The Rock is one of the most popular stars in the world of professional wrestling. After the huge success he achieved in WWE, “The Great One” moved on to test his luck in Hollywood. He is currently one of the highest-paid actors in the movie industry.
The People’s Champion began his career back in 1996. He is a third-generation superstar following the footsteps of his grandfather Peter Maivia and his father Rocky Johnson.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest rivalries of the WWE legend.
The Rock parts ways with The Nation
During the early days of his wrestling career, The Rock joined the Nation of Domination. The faction’s leader at the time was Farooq. But very soon, The Great One was trying everything possible to grab the spotlight.
While with The Nation, The People’s Champion managed to capture the Intercontinental Championship for the second time in his career. Being the only one to hold gold in the faction, he believed that he was the true leader.
He officially became the leader of the group on the Raw after WrestleMania 14. On the same night, he decided to kick Farooq out of the faction. This led to a six-person tag match between the Nation of Domination’s Rock, Mark Henry, and D’Lo Brown, and the team of Farooq, Ken Shamrock, and Steve Blackman. This match took place at Unforgiven: In Your House.
With a win over The Rock, Farooq earned himself a shot at the Intercontinental Title. He challenged The Great One at that year’s Over The Edge PLE. Despite his efforts to capture gold, The Rock held on to his championship after defeating his former mentor via pinfall.
Time to play The Game
Out of all of his opponents, Triple H is probably the only wrestler whom Rock had a never-ending feud with. The two have battled each other in various matches dating from 1996.
Both wrestlers have battled each other in one-on-one matches, multi-men matches, and also tag team matches. It is to be noted that The Great One captured his first singles championship by defeating Triple H. The Game and The People’s Champion have also competed against each other for the company’s top prize, The World Heavyweight Championship.
The last time the two faced each other was back in 2002. The match sadly ended in a no-contest. The fans are still waiting to see the two stars wrestle each other to settle the score once and for all. While the match may never take place any time soon, The Game has also been open about the Great One returning to the squared circle.
Rock vs. Cena
After The Great One achieved massive success in Hollywood, his time in WWE had seemingly come to an end. While he did make appearances here and there, it looked like his wrestling days were behind him. That was until he became the special guest host of WrestleMania 27.
When it was revealed that The Hollywood megastar was going to be the guest host for the show of all shows, he cut a promo targeting John Cena. He referenced the time when the Cenation leader called him out for leaving WWE and entering the film industry.
Things did not end there, as Rock involved himself in the main event of WrestleMania 27 costing John Cena the WWE Title in his match against The Miz. The following night on Raw the 16-time World Champion called out The Great One and both agreed to wrestle each other in a one-on-one match on the following WrestleMania. This was the first time ever that a match was made official one year in advance.
Throughout the year both stars built the feud by taking shots at each other in the form of promos, rap songs, and Rock Concerts. The two even teamed up together in a match against The Miz and R-Truth.
Finally, on the grandest stage of them all, The Rock shocked the world by defeating Cena. This turned out to be the biggest loss for the Cenation Leader.
The two ran it back the following year after Cena won the 2013 30-Men Royal Rumble match. He challenged The People’s Champion for the WWE title. The two wrestled each other for the second time ever in the main event of WrestleMania 29.
This time around the result was different as The Leader of The Cenation managed to overcome the odds and finally pick up the win against The Hollywood megastar.
Epitome of Attitude
The People’s Champion’s biggest feuds came during his time in the Attitude Era. When talking about that period, one cannot be without talking about the rivalry between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The Texas Rattlesnake is without doubt the greatest rival of The Great One. Both have battled each other several times and have headlined multiple Premium Live Events. Out of them, three were on the grandest stage of them all. In their final match, at WrestleMania 19, The Great One had the last laugh by defeating Austin.
Throughout the Great One’s illustrious career, these are some of the biggest rivalries that elevated his star power. Which is your favorite feud? Let us know in the comments section below.
