They needed to settle it inside the ring.
Some former WWE wrestlers felt a sense of “jealousy” over the rise of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the 1990s — and didn’t hold back about their grievances in the Season 3 premiere of A&E’s “WWE Rivals.”
“I’ll tell you, when he first came in there was some jealousy and people were like, ‘Why are they pushing this kid?'” former wrestler Glenn “Kane” Jacobs said on the show. “He struggled with that.”
Paul “Triple H” Levesque, in particular, appeared determined to knock the aspiring champion, now 51, down a few pegs.
“There was always competition between the two,” Bruce Prichard, a longtime WWE producer, said. “There’s a reason you believed these two guys didn’t like each other: They didn’t.”
The hatred between the two was so great that it even continued after the cameras stopped filming.
The episode focused on “the infamous animosity between” them that “[began] with their heated rivalry over the World Championship in the early 2000s.”
Johnson made his debut with the pro wrestling company at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in 1996, and ultimately pinned Levesque to help his team win the match.
“It was a big deal at the time,” Levesque said on the program. “Titles didn’t change hands as often, and I can remember being jealous of that.”
It wasn’t just Levesque, 54, who initially disliked Johnson.
Johnson “took a lot s—t” from fans and fellow wrestlers, according to Levesque.
Johnson, meanwhile, said the crowd “saw right through” the company’s support of him and turned on him. When he hit the ring, fans would often scream “Rocky sucks” from the crowd.
Instead of letting the negativity crush him, however, he focused on building his “The Rock” persona. He’d go on to become a fan-favorite and secure 10 world championships, the first one in 1998.
To this day, his catchphrase — “If you smell what The Rock is cooking” — is still as popular as ever.
Despite the initial feud between the pair, Levesque knew Johnson would be big one day.
“The first time I ever saw him, I’m just thinking, this guy’s going to be a star,” he said. “He just had a look.”
While Johnson continues to straddle both the grimy (and bloody) wrestling world and the glitz and glam of Hollywood, Levesque retired from the ring in 2022 and became the chief content officer for WWE.
The “Black Adam” actor, for his part, returned to the ring for the first time in a decade to face off against Roman Reigns for WWE Raw Day 1 on Jan. 1.
“These electrifying nights are so special and unforgettable. The connection with the people, the energy, vibe, authenticity, disruption, love, mana — the CHILLS,” he wrote via Instagram afterward.
“And now we make history, raise the bar and do things that have never been done before in @wwe. We go all out. And all in,” he continued. “I am so boundlessly grateful not just to connect with the audiences, but to get out there in the middle of the ring and rock and roll.”
He added that WWE is “home” and “it never, ever gets old.”
“WWE Rivals” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. EST on A&E.
