10 Biggest Missed Opportunities In The Rock's WWE Career
6. Required Much Stronger Rival Than Mark Henry In Late-1998
Towards the end of 1998, it was clear that The Rock was being readied for a crack at the main event scene for good. Less than 2 years after his main roster debut, the man had shown himself to be a tremendous performer, and fans were heavily invested into his character by this point.
Having been a focal point of The Nation Of Domination since 1997, Rocky started to break out as a babyface in the Summer of '98. In a wholly different scenario from the last time, fans were willing to accept the guy, and viewed him as one of the coolest faces on the roster. The WWF wanted to push him further up the card before Survivor Series, but one of The Rock's first feuds as a face was not exactly stellar stuff.
Sure, creative had to break up The Nation somehow, but Mark Henry was not a strong enough opponent to ready The Rock for the main event scene. At Judgment Day: In Your House in October, 1998, The Rock lost to Henry in just over 5 minutes, which did little to inspire fans to follow his story into the upcoming WWF Title tournament at the Survivor Series. Why wasn't he handed a more illustrious heel to solidify himself as a babyface?