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The Rock Breaks Character To Pay Tribute To WWE Rival

By Lyle Kilbane • Published 26th February 2024
The Rock WWE

The Rock is back in WWE and while he stands with The Bloodline, he clearly has not forgotten the old rivals that helped propel him to success.

The Rock looked set to face off with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40 after Cody Rhodes seemed to have cleared the way and put his own story on hold once again. However, the fans spoke loudly and WWE soon pivoted with The Rock turning heel after Rhodes once again asserted he’d be facing Reigns after he won the men’s Royal Rumble.

Cody Rhodes issued a huge challenge to The Rock at Elimination Chamber paving the way for a possible return to the ring for The Great One on the grandest stage of them all once again.

While The Rock is now a bad guy once again, he’s broken character to promote the edition of WWE Rivals that aired focussing on his long-standing rivalry with Triple H.

Taking to social media, The Rock shared his love for the pro wrestling business and paid respect to his old rival:

Hope everyone out there enjoys this tonight as much as we did paving the road over the years. There’s no business, like the pro wrestling business and I LOVE it. Boundless respect to my brother @TripleH. Blood, sweat and ‘thanks for the house’. #WWERivals @WWE @AETV 8/7c

Triple H & The Rock Go Way Back In WWE

The Rock’s history with Triple H goes all the way back to his first match in WWE. Hunter Hearst Helmsley was on the opposite team when a young Rocky Maivia made his debut for the company back at Survivor Series in 1996.

Less than three months later, Maivia had captured his first gold in the company when he defeated Helmsley for the Intercontinental Championship. 1998 saw the two men heading up their own factions as The Nation did frequent battle with D-Generation X.

A ladder match at SummerSlam 1998 for the Intercontinental Title won by Triple H helped propel both men to the next level in their careers. The two stars clashed for the first time over the WWE Championship held by The Rock in December 1998 setting up the next three years of their careers where they clashed several times for the biggest prize in wrestling.

Since The Rock’s return to WWE where he now sits on the TKO Board, Triple H made very clear that he was still calling the shots on SmackDown as old tensions looked set to resurface once again.