The Rock is one of the biggest stars on the planet, and has been for some time now, but years ago he was just trying to break into the entertainment business and climb the ladder in WWE.
Bret Hart recently talked about The Rock’s start in WWE during an episode of Confessions Of The Hitman, and he claimed that Shawn Michaels and Triple H were out to get The Rock early in his career.
During the episode the WWE Hall of Famer recalled an incident where Shawn Michaels chewed The Rock out for doing a top rope dropkick, and Hart tried to put things in perspective.
“I remember Shawn Michaels coming into the dressing room and dressing down poor Dwayne. Shawn came in and just dressed him down and he chewed him out. And I believe, [HBK] told [The Rock] to never do a top rope dropkick ever again because that was his move. That’s what he was mad about. And then, he slammed the door and he walked out. The Rock was [deflated] because in those days, Shawn had a lot of weight. He was a pretty important guy for the company, a veteran guy kind of dressing him down like that, he was apologizing and said he didn’t know, and he thought it would be okay.”
“I remember the door closed after Shawn left and I said, ‘that’s bulls–t. That’s total bulls–t.’ I said, ‘nobody owns the dropkick off the top. You can do that. Owen does it all the time! Why doesn’t he cut a promo on Owen?’ I said, ‘they’re just busting your chops and they’re trying to work on you.'”
Obviously things worked out pretty well for The Rock, as he became one of the top stars in the company, and his rivalry with Triple H was one of the defining feuds of his career. So, it looks like things worked out for the best.
H/T Wrestling Inc.
[…] Recently Bret Hart shared some stories about The Rock’s early days in WWE, and he noted that Shawn Michaels and Triple H used to bully The Rock backstage. […]