What happened between The Rock and Shawn Michaels?
Dwyane 'The Rock' Johnson, commonly known as The Rock, once had a backstage altercation with Shawn Michaels. Michaels and The Rock were among two of the greatest Superstars of the WWE (WWF) Attitude Era, but the pair seemingly had been real-life rivals since the 90s.
During the Attitude Era, several statements and confessions emerged regarding the darker side of Michaels. HBK and The Kliq came up as a group that bullied upcoming WWE stars and The Rock was one of those WWE Superstars who had his issues with Michaels and co.
The Kliq consisted of Michaels, Triple H, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Sean Waltman. Over the years, the group has developed quite the notorious reputation for backstage antics.
Dwayne The Rock Johnson delivered the smoothest People's Elbow ever 22 years ago 🤨
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The Rock and Shawn Michaels' feud turned quite ugly back in the day
According to rumors, The Rock never wanted to work with Shawn Michaels and the latter tried to sabotage his push. The bitterness between the two men seemingly started when The Rock was growing up as a teenager in Hawaii and Michaels came to work and reportedly said something derogatory about Rock’s promoter grandmother, Lia Maivia.
Later in a segment, Michaels landed a superkick on The Rock and caught him in the jaw. When HBK was told backstage that the superkick was too stiff, he responded by telling The Rock, “If you can’t handle it, you shouldn’t be in the business.”
That resulted in Rock pinning Michaels down to the ground, but the two were reportedly separated before things could further escalate.
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In an interview with The Hannibal TV, Dwayne Johnson’s father, Rocky Johnson, spilled the beans about what happened between The Rock and Shawn Michaels. The WWE Hall of Famer also spoke about the same.
Similarly, WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart also mentioned in his podcast how Michaels and co. made things hard for The Rock. Hart mentioned that The Rock was a "marked guy" and the wrestlers who tried to break him almost succeeded in making him quit. (H/T: Wrestling Inc)
"A lot of the wrestlers would give him a hard time in those days, a really hard time, enough to try to break him and get him to quit and they almost succeeded. And I can remember going to bat for Dwayne quite a few times and kind of looking out for him, Owen too. I think Owen and I had a lot to do with sort of looking out for him when he first came down. [The Rock] was kind of a marked guy.” said Bret Hart.
Hart himself is someone who has had his fair share of issues with Michaels and The Kliq, courtesy of the infamous Montreal Screwjob.
Going back to The Rock and Michaels, the two men never crossed paths inside the squared circle, as a back injury in 1998 forced HBK to take time off from in-ring competition. Michaels would go on to make his return to action around 2002 and by that point, The Rock was already on his way out of the business.
As things stand though, The Rock and Michaels have a healthy relationship with each other and the same goes for The Rock and Triple H.
Back in the 90s, there wasn’t any lack of talent. It was like a pond full of hardworking and determined Superstars competing to get to the top of WWE. Fortunately, The Rock and Shawn Michaels didn’t let their real-life issues interfere in their respective careers, as both men went on to enjoy successful careers in professional wrestling