Shawn Michaels addresses WWE backstage issues with The Rock
According to Shawn Michaels, rumors that he and Triple H mistreated The Rock during the Attitude Era are “blown way out of proportion.”
Michaels addressed rumors of backstage heat between himself and The Rock while appearing on NBA legend Carmelo Anthony’s 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. During the appearance, Michaels was asked why he and The Rock never faced each other.
“He didn’t like me,” Michaels responded before laughing. “No, I will say this — there’s a big kerfuffle in the wrestling business about me and Hunter, you know, doing stuff to him and being mean and stuff like that. All of it way blown out of proportion, none of it even accurate. But things that when he was younger was fed a lot. But, again, later on and to this day, we get along and we talk about stuff.
“That’s one I think everybody would have liked to have seen. But by the time I came back, he was well off into his Hollywood career and stuff like that.”
Michaels noted that, when The Rock first started in WWE, there was some ribbing in the locker room over the “Rocky sucks” chants that he was getting. But Rock was able to turn things around with a character change and gain acceptance from fans, who no longer saw him as just being Rocky Johnson’s son.
When Michaels watched The Rock on Saturday Night Live for the first time, he could tell Rock was going to become a big star in Hollywood.
“What he’s done has been pretty damn impressive,” Michaels said.
Michaels, Triple H, and The Rock all now hold important positions within WWE/TKO. Michaels is in charge of NXT, Triple H is WWE’s Chief Content Officer, and Rock is a member of TKO’s board of directors.
Next Monday (April 13), a new documentary — titled “The Heartbreak Kid: Becoming Shawn Michaels” — will premiere on Peacock. It will cover Michaels’ career, his battle with addiction issues, and his NXT role.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.