10 Definitive Levels To The Rock & Triple H's Epic Rivalry
9. First Championships
Triple H came into 1997 as WWE's Intercontinental Champion, and would continue his momentum heading into Thursday Raw Thursday in Feb 1997, which was a show due to Raw's pre-emption. There he looked to turn back Rocky Maivia in what was thought to be an easy victory for him.
During this time, Rock was still being pushed heavily as a rookie sensation, and was routinely being destroyed by Jerry Lawler and The Honky Tonk Man on commentary.
After HHH put a beating on the future Rock throughout the whole match, Maivia pulled a Bret Hart like goldbricking move and small packaged Hunter for his first championship in WWE.
From here they would go their separate ways, with this match being a historical footnote, and one of the opening chapters of their rivalry. With this win it seemed like Rocky was being blasted off into superstardom, but things would change for him following a sudden knee injury.