Vince McMahon and The Rock have some of the most iconic catchphrases in WWE history. One of The Brahma Bull's most famous lines, “took his ball and went home,” was a dig at Stone Cold after walking out of the company following a disagreement with Vince McMahon. The company had told Jim Ross, Michael Cole and The Rock to 'bury' Austin on-screen.
As reported earlier, Stone Cold had refused to lose to Brock Lesnar on an episode of RAW. The six-time WWE Champion simply walked out refusing to do business. The company suspended him, and they tried to bury him on-air. Even though he returned later, he never regained his popularity because of the manner in which the company had maligned him.
As per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, The Rock was explicitly told to insult Austin on air. The two men had been long-time rivals and are credited with the massive success of the Attitude Era. However, with Austin suspended, The Brahma Bull had to tow the company line.
The report also revealed that once Stone Cold was back, McMahon was advertised to face him at house shows. The idea was to rebuild the glory days of Austin and burn the bridges between the two men. However, McMahon backed out of those matches:
However, due to multiple reasons like travel, his other duties, personal reasons and no major change in ticket sales, he backed out of the matches and stopped going despite being advertised.
Did a respected WWE Hall of Famer predict a major title switch at Extreme Rules right here?
Poll : Should The Rock have refused to bury Stone Cold?
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The feud between Vince McMahon and Steve Austin carried the company for the early years of the Attitude Era and the underdog of the Monday Night Wars blazed through, largely on the back of Stone Cold who had become one of the more popular superstars in the entire industry, eclipsing the likes of Hogan and Flair.
Meanwhile, as Austin and McMahon feuded on top of the card, the up-and-coming superstars were given due attention as they rightfully deserved. Rocky Maivia and Hunter Hearst Helmsley were touted as the next big superstars and despite a rocky start for the two of them, the advent of the Attitude Era led to the two breaking out.
Rocky Maivia was a third-generation wrestler and after a failed stint as a generic babyface, Maivia transformed his character into a quick-witted and fast-talking superstar who had a massive chip on his shoulder and constantly referred to himself in the third person.
Triple H And The Rock Carried The Company in 2000
Hunter, on the other hand, had spent the better part of the past few years wrestling on the lower-card and following a squash loss at the hands of a returning Ultimate Warrior, the future looked bleak for Shawn Michaels’ buddy. Imagine that!
Regardless, Triple H was able to resurrect his dying career and during an infamous, expletive-laced promo with Jim Ross, the challenger for the world title dubbed himself as The Game and his career took off for the next sphere.
Around this time, The Rock had established himself as one of the biggest stars in the industry, with his feud with Austin around WrestleMania 15 drawing rave reviews. Unfortunately, while Triple H and Rock rose through the ranks, Austin had accumulated far too much wear and tear on his body and the company wrote him off of television during the Survivor Series 1999 event.
The biggest star in the company was sidelined during the peak of the Monday Night Wars but fortunately for WWE, Triple H and The Rock were more than ready to carry the program while Austin recuperated at home.
Soon after Survivor Series, Triple H won the world title from the Big Show on an episode of RAW and while Triple H would go on to feud with Mick Foley and The Rock had his hands full with Big Show, the match seemed destined for the next installment of WrestleMania.
Unfortunately, the entire McMahon family got involved in the program, alongside Mick Foley and Big Show. In the end, McMahon, who was in the corner of The Rock at WrestleMania 2000, backstabbed the Brahma Bull and joined forces with Triple H, with the heel walking out of the showcase of the immortals, still world champion.
The Great One was not done and despite being beaten up and battered on almost every episode of RAW, the third-generation superstar kept coming back for more, fighting the Helmsley-McMahon faction through the summer.
The Rock finally got his hands around championship gold at Backlash 2000, thanks to interference from Steve Austin. The title went back to Triple H at the following PPV, Judgment Day following a dusty finish. After a chaotic Iron-Match between the two bitter rivals, Triple H won the match 6 falls to 5 as the interference from The Undertaker awarded him a disqualification win in the closing seconds.
The title picture was convoluted once again. The Undertaker had his set sights on the gold and his half-brother, Kane, had similar aspirations. McMahon then proposed a solution and added a special stipulation to the title match at King of The Ring. In an attempt to stir trouble between Kane, Rock, and Undertaker, McMahon announced that the PPV would be headlined by a three-man tag team match.
The trio of Shane, Vince, and Triple H would take on The Rock, Undertaker, and Kane and whoever scored the victory would be world champion, regardless of who was pinned. Rock, Undertaker, and Kane were able to barely co-exist against the onslaught of the heel faction but they were quick to turn on each other as they valued championship gold above all else.
Behold The Billionaire Elbow
McMahon flaunted his cerebral intelligence as the distrust between his opponents festered and as expected, the match was as chaotic and wild as predicted. However, towards the end, after Undertaker had put Shane McMahon through the announcer’s table with a monstrous bump, Vince McMahon found himself alone in the ring with The Rock, while everyone else was laid out across ringside.
Seeing the opportunity, Vince McMahon gave his signature, ghastly smile and removed his elbow pad before strutting around the ring to deliver a Billionaire’s elbow upon The Rock but the former champion rose up at the last second and nailed the chairman with a rock bottom to win the match, and the world title. Strangely, Undertaker was up at ringside and did not interrupt the pin but he did punch Triple H after the bell had rung.
Disregarding the obvious controversy of who was the legal man at the time of the finish, the takeaway was that the supposed genius of McMahon backfired. Oh, and Triple H found a way to not drop the title directly, with Vince McMahon eating the pin. Now that is intelligence.