The Rock Praises Brock Lesnar While Recalling SummerSlam 2002
The Rock has remarked on one of his many main event matches when Brock Lesnar defeated him to win the WWE Championship.
It was in 2002 when The Rock was a well-established main event star that was defending the WWE Championship at SummerSlam in Long Island, New York. While The Rock’s Hollywood career would cause him to leave WWE as a full-time performer, “The Next Big Thing” Brock Lesnar was ready to become the biggest star in the company.
During the SummerSlam 2002 main event, The Rock defended what was called the Undisputed WWE Championship at the time. The Rock won the match in an outstanding match one month earlier at Vengeance when he defeated The Undertaker and Kurt Angle in
Lesnar’s match with The Rock took place in front of a vocal New York crowd that sided with Lesnar during the match even though he was the heel and The Rock was a babyface. It was the crowd’s way of telling WWE that they were ready for Lesnar to be the guy.
The Rock’s only televised singles match with Lesnar was a competitive matchup that went over 15 minutes. The Rock went for his patented Rock Bottom finishing move, but Lesnar managed to reverse it and hit the F5 for the win to a huge ovation from the crowd. The win meant that the “rookie” Lesnar (who only debuted on the main WWE roster five months earlier) was the youngest WWE Champion of all-time at 25 years old.
In a post on Instagram, The Rock commented on the famous match that took place 20 years ago on August 25.
“20 years ago this week, we made history in New York and pro wrestling was never the same again 🔥💀🔥 The Rock vs Brock Lesnar WWE UNDISPUTED CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
I always had great chemistry with Brock as he was one of the greatest pure athletes I’ve ever danced with. We spent about 6 months wrestling around the world together, grooming Brock to become @WWE Heavyweight Champion. It culminated to this historic SUMMER SLAM PPV where the crowd was absolutely electric.
Historic for two reasons: #1) In wrestling terms, I “did the honors” of having Brock beat me right in the middle of the ring, 1-2-3. Brock is new champion. Brock is new face of WWE. #2) My contract was up in WWE and I quietly – and GRATEFULLY – retired as a full time pro wrestler after an incredible (and insanely short) 6 year career. It’s so wildly incomprehensible at times when I think back – that I only wrestled for 6 YEARS. How crazy is that irony? A 6 YEAR CAREER 🤯 What a journey. #hardestworkerintheroom#gratefulman#peopleschamp
* grace note *
I did return to wrestling from 2011 to 2013 as it was my way of giving back to the business that was so good to me + I just f’n love wrestling 😈💪🏾”
You can view The Rock’s full post which includes a video below.