Triple H Talks Regrets From His Rivalry With The Rock

Triple H and The Rock had a legendary feud, but The Cerebral Assassin says he has one big regret from their time working together.

Triple H was The Rock’s first opponent when he made his debut at Survivor Series in 1996 under the name of ‘Rocky Maivia’. However, it was their 1997 feud over the Intercontinental Championship that really kicked off the legendary rivalry between the two.

As the two made their way up the card, they clashed as members of D-Generation X and The Nation of Domination as well as singles stars. In 2000, with Stone Cold Steve Austin out injured and Mick Foley heading for retirement, The Game and The Great One found themselves at the top of WWE and battling over the World Championship.

This led to matches at that year’s Backlash, Judgement Day and a Triple Threat at SummerSlam which also featured Kurt Angle. However, the one match that eluded them was a singles bout at WrestleMania. When their rivalry was at its peak, WrestleMania 16 featured a Fatal-Four-Way Elimination Match between The Rock, Triple H, Mick Foley and The Big Show, with a ‘McMahon in every corner.’

In an interview with Logan Paul on his Impaulsive Podcast, the new WWE’s Head of Creative said not being able to have that singles WrestleMania match was his one regret from their feud.

“My only regret of the whole thing with Rock is in 2000 we were poised to have a match at WrestleMania one-on-one, and I think that would have been an epic thing for both of us in that moment. The timing of ‘Taker’s return, and Austin’s return, and Austin wasn’t quite ready yet, so they pushed the WrestleMania match.

“The year we did this Fatal-Four-Way with Foley, who I had just retired. Coming back a month later with his hair all cut off because he thought he was off forever and going to be a normal guy, here is back, and Big Show.

“A couple of months later we would have the one-on-one Iron Man Match that we wanted to have at WrestleMania. Unfortunately for me, I just feel that’s the one thing, we got to this unbelievable, heated long-term rivalry and then never got to pay it off on the biggest platform possible.

“I think Rock feels that way too.”

H/T to Inside The Ropes for the above transcription.