10 Moments WWE Don't Want You To Find On The Network

8. The Rock Vs Lana

Dawn Marie
WWE

Where to find it: Raw, 25th January 2016

In which The Rock summons the spirt of 1999 in actually energising an audience, but does it by channelling the bottom-of-the-barrel tone and content from that very same time period.

An incredibly tough watch at the time let alone now, Rock's walk-and-squawk ahead of addressing the live crowd was a lovely idea in concept and execution until he reached the 'Ravishing Russian'. He banters The Big Show off the face off the planet and wishes Pat Patterson a Happy Birthday on his travels, but reaches Lana and proceeds to go into detail about a hotel sex scene between the two that she's barely scripted to react to let alone verbally dispute.

At one point she grins on cue or pops for real, and either way that's the invitation for this to feel more inclusive than it actually is. Rusev appears on scene to theoretically scare 'The Great One', but he continues unabated with knowing glow before playfully spanking Lana in another spot that goes mostly unchecked.

Every bit of the scene is too new-feeling to be happening, because it is. Women were still "Divas" for another few months in WWE-speak at the time, but they'd long ceased being mere objects as was the case here.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett