5 WWE Superstars who had backstage issues with The Rock 

The Rock is arguably one of the biggest Superstars the WWE has ever created. The former World Champion was a staple of The Attitude Era alongside Stone Cold Steve Austin, and later went on to make the successful switch over to the acting business.

Unlike many stars who have walked away from WWE over the years and found success elsewhere, The Rock never forgot where he came from and still makes surprise appearances on WWE TV.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has become one of the best-known actors and former wrestlers in the world throughout the course of his career. However, like many other WWE stars before him, The Rock had several issues in the locker room during his WWE career.

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#5 Shawn Michaels' Superkick on The Rock

The Rock and Shawn Michaels have interestingly never shared a ring together, despite arguably being two of the biggest stars in the company at the same time.

It's unknown where the heat between the two men actually stems from, but there was previously a report from Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer which stated that it was down to a comment that Michaels made about The Rock's grandmother.

Reports also suggest that throughout The Rock's rise through the ranks in WWE, Michaels and Triple H tried hard to hold him back. It was something that obviously failed, since he went on to become one of the biggest stars of all time.

According to a report by TalkSPORT, Shawn Michaels landed a Superkick on The Rock, which hit him in the jaw during a segment. When he later complained that it was too stiff, Michaels gave him a stern message.

"If you can’t handle it, you shouldn’t be in the business.”

This then led to a brawl between the two men, where they had to be separated by other WWE stars. The Rock's father Rocky Johnson later recalled that in the moment, his son "almost killed the Heart Break Kid."

Whatever their issues were, The Rock told WWE's official website that he had never wanted to work with Michaels while he was in WWE.

"I was never ever interested in working with him, to be honest with you."

The Rock has returned numerous times since, and could have wrestled Michaels on several different occasions. However, because of their issues, this was a match that was never able to take place.

#4 John Cena called out The Rock's "ignorance"

John Cena and The Rock have had very similar career paths and are now close friends after their encounters at WrestleMania. However, The Rock actually admitted that the two men "had real problems with each other."

After The Rock became a star outside of the wrestling business, John Cena made his feelings clear. He commented on the fact that the former World Champion was no longer interested in the business that created him.

Of course, a decade later, Cena himself started to focus on acting. He has been asked about his previous comments about The Rock during an interview with Gorilla Position.

"I called [Johnson] out because of ignorance, I called him out as someone who had tunnel vision in WWE and didn't understand the process that when you make a movie, you are not allowed to do anything else."

As noted, the two men were able to get past their initial issues and have since gone on to become close friends. Both men are now focused on their careers outside of WWE and continue to be two of the best known wrestlers the company has ever created.

#3 Randy Orton's comments upset The Rock

.@TheRock I see you will be at #SmackdownOnFox this Friday. How about you & I have a discussion about who’s the greatest 3rd generation of all time and we answer that question April 5th in Tampa At Wrestlemania 36. A vipers sense of smell is unmatched. I smell what you’re cooking

— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) October 4, 2019

Randy Orton has never been a star to sugar coat what he's thinking. It appears that The Viper managed to upset The Rock when he gave his honest thoughts about the former champion in a 2011 interview with ESPN.

"I think Cena will own The Rock, I think Cena is wittier and can go off the cuff. Cena writes his own stuff, while The Rock has stuff written for him. It just all comes down to who you are in the ring and what kind of performer you are in the ring, and I think Cena is 10 times the performer in the ring that The Rock is."

Orton later revealed in an interview with KUPD Radio that The Rock had called the office and Vince McMahon was pretty mad about the fact that he had said that publically.

"I heard [WWE CEO] Vince [McMahon] was mad. And John Laurinaitis, the Vice President of Talent Relations, pulled me aside and had a little talk with me and told me that Vince was upset and I shouldn't have said this going into WrestleMania. Basically, Rock called the office and he said, 'Yeah, you know, Randy Orton did an interview and he buried me.'"

The Viper went on to reveal that he confronted The Rock following their issues and asked him if that was the way that they did things. It's safe to say that there is still no love lost between the two men.

#2 CM Punk's reaction to The Rock's WrestleMania appearance

CM Punk and The Rock famously faced off back at the 2013 Royal Rumble, when The Best In The World's record-setting WWE Championship reign came to an end.

The Rock made his return at WrestleMania back in 2011 and the show went on to make more than a million pay-per-view buys. All eyes turned to The Rock and the impact that he obviously had on those numbers.

Of course, The Rock was only the host of WrestleMania and not one of the performers on the show. That frustrated CM Punk, since he didn't believe The Rock had done anything worthy of the pay-per-view buys.

"It's very frustrating being here and watch a guy come in and get credit for a WrestleMania buyrate when he didn't do anything on the show. He certainly didn't do anything entertaining."

Punk went on to further push home his point by stating that he believed that The Rock was outdated.

"There's a line he crossed at some point where I think he is just as out of touch as the Vince McMahons and everybody else. I'm not calling Rock old, he's still obviously a young physical fit guy but his ideas are old and his shtick is corny in my opinion."

Of course, this was before The Rock defeated Punk in 2013 and went on to main event WrestleMania later that year against John Cena.

#1 Triple H and The Rock's jealousy

Triple H was part of the locker room when The Rock was coming through the ranks. However, much like with Shawn Michaels, reports suggest that The Game attempted to hold The Rock back as well.

There were obvious issues between Michaels and The Rock, but it appears that the problems with Triple H and the former World Champion were more about their professional jealousy.

Bruce Pritchard revealed back in 2018 that there was a lot of jealousy between the two men while they were trying to establish themselves in the business.

"I don't know now. I'll tell ya, at the time, there was a professional jealousy. I mean, it was brutal ... The audience, man, they felt it because it was real. There was animosity there. There was professional jealousy there. And these two guys didn't like each other."

Speaking to Bleacher Report ahead of his 25th anniversary in the business, Triple H set the record straight regarding his issues with The Rock.

“I never felt during that time that Rock and I didn’t like each other. But we were uber competitive with each other. There was this competitive nature to everything that we did. When you’re in your 20s, you’re full of yourself. You have to be in this business to be good at what you do."

The Rock was initially scheduled to return to WWE to face off against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon alongside Ronda Rousey back at WrestleMania 34. This was something that The Rock was unable to do, and was instead replaced by Kurt Angle.