In the WWE, he was known as "The Rock," and he had a long and illustrious career. As a result, his fame increased in other areas as well, prompting the UFC to summon him to award the symbolic BMF belt to the victor of the UFC 244 main event. The Rock appeared at the event dressed in wrestling attire with "The Beast" backstage waiting for him. When he saw that CM Punk was in attendance, he asked who won but was told by Dana White that nobody won because of an injury. He then said that he would do so if he lost his title to Conor McGregor.
McGregor came out wearing boxing trunks with "ROCKY" written on them. The Rock hit a DDT on him immediately after the match began and went for the pin but failed. Thus making McGregor the new champion.
After the match, The Rock left the arena without taking any questions from the media. This was done to avoid giving anything away about his future plans. However, some fans believed that he had confirmed that he was leaving the company and that he would not be returning.
The Rock's passion for MMA is widely known. The big guy famously held the BMF championship at the Nate Diaz vs. Jorge Masvidal weigh-ins and delivered the belt to "Gamebred" following his win at UFC 244. Johnson, ever the good sport, even made fun of Diaz's awful post-fight outburst at his expense.
In addition to being one of the biggest names in MMA, The Rock is also one of the most recognizable faces in sports-entertainment. With more than 150 fights under his belt, he's one of only three fighters in history (Randy Couture and Georges St-Pierre are the others) to compete in over 100 fights without being defeated. He's also one of only two fighters in history (St-Pierre is the other) to win championships in multiple divisions (heavyweight and light heavyweight).
MMA is a sport that uses many different strategies to determine a winner. A fight can be decided in a number of ways, including by submission, knockout, or decision. In fact, there have been numerous cases where judges' decisions were overruled by events such as comebacks and upsets. This creates a lot of controversy surrounding these matches, but one thing that rarely changes is who people think won the fight.
Mixed martial arts debuted in 1993 with the creation of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
The Rock has just headlined one of the biggest WrestleManias of all time, but he is now in jeopardy. During his encounter with John Cena at WrestleMania 29, he tore his abdominal and abductor muscles and developed a hernia (F4WOnline, via Wrestlinginc.com). He had surgery two days later to correct these issues.
There is no word on how long he will be out of action, but it doesn't look good. Without The Rock at WrestleMania, there is a chance that this year's event could see another major screwup by WWE management. For example, they could decide to have just one guest ref during matches instead of two. Or they could even go so far as to have just one judge for each match instead of three.
Either way, it's clear that without The Rock there to lead them, there is a serious chance that WrestleMania 30 will be yet another failure for the company.
Rock was a tremendous in-ring performer from 2001 to 2002, and he is unjustly underappreciated in my opinion. During that time, he was enjoying amazing matches with practically every top talent. Rock being chastised for his lack of technical prowess is akin to Shawn Michaels being chastised for his lack of strength. Each has a distinct in-ring style. When used properly, they are both effective strategies for winning matches.
Now, before you question the credibility of this article, let me state that I am not saying that Shawn Michaels is a better wrestler than The Rock - they have different strengths which are useful in different situations. But if you ask me which one is more effective, I would say the Michigan native all day long. Maybe it's because I'm a HBK fan, but any criticism that I might have of The Rock would be based on his in-ring work, rather than his character or interviews.
So, was The Rock a good in-ring wrestler? Yes.
A few days later, on SmackDown! , Rock was disqualified from a non-title bout against Angle after assaulting Angle with a steel chair. The Rock beat The Big Show on the February 8 edition of SmackDown! to become the #1 contender for the WWF Championship at No Way Out.
The Rock lost his match against The Angle when he attacked him with a steel chair after he won the match. The referee disqualified The Rock because he had used illegal weapons in the match. After the match, The Angle attempted to continue fighting with The Rock but he disappeared into the night.
The Rock is without a doubt one of the best performers in WWE history, and his WrestleMania matches are a significant part of his reputation. The Rock will defend his WWE championship against John Cena at WrestleMania 29 in a fight that will be fought for both men's dignity as well as the title. The winner will go on to face whoever becomes the number one contender after The Rock loses his title match.
At Survivor Series 2007, The Rock announced he was leaving WWE to pursue a career in acting. He has appeared in several films since then with most recently being 2014's "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle".
During Rock's absence, WWE has had many famous wrestlers take on The Rock in a series of matches that are referred to as "feuds". The first was Stone Cold Steve Austin who held The Rock's world heavyweight championship up in the air at one point during their match. After this match, Austin declared himself the #1 contender for The Rock's championship and they scheduled them for January 23, 2008 at New Year's Revolution. The match lasted more than fifteen minutes and included tables, ladders, and even a car from the parking lot used as weapons. At the end of the match, The Rock managed to win by throwing Austin off the top of a ladder and then covering him for the three-count.
After performing a second Rock Bottom (his signature move) and achieving a 1-2-3, The Rock triumphed over John Cena and gained a hard-fought victory.
The Rock's win was in fact just a pre-planned stunt by Vince McMahon and his team; as soon as The Rock performed his second Rock Bottom, they ran on stage and removed him from the ring, before bringing out another wrestler - John Cena - who then went on to win the match.
This was done to make money off of The Rock's popularity since he wasn't signed with any major company at the time. This also makes his loss to Cena at WrestleMania XXV one of the few times that a WWE champion has lost their title.
Since The Rock was still under contract with World Wrestling Entertainment when this incident took place, it didn't affect his relationship with the company in any way after it happened. However, this did cause tension between him and John Cena which later led to them fighting each other at various events including the first ever No Holds Barred Match at UFC 74 where The Rock defeated Cena.
Cena has yet to respond to this incident but we can assume that he doesn't forgive The Rock for cheating him out of the championship.
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