10 Things You Totally Forgot About WWE In 1997
2. Bret Hart Wrestled The Rock
Many WWE fans may look back at the late 90s as a time when WWE created numerous top superstars to help lead the company into the new millennium.
What Hulk Hogan helped to create in the 80s, Bret Hart then took over and in the late-90s, along with Shawn Michaels, passed it to Stone Cold Steve Austin. Although Austin stood out as the future flagship performer in 1997, another superstar was coming up that would be on nearly equal footing with Stone Cold in just a few years.
The story of the infamous Rocky Maivia character is well known. Dwayne Johnson debuted as a happy-go-lucky, smiling, white-meat babyface ready to carry on the wrestling heritage of his grandfather and father. While he would grow to become The Rock, this true transformation would happen after Bret Hart had left the company and so many wrestling fans mistakenly think that The Rock and Bret Hart never crossed paths.
But the fact is, they did.
On the March 31st edition of Monday Night RAW, Bret Hart wrestled Rocky Maivia for Rocky's Intercontinental Championship. The bout ended when Bret Hart was disqualified for refusing to let go of his signature ring post figure four. Ironically, it was The Rock's future rival Steve Austin that came to Rocky's aid, attacking the Hitman.