Shawn Michaels has finally lifted the lid on why he never faced The Rock during their time in WWE.
When The Rock arrived at the end of 1996, Shawn Michaels was a huge star in the company.
HBK had won his first world title at WrestleMania earlier than year and was a firm main event guy.
He would walk away from wrestling due to a serious injury after WrestleMania in 1998, dropping giving Stone Cold Steve Austin – one of The Rock’s greatest rivals – his first world title on his way out.
The Rock had a spell as a babyface Intercontinental champion and then really found his feet as part of the Nation of Domination, but he was not a main eventer by the time Michaels walked away.
Still, they never even had as singles match in WWE. There was plenty of rumours that Michaels and Triple H tried to make life very difficult for Rock during his first few years in the company.
The Rock’s late father, Rocky Johnson, even stated in an interview he threatened to beat Michaels up to his face as a result.
Speaking to 7pm in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony, Michaels opened up on why he never shared the ring with The Great One.
“He didn’t like me. There’s a big kerfuffle in the wrestling business about me and Hunter [Triple H] doing stuff to him and being mean and things like that. All of it is way blown out of proportion—none of it even accurate. Some of the things from when he was younger got fed a lot.
“But again, later on, and even to this day, we get along and we talk about stuff.
“That’s one I think everybody would have liked to have seen.
“But by the time I came back, he was already well into his Hollywood career and everything like that.
“So, look—even when it comes to me, I pick him because, again, what are you going to say? The guy came in, and I can remember seeing him on Saturday Night Live for the first time and just thinking, ‘Holy cow.’”
“I can’t remember the exact bit, but when he was with the other guy and doing that, and he could laugh at himself and everything else—you could see right there that this guy was going to be a huge star.”
They would’ve had a chance to work together when Michaels returned to WWE in 2002, but the man leading NXT is quite right; The Rock was becoming a part-time talent en route to his Hollywood departure.
The Rock worked predominantly on SmackDown while Michaels was RAW while they were both in WWE from late 2002 into the middle of 2003.
One The Rock had his last match at WrestleMania 20 in 2004, he wasn’t seen in the company again until he returned to host WrestleMania in 2011.
Michaels retired from pro wrestling at WrestleMania the year prior.
The only time the pair did really share the screen in WWE is when Michaels was briefly the Coperate Commisioner in 1999 when The Rock was the Coperate champion and later that year, he special guest refereed The Rock against Triple H on the first episode of SmackDown.
Although those rumours of bad blood persist, The Rock did say while inducting his father into the Hall of Fame that he wished he had faced three men: Rey Mysterio, John Cena and Shawn Michaels.
He ended up facing Cena twice at WrestleManias.
