Road Dogg Recalls Giving The Rock “Verbal Abuse & Potshots”
WWE Hall of Famer Road Dogg admitted he tried to keep The Rock’s “feet on the ground” by giving him “verbal abuse and potshots in the ring.”
Road Dogg might have a senior position in WWE these days but when he was a WWE star in his own right, he suffered the same insecurities as many others when a new star broke onto the scene. And that was certainly in play when The Rock made his WWE debut at Survivor Series 1996.
Speaking on his Oh You Didn’t Know podcast, Road Dogg admitted that jealousy was a driving factor in trying to keep The Rock’s feet on the ground early in his WWE career:
“It felt very important to me to keep his feet on the ground. And I did so because I was jealous of him and I didn’t like him and boo on you. But look, he could cut a promo, he could wrestle, he looked great, you know what I mean? He’s the total package on the reel. And I wasn’t that, and so I was very jealous of him. And I’ve told him that and apologised since but it still doesn’t take away the fact that I took it upon myself to keep his feet on the ground.”
“And I did that with verbal abuse and potshots in the ring too, you know what I mean? Like he knew that when they were there and he would bring it back and we would, you know, kind of do you and left it all out in the ring for sure. But I took it upon myself to keep his feet on the ground, and that was not my place, and I’ll forever apologise for that to him.”
“But it was just, we were just in the ring wrestling, and I’m in the ring with you, dude, so you’re equal to me, You know what I mean? And look, and like I said, in retrospect, I see we’re not equal. We’re not equal as far as intellectual properties are concerned, you know what I mean? In the eyes of God, you and I are the same, but in the eyes of the consumer, of the almighty consumer we are not. And I understand that.”
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