During the latest edition of his “Something to Wrestle” podcast, Bruce Prichard commented on The Rock and Shawn Michaels’ relationship in WWE, why The Rock hated his feud with Billy Gunn, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On The Rock and Shawn Michaels not liking each other when they were in WWE: “They didn’t like each other. Ego, especially back then, just completely different people. So I don’t think Shawn saw a whole lot in Rock at the time and Rock didn’t really like Shawn. It was just oil and water at the time. They did not mesh. Some people just didn’t like each other.”
On Rock hating having to feud with Billy Gunn: “Rock hated it. There’s no other way to explain it. Rock hated it. He saw it as not as a demotion, but ‘OK, I’m the guy that’s gotta get this guy over?’ And not like I’m over, put me on top. And instead, I’m put in the role of trying to get this guy over. And I don’t know that Rock really had the confidence in Billy. This was at the time we were looking to get a singles run out of Billy and see what the hell he had. He was away from the tag team with Road Dogg and was on his own – let’s see what he can do. This just didn’t work. I don’t know if it was being a tag team guy that there’s a different cardio level for tag team guys – and I say that about one of the most natural athletes ever in the business in Billy Gunn. But I don’t know that his pacing and time was right for singles run. That sounds weird, but it just wasn’t.”
On their ‘Kiss My Ass’ Match at SummerSlam 1999: “It didn’t work. It just didn’t work. I think the confidence in Billy’s single run quickly diminished. It wasn’t just this match, it was leading up to it as well. When you look at the two talents, where are you gonna invest? You’re gonna invest in Rock. Unfortunately for Billy at that point, that’s where it laid. I think that was a lot of times a shortcoming of Russo of if you book it, they will come. Not everybody just because you book them in that position should be in that position. And I think for Billy to succeed, maybe after King of the ring, he should’ve worked with someone else to build to that. But being put right in with Rock and being put right into that position of being not just top guy, but mega top guy and not being able to run with them, it’s a tough crowd.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
