Triple H reveals The Rock was his biggest rival in WWE

Triple H has revealed that he believes the Rock was his biggest rivalry in WWE, coming at a time when he was at the peak of his powers.

Triple H is one of the WWE's most legendary ever superstars, with an in ring career spanning from 1995 until 2021, officially hanging up his boots earlier this year at night two of WrestleMania 38.

The 14 time world champion spanned across several generations of WWE and fought pretty much everyone who came through down the ramp and into the fabled squared circle.

Along the way he had some of the most memorable feuds in the company's history, against the like of the Undertaker, Mick Foley, Randy Orton and even long time friend and ally Shawn Michaels.

However, it was alongside the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin that the Game came to define the Attitude Era, the most memorable time for many wrestling fans.

Speaking exclusively to SPORTbible, the King of Kings revealed that it was his feuds with the Rock, with Austin out injured, that steered the company through a tough time, that came at the top of his competitive powers and was his best rivalry.

"It’s hard to say," Triple H, real name Paul Levesque, said when asked about the rivalries, "Sort of leading into that time frame, there’s a moment where the Attitude Era is getting into full swing and then [Stone Cold Steve] Austin gets injured and he goes down, and sort of, it becomes The Rock and I.

"The Rock and I is an interesting thing, because I come in a little bit before he does as a talent, I’m Hunter Hearst Helmsley and he comes in as Rocky Maivia. We wrestle over the Intercontinental title.

"He becomes the Rock, goes with the Nation of Domination, I transformed into Triple H.

"We’re coming out of these characters, I transform into Triple H, DX is formed, we have rivalries, over that, over the Intercontinental title, then we get into these groups, then it’s sort of DX vs the Nation, he and I are battling over the Intercontinental again. And then he full blown becomes the Rock, leaves the Nation and I become more Triple H and leave DX, we fight over the WWE championship.

"Like our careers sort of, in a way, marry each other and are intertwined with each other along the way and we never sort of had that defining WrestleMania moment."

Stone Cold and The Rock fought three times at 'Mania' in one-on-one matches, with their rivalry considered the defining one of the era.

Rock and Triple H did get in the ring to face each other at WrestleMania 2000, but they were joined by Foley and Big Show in a four way elimination match.

Levesque did reveal that the pair would have fought one-on-one but Austin wasn't ready to return from an injury until a month after, so the plan had to be changed.

"During that period where Austin left, it sort of becomes, in a lot of way, you still have Undertaker, Mick Foley, you have a lot of players, but it becomes at a high level about me and Rock, and then Austin returns.

"It’s why, in 2000, we had WrestleMania where we had a fatal four way, a McMahon in each corner, was originally supposed to be Rock and I in the Ironman match, that we did, at Backlash [the Ironman match was actually at Judgement Day] we postponed that because Austin wasn’t ready to return yet, and so we sort of pushed it out for a month, that we fought hard against.

"But it was like ‘this is better for business,’ if we get past WrestleMania to get to that, but that’s would have been the culmination of my rivalry with him, and him with me, and something we sort of missed out on.

"But I fought the Rock more than any body, maybe with the exception of Austin, because when Shawn [Michaels] got injured I was the one fighting Austin and then when he came back I would fight him.

"If you look at that time of Rock and Austin as the two biggest babyfaces, to compare it to Star Wars, you’ve got Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, I was Darth Vader and had that opposition against both of those guys."

Watch the full SPORTbible Stories podcast episode with Triple H on LADbible's YouTube channel.

You can also watch back Clash at the Castle and all WWE Premium Live Events on WWE Network. 

Topics: WWE, Triple H, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Spotlight

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

@Sidler28