the second straight year, Cody was set
00:29to challenge Reigns at the main event at Mania, only for The Rock to insert himself,
00:33requesting Cody hand his title match to him to determine the true head of the table.
00:38Fans hated it, thinking it was unfair for the Royal Rumble winner to simply give what
00:42he won in that match to The Rock, who wasn't even in the Rumble.
00:46WWE saw the writing on the wall and changed course, with Cody demanding his match with
00:50Reigns at a February press conference in Las Vegas.
00:53That established the main events of both nights of WrestleMania, a tag match between The Rock
00:58and Roman and Cody and Seth Rollins on night one, then Roman and Cody's title match on
01:02night two.
01:03Just before Mania, Cody made his feelings about the final boss known in an interview
01:07on the MMA Hour.
01:08"...I don't have to like him, and I really, genuinely don't like The Rock."
01:12But Cody did add that he respects what Johnson has done for the business, as well as opening
01:16the doors to wrestlers who want to pursue acting.
01:18Even since WrestleMania 40, the American Nightmare has continued to poke the bear with The Rock,
01:23stating that the final boss is obsessed with him, and that if Johnson ends up going into
01:27politics, Rhodes may follow.
01:29But is it real animosity, or just storyline?
01:32Well, it's wrestling, so we may never know for sure.
01:36If you thought it was just Cody Rhodes that didn't like The Rock by the time the bell
01:39rang on night one of WrestleMania 40, you'd be wrong.
01:42Then-World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins was recovering from a knee injury when The
01:46Rock inserted himself into the Mania plan.
01:49When Malesport asked about what had been going on in his absence, Rollins explained that
01:53WWE was just fine without The Rock, calling him an afterthought, adding,
01:57"...he's going to run his mouth, he's going to say the same crap he's been saying for
02:01the last two decades, cause he can't come up with any new material."
02:04The Rock had also just become a member of the board of directors of WWE's parent company,
02:08TKO.
02:09Seeing him throw his weight around both onscreen and off was something that Rollins called
02:13gross.
02:14However, Rollins did have some nice things to say about the People's Champion once he
02:18knew that he would be working with him at WrestleMania 40, calling him an
02:22specimen, and saying that he is someone who should never be overlooked considering what
02:26he has done in his career.
02:29Since returning to WWE in 2023, CM Punk seems to have mellowed out a bit.
02:33Compare his demeanor now to how he was after WrestleMania 27 in 2011, for example.
02:38That WrestleMania quite frankly left a lot to be desired in terms of match quality, but
02:43also turned out to be one of the most successful pay-per-views in wrestling history, thanks
02:47in large part due to the wrestling return of The Rock, who hosted the show.
02:52The Rock being in WWE for the first time since 2004 was enough to bring in over one million
02:56buys.
02:57Punk, who wrestled Randy Orton on the show, contended that The Rock was not the only reason
03:01for the success of WrestleMania 27, and insinuated that Johnson was not part of the team, telling
03:06the New York Daily News,
03:07"'You know, the thing about that is, he's not around.
03:10He's not around.
03:11It doesn't help morale when the guy goes right from his limo to the dressing room to the
03:14dressing room to the ring.
03:16He's very bourgeois Hollywood."
03:18Punk referenced The Rock in his infamous Pipe Bomb promo later that June, too.
03:22And to almost prove Punk's point, The Rock ended Punk's 434-day title reign in 2013 just
03:28before that year's WrestleMania, so The Rock's match with John Cena could be a title match.
03:34Well before he faced off with The Rock in back-to-back WrestleMania main events, John
03:38Cena was already taking shots at the Great One.
03:40In 2008, Cena told The Sun he was frustrated that The Rock had claimed that he loved wrestling,
03:45but only made sporadic appearances after he properly left the company in 2004.
03:49Cena did not hold back, saying,
03:51"'Don't f— me around and tell me that you love this when you are just doing this to
03:54do something else.'"
03:55In 2012, during the build to their showdown at WrestleMania 28, Cena famously called out
04:01The Rock for writing parts of his promo on his wrist, something that visibly angered
04:05Johnson.
04:06Over a decade later, Cena said he regrets doing that without warning.
04:09Professional would have been like, hey, before you go out there, if you do go out there like
04:15that, I'm going to use it.
04:17It seems that Cena's own move to Hollywood has given him a better understanding of The
04:20Rock's position at the time.
04:23The Rock's last match as a full-timer in WWE was a three-on-two handicap match at WrestleMania
04:2820.
04:29He and Mick Foley reunited as the Rock and Sock connection to Face Evolution's Ric Flair,
04:34Batista, and 23-year-old Randy Orton.
04:37By the time The Rock returned in 2011, Orton was already a seven-time world champion, eclipsing
04:42The Rock's personal record of five world title reigns.
04:45Now a major star, Orton wasn't too thrilled about potentially having to share TV time
04:49with a part-timer.
04:50In a radio interview shortly after The Rock's return, Orton buried the People's Champion
04:54as deep as he could.
04:56Orton claimed that The Rock used both writers and teleprompters in the arena to put together
05:00and perform his promos.
05:02Orton said he believed that John Cena outclassed The Rock on every level and that The Rock
05:06had lied to the fans about his intention not to leave WWE again.
05:11According to Orton, The Rock called then-WWE head Vince McMahon personally to complain
05:15about Orton's comments, which also angered McMahon.
05:18Orton and The Rock would reportedly squash their beef by the end of the year, but have
05:21never crossed paths in the ring since.
05:25After the Rocky Sucks chance started to die down and the then-Rocky MyVIA star began to
05:30rise a bit in 1997, he apparently started to get a little cocky backstage.
05:34Ahmed Johnson, no relation, claimed in a Shoot interview that he got into a legitimate
05:39fight with The Great One.
05:40The Rock supposedly wanted to get all of his high spots into their match, but wasn't willing
05:44to take any of Ahmed's.
05:45But it was basically, you know, him not wanting to take my finish, me not wanting to take
05:50his finish.
05:51It was kind of a back-and-forth argument from there.
05:55This led to a brief altercation where a few blows were thrown by each man.
05:58However, Bruce Prichard recalled the brawls starting a different way, saying Ahmed was
06:02the one running his mouth instead of The Rock.
06:05Either way, the fight definitely happened.
06:07Ahmed said he believed that The Rock never liked him because he was using his real last
06:10name, while The Rock had to use the name MyVIA after his grandfather, High Chief Peter MyVIA.
06:15To this day, neither Ahmed nor The Rock has ever clarified where the real roots of their
06:19issues lie.
06:21After Stone Cold Steve Austin broke his neck at SummerSlam 1997, the then-WWF was in need
06:27of some new rising stars to build the next few months of shows around.
06:30The two men who ended up being pushed into that position were Rocky MyVIA and Hunter
06:34Hurst Hemsley.
06:36From there, the real-life rivalry between The Rock and Triple H was born.
06:39Both men wanted to be the top guy, but there can only be one of those.
06:43So they sabotaged, backstabbed, and trash-talked each other to no end.
06:47Bret the Hitman Hart remembers Triple H trying to sabotage The Rock's initial push.
06:51Bruce Prichard believed the jealousy between the two festered into their promos and ultimately
06:56led to both men going off-script.
06:57Ric Flair still believes that there is bad blood between the two men to this day.
07:01The two addressed their longstanding animosity in a special episode of WWE Rivals in February
07:062024.
07:07Both admitted to having a real-life hatred for one another, as a result of competitiveness
07:12and jealousy.
07:13Triple H has mentioned many times that he didn't get along with The Rock from the moment
07:16the Cerebral Assassins team lost to the Great Ones in MyVIA's Survivor Series 1996.
07:22He also noted that the two are now friends, with the current WWE CCO admitting that he
07:27would have loved to have main-evented WrestleMania with The Rock when they had the chance in
07:312000.
07:32The Rock is often regarded as the greatest trash-talker in the history of WWE.
07:37His Attitude Era promos were so impactful that they killed Billy Gunn and Al Snow's
07:41pushes in 1999 and The Big Show's very legitimate argument that he should have won the 2000
07:47Royal Rumble.
07:48But not everyone was going to sit there and take it.
07:50In 2002, the NWO came from the shuttered WCW to WWE, injecting it with a lethal dose of
07:57poison.
07:58Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash all returned to the company.
08:01And given that they were the biggest attraction in WCW, it was only right that they started
08:05feuding with The Rock.
08:07After Hogan faced The Rock at WrestleMania 18, leading to an unexpected babyface turn
08:11for the Hulkster, Nash became The Rock's new rival.
08:14The Rock reportedly went off-script and called Nash a big daddy b----, a comment Nash felt
08:19hurt his character.
08:20When they eventually met in the ring, Nash was a little more stiff with The Rock than
08:23usual.
08:25The two crossed paths multiple more times, with Nash again taking liberties with the
08:28People's Champion.
08:29It caused a rift that lasted for years.
08:31But he was just f----- with me, and then I was just in turn, just became a d----.
08:36Fortunately, the two have buried the hatchet, with Nash even apologizing to The Rock on
08:39social media.
08:41There are multiple reasons why Shawn Michaels and The Rock never really got along, and it
08:45first stemmed from a rumored incident that occurred back when Dwayne Johnson was a teenager.
08:50Michaels had reportedly been disrespectful to The Rock's grandmother while working a
08:53show in Hawaii, leading to a young Rock to become furious and try to confront Michaels.
08:58Nothing came of it, but years later, when The Rock debuted in WWE, Michaels was one
09:02of the company's top stars.
09:04Michaels is said to have done everything he could to rattle the young star.
09:07In 1999, The Rock confronted Michaels about kicking him too hard in the face.
09:12That led to Michaels telling The Rock that if he couldn't handle it, he shouldn't be
09:15in the business.
09:16This led to a reported scuffle between the two that had to be broken up.
09:19Both men ended up being cordial with each other, but The Rock repeatedly expressed his
09:23lack of desire to talk about the heartbreak kit.
09:26Johnson even said in a 2005 interview with WWE.com that he had no interest in ever getting
09:31in the ring with Michaels, despite the fact that Michaels had turned his personal life
09:35around by that point.
09:36A match between the two was pitched for WrestleMania in 2006, but according to Michaels, The Rock
09:41simply wasn't interested.
09:42HBK faced Vince McMahon in a no-holds-barred match instead.