Nowadays Dwayne Johnson is one of the most famous stars on the planet, but back in the day he was just trying to work his way up the ranks in WWE as The Rock.
We all know that The Rock managed to reach major success and have a Hall of Fame worthy career, but according to former WWE Champion Bret Hart there were people backstage who didn’t want to see The Rock make it in WWE.
Bret Hart talked about his Intercontinental Title match against The Rock on Monday Night Raw in 1997 on the 81 Podcast, and he explained that Triple H was pushing for him to beat The Rock and win the belt.
“Triple H and maybe even Shawn [Michaels], were pretty ruthless. If someone was tied to me or connected to me, they would try to ruin them. Even Dwayne Johnson [The Rock]. They really tried to crack him and bust his chops. I remember telling Dwayne all the time, ‘Don’t listen to these guys. You’re a really good talent and you don’t need these guys.’ When I did the big interview about America, the next week’s taping, I wrestled The Rock and they wanted me to beat him. Triple H did. He wanted me to beat Dwayne and win the Intercontinental Title. I refused. ‘What do I need the Intercontinental Title for?’ We did the figure four on the post, Steve Austin came out, Owen [Hart] and Davey [Boy Smith] came out, a bunch of interference. I remember Triple H was sick about it because he had a thing for Dwayne and wanted to ruin him. He hated him. I remember say, ‘I like Dwayne, he just got the Intercontinental Title and doesn’t need me to take it from him.’ I didn’t want to be Intercontinental Champion. It was all politics, Triple H was trying to steer me into the Intercontinental Title instead of the World Title. It didn’t make any sense. I told Vince, ‘I don’t get heat from beating Dwayne for the title, it doesn’t do anything for me. Let him keep it.’ I think Dwayne always appreciated that I went to bat for him. I didn’t want to beat him, I wanted to wrestle him down the road as a future guy to draw money with. It’s a shame I didn’t get to work with him other than that one night.”
H/T Fightful
