Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took to Instagram over the weekend to share a clip from a classic episode of WWF SmackDown where Triple H, flanked by D-Generation, Stephanie McMahon and Shane McMahon, put “The People’s Champ” through a table with a Rock Bottom. Johnson implied in the caption that the landing might’ve given him a concussion, but he still spoke about the moment and his time in WWE with reverence.
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“Just came across this clip and man it brought back grateful memories,” Johnson wrote. “Long before becoming the business man I am today ~ I cut my teeth and made my bones in another kind of business. The business of throwing around 300lb men for a living or getting my ass kicked, my bell rung 🔔 and concussed thru tables. As wild as this looks (and at times very painful) I look back at very specific invaluable business lessons I took with me from this fanatical industry.
“This nightly hardcore nature forced me to become savvy. Forced me to always listen. Ears open, mouth shut. Always taking care of my number #1 boss, the audience. The people. My violent friend here @tripleh (legitimately we’re very good friends today;) went on to become one of the GOATs and Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development for the WWE. This was a very special time in pro wrestling 🔥 and I’ll be proud of my roots. And yes, this violence was all designed to lead up to a HUGE PPV where we could GUARANTEE two things will happen. The Rock will deliver payback hell to Triple H. And all the people will go home happy!”
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Rock and Triple H’s feud spanned throughout the years of The Attitude Era, beginning with DX taking on The Nation of Domination and leading all the way up their numerous battles over the WWF Championship.
“I’ve got to tell you man, you, from my very first match at The Garden, you were so good to me, so welcoming to me then,” Johnson said in a video message directed at “The Game” last year when Triple H was celebrating his 25th anniversary in the industry. “But also I knew, of everybody in the locker room I knew, that there was a hunger in your eyes that were were going to be competitors and were would compete and work our asses off. And that’s exactly what we did. That’s exactly why we gelled together and had incredibly chemistry. I always talk about the matches I had with Stone Cold [Steve Austin], that you had with Stone Cold, you’ve had with Mick Foley, I’ve had with Mick Foley, Undertaker, you name it.”
