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WWE legend The Undertaker claims he flipped script to give The Rock huge win on Raw
Two living legends (Picture: WWE)
The Undertaker has claimed he once ‘called an audible’ to give Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson a big moment early in his WWE career.
The legendary Dead Man, who faced the Hollywood heavyweight a few times over the years, has weighed in on the importance of helping out the next generation of stars as he recalled The Rock’s arrival on the scene.
Appearing on Cold as Balls with Kevin Hart, Undertaker was asked about a ‘changing of the guards’ and said: ‘Definitely, one of them would be your buddy, The Rock, way back in the day, you could tell he was right here, on the threshold.
‘We were in a match on Monday Night Raw, bunch of different things going on, it got kinda screwed up, and I had to audible. I had to change things. I’m the tenured vet there, right, and I remember telling him, “Alright kid, it’s your night!”
‘He hit me with the Rock Bottom, he beat me. It was the right thing to do for business. I told Vince, “I said, look, we were in trouble time-wise”, he said, “I trust you.” ‘
Dwayne’s 1996 debut match not only came at MSG, but it was also at Survivor Series, which at the time was arguably WWE’s biggest show outside WrestleMania.
It wasn’t the best in-ring start for Johnson, and the Phenom previously recalled thinking that the Great One’s career was over before it had really started.
‘I had no clue to how charismatic he was. I was like, “Such a shame, he’s not gonna be here long,” ‘ he told Gary Vaynerchuk on YouTube. ‘I mean, they handcuffed him right out of the get go, right?
‘I remember watching him, and the Garden [fans], they’re merciless if they don’t like what you’re doing. And man, they just lit him up.’
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Undertaker’s early assessment wasn’t an isolated one, and even Triple H – one of The Rock’s greatest rivals – has admitted he had similar reservations and never expected things to turn out the way they did.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk in October 2019, he said: ‘The funny thing is for a lot of people – when Rocky Maivia walked through the door, nobody went “Oh this guy’s gonna change” – I mean, maybe some people saw it.
‘But a lot of people didn’t go “oh this guys gonna change the world and be the biggest movie star ever!” ‘
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