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Rock V HBK

4K views 33 replies 25 participants last post by  Mad Jester 
#1 ·
Was always a dream match of mine. Waas this a missed oppurtnity? In say 2001-2002 when Rock was at his peak? I heard HBK and Rock diddn't like each other. Not sure. But it was prob GOAT match that nenver happened. Combined ROck psyhcology and HBKS in ring prowress.
 
#3 ·
There are a lot of rumors that the Kliq tried to bury rock early in his career when he was starting to get big because they were afraid he was going to eclipse HHH which led to bad blood later on.


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#5 ·
#6 ·
By late 98, Shawn was in as good a shape as he was in 2002 if not better. It was due to psychological and other personal demons, he never came back to wrestling. Plus he was making about 15 grand a week to just sit at home. Not surprisingly, once WCW went bust that contract expired. Also from what I have heard in shoot interviews, Shawn was not a huge fan of the product as ring work had considerably deteriorated since he stepped out. I would love to sit at home just to get even 1/10th of what HBK made.

 
#29 · (Edited)
Is this true? I always wondered if his back injury was all a big work. I mean, it wasn't beyond him at that time to lie about something like that. Didn't he fake an injury before so that he didn't have to lose to Bret?

And then...after years of sobering up, his back is suddenly completely fine? Dude wrestled for years after his comeback. His knees seemed more banged up than his supposed compromised back.
 
#8 ·
The story I heard the most was that HBK and the Clique had issues with the way Rocky Maivia was being groomed to be the next superstar and actually Vince wanted Shawn to lose to Rocky in his earlier stint and Shawn just refused and that didn't resonate well with Rock and always held a grudge against Shawn which is understandable and almost everyone had issues with Shawn back then.

I also remember a match between Rock and HHH on Smackdown where Shawn was the special referee and he superkicked Rock and then spit on him which totally unnecessary and he might even have hit him with a chair and HHH won. I always wondered that Rock never got revenge on HBK for that.

Also there were rumors that Rock was supposed to face Shawn at WrestleMania 19 but suddenly Austin was forced into retirement and wanted his last match to be against Rock and then Rock never worked full time again.


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#11 ·
Its a simple case of The Rock showing what a douche he actually is. When HBK came back he was a new man and put all his demons behind him they could have easily done it around that time but Rock is too butt hurt just because of how Shawn was before. Be a man Rock forgive and forget and all that. If Bret can forgive Vince & Shawn for the Montreal Screwjob then surely Rock can forgive Shawn for whatever petty shit he did. Rock isn't as great as people make him out to be.
 
#13 ·
Agree with this, its well known that back in the AE HBK was in a bad place with drugs & his back injury literally saved him from becoming a wreck like Steiner & others had been.
If Rock wanted that dream matchup to happen then 2002 onwards, when HBK was in a much better place, would'be been the right time.
 
#15 ·
The Rock v Michaels for Wrestlemania 33 || 34!

I can imagine the promos if they allow The Rock & not Dwayne Johnson return;

He can even use some old school material; no disrespect.



Though it's been quite a long time now, I don't know how well Shawn would do performance-wise after the long long time off.
 
#16 ·
http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/archive/therockdoom

WWE.com: A lot of people on the Internet have always said they would love to have seen The Rock vs. Shawn Michaels. Is that a match you would have liked to have had?

The Rock: I was never ever interested in working with him, to be honest with you. I've known him for a long time. He came in and worked for my family in Hawaii when I was like 13 -- him and Marty Jannetty. It was just one of those things. He was always one of those guys that I said "Hey" to and he said "Hey" -- it's no big deal.
 
#17 ·
There was an incident when Rock was younger in which Michaels was rude to a relative (his grandmother I believe.) That obviously wouldn't sit well with anyone. The rift was further strained when The Clique began politicking in order to stall Rocks momentum once he began showing obvious flashes of brilliance and main event potential around '98. They told Vince he wasn't ready for the main event and tried to talk him out of numerous of big money spots, even suggesting Foley get certain angles vs Austin instead of Rock. I'm sure Michaels deviating from the script and going over the top by spitting on him during one if the first episodes of Smackdown didn't help.



HBK has openly stated he would like to work with him but Rock hasn't even entertained it. Considering where Rock sits on the Mt. Rushmore of professional wrestling, there is zero doubt on my mind that this is probably the one match out of two or three that could convince Shawn to lace 'em up one more time, but there's no way Rock is doing it. He transcended the industry and if he refused to work with Shawn before he made Hollywood billions and became a box office slam dunk, there's no chance he would lend that notoriety to Michaels by working a program with him now.


I'm not going to hold it against Rock for not letting his contempt for Shawn go. He's human -- as is HBK -- and some things are harder to look past than others for some. As a man, Rock only has to answer to himself and if he's still not a fan of Shawn as a person, that's his prerogative. Shawn made his choices and Rock made his. If they decide to buy the hatchet down the line, great because that's a match I'd like to see. If not, that's fine, too. I highly doubt either man cares in the grand scheme of things. Rock is thriving in Hollywood and Michaels is thoroughly ejoying retirement and isn't hurting for cash. It is what it is.
 
#18 ·
The timing was just bad for Shawn Michaels and The Rock. HBK was more or less retired from in ring action by the time The Rock started making a name for himself in 1998, before that The Rock was just a mid-carder who didn't belong in the ring with Shawn Michaels. Then when HBK finally returned to in ring action around 2002, The Rock was half way out the door at the time and making moves in Hollywood. After that The Rock only made a few appearances afterwards, and any time The Rock returned HBK was involved in a feud or storyline with someone else. So it's a matter of timing. Kind've like how we never got Shawn Michaels Vs Eddie Guerrero.
 
#19 ·
Ok so this is the stoty as far as I know:

HBK was a politician back in the day and he supposedly stopped Rocks push in favour of Hunter. This combined with the fact that HBK apparently disrespected the Rocks grandma did not sit well with Rocky. The Rocks grandma owned a wrestling promotion or something and shawn said something to her that rubbed the Rock the wrong way. Anyways, later in a wwe magazine interview in 2004 (not sure), the Rock was asked if he would like a match with HBK and he said he has no interest in the match.

BUT this is the interesting part that NO ONE brings up! During the Hall of Fame ceremony (idk which year but after the wwe magazine interview) the rock is on stage and says he would love to wrestle john cena, rey mysterio and HBK. Interesting to note that the crowd is yelling HBK and the Rock says shawn wrestled for his grandmas promotion and his grandma was sitting NEXT to shawn and when rock said this she was smiling and shook shawns hand. You can watch the video on youtube. I do not know how to embed vids here but type "the rock wants to wrestle with John cena, rey mysterio and shawn michaels" and it will come up
Now whether that was a subtle jab at HBK, idk, but his grandma seemed to have forgiven shawn if there was any bad blood between them.
So my analysis of the situation is that Shawn prolly apologized to Rocks grandma and maybe even Rock and they buried the hatchet and are on good terms now but Rock was a part timer and Shawn left after a few years.

Sorry i was using my fone to type.
 
#20 · (Edited)
The match was supposed to happen at WM 21, but Rock shut the whole thing down. He basically didn't wanna work with Michaels,.. matter of fact, there were only two guys he was willing to work one more match with, Savage and Sting.


Ok so this is the stoty as far as I know:

HBK was a politician back in the day and he supposedly stopped Rocks push in favour of Hunter. This combined with the fact that HBK apparently disrespected the Rocks grandma did not sit well with Rocky. The Rocks grandma owned a wrestling promotion or something and shawn said something to her that rubbed the Rock the wrong way. Anyways, later in a wwe magazine interview in 2004 (not sure), the Rock was asked if he would like a match with HBK and he said he has no interest in the match.

On top of that, he tried to push Rock out of the WM 15 main-event.





BUT this is the interesting part that NO ONE brings up! During the Hall of Fame ceremony (idk which year but after the wwe magazine interview) the rock is on stage and says he would love to wrestle john cena, rey mysterio and HBK. Interesting to note that the crowd is yelling HBK and the Rock says shawn wrestled for his grandmas promotion and his grandma was sitting NEXT to shawn and when rock said this she was smiling and shook shawns hand. You can watch the video on youtube. I do not know how to embed vids here but type "the rock wants to wrestle with John cena, rey mysterio and shawn michaels" and it will come up
Now whether that was a subtle jab at HBK, idk, but his grandma seemed to have forgiven shawn if there was any bad blood between them.
IMO, the situation at the HOF was just him catering to the crowd(he's known for doing that his whole career), I think he was forced to put michaels on that list after they started chanting "HBK", he basically said what they wanted to hear.

note right he tried to cut them of but it was to late.
 
#22 ·
Yeah, it's a shame we never got it. XX would've been perfect for it tbh. Could've easily done Benoit vs HHH for the title, Rock vs HBK, and Orton vs Foley. Then you could've just thrown Flair and Batista in that Fatal 4-way tag match for the Raw tag titles if you wanted them on the card too.
 
#25 ·
Rock was not a douche. I just think their was bad blood between them from both ends. Yeah cool to blame Rock. But I Don't think it was all his fault. SO yeah bullcrap. Won't happen now of course.
 
#26 ·
They didn't like each other, therefor, the match never happened. By the time they finally buried the hatchet, it was too late. Simple stuff, really.

It's a damn shame the match never happened, though. It could have been one of the greatest matches of all time, and WrestleMania 20 would have been the right place to do it.
 
#27 ·
Forget HBK Vs a The Rock, it is a greater tradegy that we never got to see Randy Savage Vs The Rock. Now that is a dream match. The two most charismatic wrestlers to ever grace wrestling, battling it out.
 
#28 ·
He dissed Rocks Grandma lol? Oh boy. For anyone who knows the Rock. Or read his bio The Rock Says. His Grandma and High Cheif Peter Maivai were huge influences on him. If that's true, it all makes sense now. But I guess currently Rocks prob over it, I mean cannot hold a grudge that long. I guess the only reason it diddn't happen because Shawn and Rock diddn't want it to. I could see Rock v Sting in the future.
 
#31 ·
Rock didn't need HBK, HBK needed The Rock. And after how HBK and the clique treated The Rock, good for him for not giving him that. And good for the Rock for becoming the greatest superstar of the Attitude Era and making it into film with HHH going over him all the time.
 
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#32 ·
Oh yeah Rock was HHH bitch in the AE :lol. So amazing her overcame all that. I do remember Rock saying he had alot of respect for Taker. Taker said to Dwayne at one point im jobbing to you. And Rock said one day I well reply in kind. I don't think that kinda respect was their with HBK and Trips some how haha.
 
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