Why Triple H And The Rock Had A Feud That Extended Beyond The Ring

Triple H and The Rock are two of the greatest to ever step foot inside a professional wrestling ring, and many feel that his rivalry with Triple H is one of The Rock's most entertaining feuds in WWE. Their legacies are what they are today in part because of their bitter rivalry in the late '90s and early 2000s. It may come as a surprise to some people, considering how professional they are today, but at this time in their budding careers, the feud began transcending television and carrying over into real life. 

In '97, with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall jumping to WCW, The Rock and Triple H were dominating WWE's mid-card and fighting over the coveted Intercontinental Championship. This is when Shawn Michaels allegedly started seeing The Rock as a threat to Triple H, who was being groomed to take over Michaels' spot at the top of WWE once he was ready to pass on the torch. 

Bret Hart even detailed in his autobiography, "Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling" that Michaels and Triple H encouraged Vince McMahon to drop the Intercontinental title from The Rock to Hart in an effort to diminish "The Great One's" star power. Issues between The Rock and Shawn Michaels -– Triple H's real-life best friend -– date back much further.

In a 2017 interview, The Rock's father, Rocky Johnson, recalled an incident that occurred when The Rock was a teenager and Michaels came to visit the territory where his family trained. There was a moment in the ring where Michaels landed a stiff kick on The Rock, which The Rock brought up backstage after the match concluded, prompting Michaels to say, "If you can't take it, you shouldn't be in the business." The two men then got into a legitimate scuffle where The Rock "almost killed" Michaels, according to Rocky Johnson.

Michaels downplayed the rumored issues with The Rock years later, stating that he got along fine with "The People's Champ" and doubted if the rivalry was as bad as people made it out to be.

The bad blood only contributed to the issues brewing between Triple H and The Rock throughout the different phases of their WWE rivalry, especially when D-Generation X and The Nation of Domination began feuding in 1998. 

After crossing paths in standout matches over the years, The Rock and Triple H were finally in the main event scene and battling over the WWE Championship after SummerSlam 1999. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was suffering from notorious neck injuries that would plague the remainder of his career, and WWE was turning the spotlight on different stars like The Rock, Triple H, Big Show, and Mick Foley, to name a few.

On the January 3, 2000 edition of "WWE Raw," Triple H won the WWE world title, and by the end of the month, The Rock had won the men's Royal Rumble match and secured a world title match at WrestleMania 2000. But in an effort to raise the stakes and elevate additional stars in WrestleMania's main event, a big blowout match between Triple H and The Rock didn't occur at "The Show of Shows." 

Instead, a fatal four-way match between Triple H, The Rock, Mick Foley, and The Big Show for the WWE Championship headlined WrestleMania 2000, which also tied in the McMahon family drama that was weaved throughout the Attitude Era. With Vince McMahon's help, Triple H became the first heel champion in WrestleMania history to retain the WWE Championship. 

"The Game" went on the record years later to say that he wanted to face The Rock one-on-one at WrestleMania 2000. "I really wished I had that opportunity with him one-on-one at WrestleMania because we had done so much together having that one-on-one would've been special."

WWE executive Bruce Prichard spoke on his "Something To Wrestle" podcast about The Rock and Triple H's relationship during this time in their careers. He chalked up a lot of the tension to simple jealousy. Prichard believed Triple H was jealous of The Rock's natural rise through WWE and saw the first signs of any sabotage done by The Game. Apparently, during promo exchanges, Triple H went off-script to bury The Rock, while "The People's Champ" would stick to the script. 

After another instance of this happening, The Rock was frustrated and Prichard told him to do the same thing to Triple H. The next time the two men started trading insults, The Rock improvised and added his own quips -– something he eventually became adored for. "The Game" confirmed that he and The Rock weren't always on good terms and that they were very competitive.

Nowadays, it's apparent that the two men are at least comfortable working together in a professional capacity. In 2014, Triple H and The Rock came face-to-face in a backstage segment after an episode of "WWE SmackDown," where they showed some tension but also brought lightheartedness to the exchange of words before Stephanie McMahon interrupted. At WrestleMania 31 in 2015, The Rock invited Ronda Rousey into the ring and the pair beat up Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a segment that gave a hint of closure to this incomparable rivalry.