The Rock's 10 Best WWE Moments
10. Committing Regicide
Promos are a difficult beast to tame. In a perfect world, a wrestler hopes to straddle the line between building themselves up and establishing their opponents as a credible threat. If a wrestler portrays themselves as too much of an underdog, and will not believe they stand a chance. Conversely, suggesting the opponent is too far beneath them, and a victory is not viewed as an accomplishment, so much as excessive bullying.
The Rock’s promos were often scathing, but like Johnny Storm, he chose to go Nova Flame on the 1999 King of the Ring winner, Bad Ass Billy Gunn. The King of the Ring Tournament was often used to promote midcarders to the next level, providing a springboard to propel them into main event status. But for every Austin 3:16, there’s…well, "Billy".
Following his victory, Gunn was slotted into a position to feud with The Rock. Using his allotted promo time, The Rock mercilessly eviscerated poor Billy with an all-timer of a verbal beatdown. The Rock proclaimed God himself did not know Billy Gunn’s name, and that it didn’t matter to him in the slightest. When it came time for the match, The Rock won handily, and Gunn’s career never truly recovered.