“I Have No Excuse” The Rock’s Beef With Shawn Michaels Spanned Over Decades

Wrestling is filled with iconic rivalries. Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant. Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. The Rock. John Cena vs. Randy Orton. Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns. One in-ring rivalry we never got was The Rock vs. Bret Hart. Despite being two of the biggest names in WWE history, and having careers that overlapped at times, the Great One and the Heartbreak Kid never had a one-on-one match. This wasn’t the result of bad booking on Vince McMahon’s part, but because The Rock refused to work with HBK. Dwayne Johnson never forgot how Mr. WrestleMania treated him when he first signed with WWE.

Triple H And Shawn Michaels Tried To Hold The Rock Back In WWE

Bret Hart Took Rocky Maivia Under His Wing

• Shawn Michaels and Triple H didn’t want The Rock in WWE.
• HBK angrily confronted The Rock for using a missile dropkick during a match.
• The Rock spoke about how much the Hitman meant to him during a Jungle Cruise interview with Emily Blunt.

When The Rock debuted in WWE in 1996, he was far from the wrestler he became. He was the son of Rocky Johnson, but his gimmick, the ultra-dull smiling babyface Rocky Maivia, did him no favors. Worse than that was how he was treated by some of WWE’s biggest stars backstage. On his Confessions of the Hitman podcast, Bret Hart said HBK went off on the young Dwayne Johnson for using a missile dropkick during a match.

“I remember Shawn Michaels coming into the dressing room and dressing down poor Dwayne. Shawn came in and just dressed him down and he chewed him out. And I believe [HBK] told [The Rock] to never do a top-rope dropkick ever again because that was his move. That’s what he was mad about. And then he slammed the door and he walked out. The Rock was [deflated] because in those days, Shawn had a lot of weight. He was a pretty important guy for the company, a veteran guy kind of dressing him down like that. He was apologizing and said he didn’t know, and he thought it would be OK…

“Triple H was the same. He was always out to get The Rock. Shawn was out to get him, and they just worked on him and worked on him and worked on him. And I left. [The Rock] was still in the doghouse with those guys. They wanted him [out] as bad as they wanted me out. Like, they were after him. And for me, maybe a year later, he started getting his break, and he started to take off in WWE, and I’m so glad he overcame their petty bulls–t.” (h/t Wrestling Inc.)

A few years ago, while promoting Jungle Cruise with Emily Blunt, The Rock noticed that the interviewer was wearing a Bret Hart shirt. He then told Blunt about the Hitman, saying:

“He didn’t have to be but he was so good to me when I was a rookie professional wrestler… There were a lot of guys in that world at the time in ’96 that didn’t necessarily embrace me… Our families knew each other, and he knew that I came from a lineage of pro wrestling, and that I had a real love and respect for wrestling. He was just a great guy and I always like to give him props where I can.”

Rocky Johnson Said His Son And HBK Had A Backstage Fight

The Rock And Shawn Michaels Only Worked Together A Few Times

• The Rock’s father, Rocky Johnson, claimed his son beat up HBK.
• HBK gave sweet chin music to The Rock on the first episode of SmackDown.
• Shawn Michaels had to retire due to a back injury during The Rock’s prime years in WWE.

A backstage argument might not have been the only bad blood between The Rock and HBK. According to Rocky Johnson, it may have also gotten physical, as he once told Hannibal TV:

“Shawn threw the (sweet chin music) and I guess he kicked him a little too hard. So, Dwayne went back in the dressing room and said, ‘Hey man, you hit me a little too hard. Calm down.’ But then, (Michaels) got smart with him, said, ‘If you can’t take it then you shouldn’t be in this business.’ Next thing you know, he’s on the floor and Dwayne is on top of him.” (h/t Fightful)

That story hasn’t been verified, but if it did happen, it couldn’t have been 1996 when The Rock first debuted in WWE, because the two never worked a match together. The story has always been that The Rock refused to wrestle Shawn Michaels because of how he treated him, so if a fight over a sweet chin music spot happened, it had to have been in August 1999, when, as the guest ref, HBK hit the move on The Rock to help Triple H beat him on the very first SmackDown.

As The Rock’s career took off in 1998, a bad back injury caused Michaels to retire for four years. During this time, HBK returned here and there for on-screen roles, such as when he played the WWE Commissioner. The two eventually ended up being in the same faction together, but outside of that SmackDown moment and another guest referee spot, walking down the ramp in the presence of each other is as close as they ever got to being co-workers.

Shawn Michaels Apologized To The Rock When He Returned To The WWE

He Now Works With The Rock’s Daughter, Ava, In NXT

• Shawn Michaels was difficult to get along with due to his bad personality and drug addiction.
• HBK acknowledged how horrible he was during an interview with Logan Paul.
• The two legendary wrestlers are never going to be the best of friends in real life.

Shawn Michaels was known to be very difficult to work with in the 90s and early 2000s due to his cocky personality and a drug addiction. We all know that Bret Hart couldn’t stand him, but few wrestlers actually could. Michaels himself knew he was horrible to people, which is part of the reason why he found religion. When he returned to WWE in 2002 as a changed man, he sought to make amends with those he hurt. That eventually included The Rock. In a 2022 interview on Logan Paul’s ImPAULsive podcast, Shawn said:

“I’ve never worked with him. The times I’ve seen him, we’ve always gotten along okay. I don’t think it was as bad as everyone made it out to be. I know that I gave everybody a hard time back when I was younger. When I came back, I made sure I went up to everybody and was at least like, ‘Sorry.’ That’s the best that I could do. When I came back in 2002, and I knew there was going to be, ‘We’ll see.’ It was important to me to go around and make amends and at least tell everyone, ‘Sorry about the way I was. I have no excuse, I’m willing to earn back whatever. If you never talk to me again, I’m cool with that too.'” (h/t Fightful)

While The Rock and Shawn Michaels are not ever going to be the best of friends, their lives are still linked with each other. Today, with Michaels heading NXT, he’s the boss of The Rock’s daughter, Ava, who plays the development brand’s GM. They’ve had a few on-screen moments together, bringing the story of HBK and The Rock full circle.