Shawn Michaels and The Rock 1999 and 2000 feud

[The Rick Jericho]

That went no where?

In 1999, HBK cost Rock the WWF title on the Aug 1999 Smackdown with a super kick to the face. Then HBK disappears and the storyline goes no where. In 2000, at Judgment Day we see another tease of a feud between these two, Michaels disqualifies The Rock and costing him the title again. He disappears again. In the fall of 2000, HBK returns on Raw and he accuses The Rock of being the one who would have a reason to run Austin over. Proceeds to disappear once again.

So what's the deal with all these HBK teasing a feud with Rock then he's gone all of a sudden? Was there a plan to have a Michaels vs. Rock match in either 1999 or 2000?

[dirtyoldman]

From what I remember, wasn't there something about Shawn being a dick (surprise) when the Rock was a kid and he vowed never to work with him? Something about a wrestling show his grandmother was running?

[hassanchop]

Wasn't he too injured to do anything this period?

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

What's up with Shawn and teasing post-retirement feuds. They did the same shit with him and Bryan after that Hell In A Cell.

[tirtefaa]

Sept 21, 2022 22:39:06 GMT -5 TWERKIN' MAGGLE said:

What's up with Shawn and teasing post-retirement feuds. They did the same with him and Bryan after that Hell In A Cell.

I would have been fine with the Bryan thing had he not reneged and had that stupid Saudi match. But looking back...yeah, that would have been an incredible match.

[Jindrak Mark]

Sept 21, 2022 22:17:14 GMT -5 hassanchop said:

Wasn't he too injured to do anything this period?

He was also too drugged up still around 99-01. He couldn’t be relied upon to deliver or fulfil any long term storyline so the best you could get from him was the occasional one-off appearance to cut a promo or be a guest referee.

[Jindrak Mark]

Sept 21, 2022 15:10:55 GMT -5 dirtyoldman said:

From what I remember, wasn't there something about Shawn being a dick (surprise) when the Rock was a kid and he vowed never to work with him? Something about a wrestling show his grandmother was running?

If they had any issues they must have resolved them because during Rock’s long promo before inducting his dad into the hall of fame in 2008 he spoke kindly about him and named him alongside Cena and Mysterio as one of the three guys he would love to work with.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

They kept trying to bring him back to do these feuds and he kept demonstrating he was too f***ed up to be relied upon

And wrestling being wrestling they instead put him on TV repeatedly without knowing if they or he could follow through

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Sept 21, 2022 22:39:06 GMT -5 TWERKIN' MAGGLE said:

What's up with Shawn and teasing post-retirement feuds. They did the same shit with him and Bryan after that Hell In A Cell.

Damn fans not voting for someone like Bob Backlund who would have called it straight down the middle.

[Mid-Carder]

It speaks volumes to me about how bad Shawn was back then that a top quality, selfless professional like Dwayne Johnson refused to even work a match with Shawn.

[msc]

The Rock's also very much a Bret guy, and DX (mostly Shawn) tried to bury him in 1997. He may have forgiven Shawn now they're both retired and men of god, but he certainly did not forgive him in the 1999-2004 period.

[tntchamp]

Sept 22, 2022 9:42:11 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

It speaks volumes to me about how bad Shawn was back then that a top quality, selfless professional like Dwayne Johnson refused to even work a match with Shawn.

Seriously The Rock is one of the most selfless guys out there in wrestling and has never had a issue putting aside differences if it meant money could be made. The fact that Rock did not want to work with him says a lot. I don't blame Rock either after all Michaels had tried to do to him.

[fg]

Sept 22, 2022 14:05:46 GMT -5 tntchamp said:

Sept 22, 2022 9:42:11 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

It speaks volumes to me about how bad Shawn was back then that a top quality, selfless professional like Dwayne Johnson refused to even work a match with Shawn.

Seriously The Rock is one of the most selfless guys out there in wrestling and has never had a issue putting aside differences if it meant money could be made. The fact that Rock did not want to work with him says a lot. I don't blame Rock either after all Michaels had tried to do to him.

You can look at this as the Rock getting the last laugh on the bully (HBK) and punishing him by refusing to work with him when the Rock became a bigger icon than HBK ever was.

[A Platypus Rave]

Sept 22, 2022 5:01:48 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

They kept trying to bring him back to do these feuds and he kept demonstrating he was too f***ed up to be relied upon

And wrestling being wrestling they instead put him on TV repeatedly without knowing if they or he could follow through

Yeah, like Shawn as the commissioner was supposed to be a much bigger thing then it was but he was so messed up they couldn't rely on him.

[A Platypus Rave]

I don't know how much I fully buy the Rock refused to work with him line.

Is it possible nay probable 90s HBK was a prick to Rock oh absolutely. He was a prick to everyone he admits that he was a prick to basically everyone.

HE came back in mid-late 2002 feuding with HHH then into the Mania feud with Jericho.

Rock was busy on Smackdown at the time and left after Mania 19... only stopping in for like the Match at Mania 20.

There was never really a time the two would have crossed in Michaels second run.

[Jindrak Mark]

Has the Rock refusing to work with HBK thing ever been confirmed or is it just a rumor? Because he did work with him in segments and stuff around 99-2000 when he was a big enough star to say no if he wanted to. And even though it was years later he specifically mentioned him in 2008 as someone he'd loved to have wrestled. One story I always heard was that Rock's family hated Shawn because he was a dick to their grandmother or something but there were multiple hall of fame ceremonies over the years when Shawn is sitting in the front row next to Rock's mom and they seemed to be getting on fine. That obviously doesn't necessarily mean he didn't have heat with the family in the past of course.

It's not like it's particularly strange that they never wrestled. When Shawn returned at Summerslam 2002 that was the same show when Rock's last semblance of a full-time run ended so there wasn't exactly many opportunities to do the match. And when Rock returned in 2011 they had just missed each other again as Shawn retired the previous year.

Another dropped storyline I just remembered post-retirement HBK having was in late 98 when he turned heel on HHH/DX and sided with the Corporation. I can't remember how they resolved that but I know that within weeks he was back to being a babyface like nothing happened.

[tntchamp]

Sept 22, 2022 14:10:50 GMT -5 fg said:

Sept 22, 2022 14:05:46 GMT -5 tntchamp said:

Seriously The Rock is one of the most selfless guys out there in wrestling and has never had a issue putting aside differences if it meant money could be made. The fact that Rock did not want to work with him says a lot. I don't blame Rock either after all Michaels had tried to do to him.

You can look at this as the Rock getting the last laugh on the bully (HBK) and punishing him by refusing to work with him when the Rock became a bigger icon than HBK ever was.

Lol you read my mind and I was even going to say in my last post too originally that when all is said and done, Michaels needed that match far more than Rock did.

[chrom]

I remember him, HHH and Chyna posing at the end and the announcers were all in hubbub saying that The Original DX had reunited.

Then come Monday they act as though it had never happened and no mention of Shawn

[fg]

Sept 22, 2022 14:32:18 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Has the Rock refusing to work with HBK thing ever been confirmed or is it just a rumor? Because he did work with him in segments and stuff around 99-2000 when he was a big enough star to say no if he wanted to. And even though it was years later he specifically mentioned him in 2008 as someone he'd loved to have wrestled. One story I always heard was that Rock's family hated Shawn because he was a dick to their grandmother or something but there were multiple hall of fame ceremonies over the years when Shawn is sitting in the front row next to Rock's mom and they seemed to be getting on fine. That obviously doesn't necessarily mean he didn't have heat with the family in the past of course.

It's not like it's particularly strange that they never wrestled. When Shawn returned at Summerslam 2002 that was the same show when Rock's last semblance of a full-time run ended so there wasn't exactly many opportunities to do the match. And when Rock returned in 2011 they had just missed each other again as Shawn retired the previous year.

Another dropped storyline I just remembered post-retirement HBK having was in late 98 when he turned heel on HHH/DX and sided with the Corporation. I can't remember how they resolved that but I know that within weeks he was back to being a babyface like nothing happened.

Hers what happened.

While Mick was beating up Shane, Shawn mysteriously held the corporation back then during the next episode of Raw, he was fired by Vince and he subsequently super kicked him. The next week, DX and Shawn acted all buddy-buddy and then seemingly DX left Shawn for dead as either DX or someone locked him outside so the corporation can beat him up.

[Mozenrath]

Sept 22, 2022 14:26:13 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

I don't know how much I fully buy the Rock refused to work with him line.

Is it possible nay probable 90s HBK was a prick to Rock oh absolutely. He was a prick to everyone he admits that he was a prick to basically everyone.

HE came back in mid-late 2002 feuding with HHH then into the Mania feud with Jericho.

Rock was busy on Smackdown at the time and left after Mania 19... only stopping in for like the Match at Mania 20.

There was never really a time the two would have crossed in Michaels second run.

I can buy that he didn't exactly go out of his way to work with him. Like, it isn't a state secret that Rock didn't like Shawn at times, but I have no real idea where things stood when he got sober. Rock and Triple H had beef, too, but they did business together and had good chemistry, so clearly Rock could set stuff aside or get past it.