Bret Hart reveals Shawn Michaels and Triple H ‘bullied’ The Rock in his early days in the WWE
Back in the 1990s, the WWE was a lot more wild west than the billion dollar company that you see today.
In the mid-90s, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were on top while many of yesterdays stars like Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage and many others had taken their talents to WCW.
Bret Hart made magic with Shawn Michaels, but they hated each other
In 1995, Triple H debuted with the company and at the tail-end of 1996, The Rock made his debut, too.
Triple H quickly aligned with Michaels and became embedded in the now famous Kliq that featured Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and X-Pac.
The latter three of that collective departed for WCW too and leading up to Hart’s eventual departure in late 1997, Triple H and Michaels were ganging up on The Rock according to Hart.
Speaking on his latest Confessions of the Hitman podcast, Hart went into detail on how The Rock was bullied.
“A lot of the wrestlers would give him a hard time in those days, a really hard time, enough to try to break him and get him to quit and they almost succeeded.
The Rock’s WWE debut saw him sport a look that didn’t last long!
“And I can remember going to bat for Dwayne quite a few times and kind of looking out for him, Owen too. I think Owen and I had a lot to do with sort of looking out for him when he first came down. [The Rock] was kind of a marked guy.”
“I remember Shawn Michaels coming into the dressing room and dressing down poor Dwayne. Shawn came in and just dressed him down and he chewed him out. And I believe, [HBK] told [The Rock] to never do a top rope dropkick ever again because that was his move. That’s what he was mad about. And then, he slammed the door and he walked out. The Rock was [deflated] because in those days, Shawn had a lot of weight.
“He was a pretty important guy for the company, a veteran guy kind of dressing him down like that, he was apologising and said he didn’t know, and he thought it would be okay. I remember the door closed after Shawn left and I said, ‘that’s bulls–t. That’s total bulls–t.’ I said, ‘nobody owns the dropkick off the top.
Bret Hart was one of WWE’s top stars and was able to watch The Rock’s back
“You can do that. Owen does it all the time! Why doesn’t he cut a promo on Owen?’ I said, ‘they’re just busting your chops and they’re trying to work on you.’”
Hart goes on to say Triple H followed Michaels’ lead. Of course, he was directly competing with The Rock to rise up in the company and it was clear to see who Vince McMahon thought had the higher upside. Michaels and The Game resented that.
“Triple H was the same. He was always out to get The Rock. Shawn was out to get him and they just worked on him, and worked on him, and worked on him. And I left. [The Rock] was still in the doghouse with those guys.
“They wanted him [out] as bad as they wanted me out. Like, they were after him. And, for me, maybe a year later, he started getting his break and he started to take off in WWE and I’m so glad he overcame their petty bulls–t.”
Triple H and Shawn Michaels thought they ran WWE in those days
The Hitman says the bullying stemmed from jealousy, but it was also a gang mentality against a rookie who, despite being a third generation wrestler didn’t understand the backstage politics in a place like the WWE.
“Just jealousy, and distinctly jealousy. Seeing someone that is a nice kid climbing the ladder bothered someone like Shawn Michaels or bothered Triple H so much that they couldn’t see passed it. They worked on him and worked on him and it was pretty clear to me.
“And it wasn’t the only time they came in and made those types of scenes. They did that a few times, but I had a lot of clout at that time too, so I could go in and make him rebound and say, ‘don’t pay attention to that stuff, you didn’t do anything wrong’ because he was still green. That’s a term we use in [pro] wrestling. He was still a rookie.”
The Rock and Triple H ended up having one of WWE’s most iconic feuds
It was a happy ending for The Rock as he went on to become one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time and a box office sensation both in the ring and now in Hollywood.
Ironically, a large part of his rise was down to his in-ring feud with Triple H.
Thanks to Wrestling Inc for the transcription
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