Quick Links
The Rock was hailed as the Great One for a multitude of reasons. He was a supremely gifted speaker and a massively charismatic entertainer but the one attribute that made him super special was his ability to mesh well with almost anyone. We all remember Steve Austin as his biggest rival and rightfully so as the program was the highlight of the Attitude Era in WWE, but aside from the Rattlesnake, The Rock had no shortage of amazing rivals.
RELATED: Giant Gonzalez Vs. The Undertaker Might Be The Worst Match In WrestleMania History
Chris Jericho, Triple H, and Mankind are just a few of his best feuds. Even the Hurricane, a comedic mid-card wrestler, got his chance to shine during a feud against The Rock because the Great One was just so charismatic and talented he could make magic with everyone. Well, almost everyone. There was one guy with whom The Rock could never quite click. The phenom of WWE, The Undertaker, was that guy.
The Rock And Undertaker Didn't Have Great Chemistry In The Ring
These two legends shared the squared circle a couple of times, but there is a reason why fans seldom bring up the rivalry. The matches left a lot to be desired. The most noteworthy encounter between Rocky and Undertaker took place in 1999. The Rock was the one who issued the challenge in a fiery promo after The Undertaker had cost him a match against Triple H. Rocky compared Undertaker to the demon in the Exorcist movie, and after a few more insults; Undertaker came out to accept the challenge.
He retaliated with a pretty intense promo and the match was made official for King of the Ring. However, Vince McMahon came down and added a stipulation: the match would only happen if The Rock could win a triple threat match that also involved Triple H. The Undertaker was the champion and The Rock had to earn a shot at the belt. Triple H was a great in-ring worker and so the match turned out good, but there was an obvious problem between Rocky and Undertaker.
This was the first time the two had spent a significant amount of time wrestling each other on television and the lack of chemistry was apparent. Before this, The Rock and the Undertaker had a couple of tag-tag matches, faced off against each other at Survivor Series 1998, and took part in a casket matc, but the matches were short, and the interactions were too brief to form an opinion on the chemistry. Fans now got to see them lock horns for an extended period of time and, well, it did not look pretty.
RELATED: The Rock's 10 Worst PPV Matches, According To Cagematch.net
The Rock Couldn't Carry The Undertaker To A Great Match
The Rock won the triple threat and the match was set for the PPV. The hot angle leading into the PPV was the saga of Austin and McMahon battling it out for the control of WWE, so as insane as it is to say, this championship match between Undertaker and The Rock almost felt like a filler contest. It started with a ref bump as Undertaker clobbered Mike Chioda and The Rock nailed an early rock bottom in hopes for a quick victory.
Paul Bearer assaulted the referee to break up the count and Undertaker nailed an early tombstone, but the Rock kicked out. Yet another referee bump was followed by Triple H running down for the swerve interference, where he put The Rock down with a pedigree. A literal rag soaked in ethanol was later introduced in the match by Paul Bearer, which was bizarre. All of the gimmicky spots served as means to build intrigue, but it all just fell flat as the in-ring action was simply lacking.
In the end, The Undertaker picked up the victory with a tombstone pile driver and the match came to an end at a little over 19 minutes. It wasn’t outright awful, but it was not worth a rewatch on any day of the week. The feud lasted two months, and after The Undertaker was pushed into a battle with Steve Austin and the Rock moved on to other feuds.
Nagging Injuries Limited The Undertaker's In Ring Ability
They had a few more clashes after that throughout the next few years. Unfortunately, said matches failed to deliver, and this rivalry failed to be anything more than a filler program. Aside from a bad mesh of styles, and the apparent lack of chemistry, another reason why Rock versus The Undertaker never really clicked was the fact that Undertaker, from 1998-2003, was severely limited.
Indeed, Mark Calaway was struggling to put on decent matches and had a number of nagging injuries from the years prior. This led to a decrease in his in-ring work, and while The Rock was talented inside the ring, the only person who was able to carry Undertaker to a decent match the was Shawn Michaels. TheUndertaker was simply not at his best when feuding with The Rock, and that led to forgettable matches between two of the biggest WWE superstars.
