10 World Champions The Rock Wrestled Once
9. Jeff Hardy
By April 2003, The Rock was in full Hollywood prick mode. Goldberg had arrived in town and informed the Brahma Bull that he was next, and their rivalry reached fever pitch on the way to their battle at Backlash. Funnily enough, before this match The Rock would be involved in a backstage segment with none other than Christian, as Captain Charisma was looking for The Great One to autograph his copy of The Scorpion King.
Jeff Hardy and The Rock only had one singles match on WWE TV, at very different parts of their respective careers. The Rock was winding down, still younger than most men on today's roster, and Jeff Hardy was just starting out as a singles competitor. The match itself was immensely sloppy, suffering somewhat from communication issues, but it still did wonders for Jeff.
The Rock pulled out the victory with a Rock Bottom, but Jeff came within a whisker of having his hand raised after hitting the Swanton Bomb. This match wasn't too different to what we saw during the John Cena US Championship Open Challenge: a wrestler in the middle of the card getting the rub of a competitive match with the top star.