10 Wrestlers Who Couldn't Hide Their Anger At A REAL Insult

2. The Rock

Pissed Roman Reigns
WWE

The Rock was called the Rock on a permanent basis because the Rocky Maivia character, blooming in confidence, referred to himself in the third person in December 1997. This wonderful bit of improvisation took so well that, by 1998, the 'Maivia' bit was dropped entirely. It was a lovely bit of serendipity, because the Rock was a rock: he was unflappable. Nobody could chip away at his ice-cool facade.

He has only been...rocked (sorry) about, what, three times?

There was the time he was out-wizzorked by Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8. As Hogan embraced the crowd in full-on nostalgia demon mode, the Rock's eye twitched. This was an involuntary reaction. He was stunned, and unsettled, by the atmosphere.

There was also the time that, when endorsing Roman Reigns at the 2015 Royal Rumble, the crowd jeered him by proxy. He hated that.

And, of course - not including his transmogrification into a corncob when defending the Black Adam box office - he looked furious when, in the build to WrestleMania XXVIII, John Cena accused him of needing notes to remember his promos.

He also looked like he wanted to spark Cena clean out when Cena gurned like an obnoxious tw*t as Rock was just getting to his big line about how, at his core, he was bigger than Cena - 6' 4" of pure man.

The tension made the programme, and Rock's selling, even if he didn't want to show that much ass, put Cena on his level.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!