The Rock's 10 Best WWE Moments

Remember the time before Triple H was a main eventer? Of course not, anyone who claims otherwise is lying. But indeed, there was a fabled time when The Game had yet to be played. 1998 was a bizarre time for the WWE: Austin had ascended to the pinnacle of the company, Shawn Michaels was seemingly retired following their match at Wrestlemania 14, and the only real viable opponents for the Texas Rattlesnake seemed to be Undertaker and Kane.

The company needed to move forward, and on a fateful night during Summerslam 1998, they did. Triple H, now charged with taking over the leadership role of Degeneration X, was embroiled in a feud with The Rock, who was heading up the Nation of Domination.

The two men were slated to battle it out in a ladder match that Summer for the Intercontinental Title. Neither were terrific high flyers by any stretch of the imagination, and as such used the ladder in creative methods likely not seen since Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels’s incomparable wars.

In an oft-repeated theme, The Rock came up short. The loss made sense though, as Triple H needed something to cement himself as the new frontman of his stable, and Rocky was the perfect foil to provide it. . This was the match that proved both men could go at a high-level, and would see their destinies inevitably intertwined over the next 2 years, moving up the card simultaneously.