Original subtitles

- Millions of The Rock's fans want to see your fat cellulite

ass go one on one

with The Great One.

- This was the cool kid versus the outcast.

They were polar opposite in terms of appearance.

- Biggest bona fide piece of trash walking God's green Earth.

- The interactions were wildly entertaining.

- Mankind's looking real good.

- Yeah.

- But it got violent.

- The Rock is putting Mankind through

a tremendous amount of punishment.

- The things that Mick would allow me to do

to him was incredible.

- Damn it Rock.

- Mankind has put his body through so much pain.

- Mick's goal was to put Rock over.

- Uh oh, this is getting out of hand now.

- But did it in a way that was a little bit unpleasant.

- Oh my God.

Oh my God.

- I am coming to end your career.

- I don't know how much more personal it can get.

- When two legends collide,

their rivalry stays pinned in our minds forever.

This is where we break down the legendary stories

behind the greatest rivalries of all time.

I'm Gabriel Iglesias

and this is

WWE Rivals.

- Rock, you have given Mankind some of the damnedest matches

I've ever had.

- Mick Foley versus The Rock.

Two people couldn't be any more different.

- It's polar opposites.

Mankind, this incredible character that looks like it

came out of a Friday the 13th movie.

- Mankind-

is in agony.

- When you compare him to The Rock,

who was the most popular guy,

the most cocky guy.

Everybody loved him.

- The millions-

[crowd yells "And millions"]

-of Rock's fans.

- Those two sides pitted against each other,

was pretty interesting to see.

- Almost takes you back to, you know, being in school,

there's the popular kid and there's the very unpopular kid

and there's that.

Mhm.

These two just they don't gel well.

- You know and Mick Foley had done all this incredible stuff,

and everybody knew his history.

I mean, Foley's a legend for a lot of reasons,

as hardcore.

And you got to wonder how is Rock going to do with this.

- My first impressions of Mick Foley

were back in the day,

and I just took him as being one tough SOB from the get go.

- Mick took a lot of chances in the Indies to get noticed.

- I think his philosophy was I can take more damage

than what most people can dish out.

- He was smart, and that's why I hired him at WWE.

- When Mankind arrived in WWE in 1996,

he was very dark.

He was a tortured soul.

- He'd pull his hair out and punch himself,

and do all these crazy things.

- Mankind, obviously, the most deranged individual,

I think perhaps in the history of the WWE,

- Comes in as Mankind.

Crazy.

Sadistic.

He was a crash test dummy.

Just violence personified.

- Can you imagine the pain that Mankind is suffering here?

But he's still standing.

- You compare that to someone like The Rock, who of course is,

He looks like he was just molded.

- Yeah.

What's ironic is when Rock started,

he wasn't accepted by the audience at all.

- Rocky Maivia came in hot.

We thought people were going to just eat him up

and love every single thing he did.

- Everyone should have their eyes on this extraordinary

superstar Rocky Maivia with all kind of moves.

- Not the case.

They thought that we were really shoving

him down their throats.

- If you're not authentic,

then you're done,

and fans can see through that.

- The opportunity to test him with a talent like Mankind,

who was on the rise as well.

It was a good opportunity at the In Your House show.

- I want to talk about what Mankind is doing to this punk.

Right now, t's time for this little punk,

Rocky Maivia, who everybody thinks is the second coming

to reach back.

- The biggest babyface reaction I received

when I was bad, dark, mean, tortured, Mankind was,

The Rock went up for his finishing move,

the crossbody off the top.

I rolled through.

I came up with the mandible claw,

and every person in Richmond stood on their feet

because they hated him.

I remember at one point turning to uh one of my colleagues and

saying, "Maybe they ought to pull the plug, you know?

Maybe they better cut their losses,"

because it was so bad that I did not see how it could be fixed.

- Look, we weren't ready to give up on him,

and the opportunity

to completely change his character came.

I daresay that's where The Rock was born.

- In arenas across the country,

I heard chants of "Rocky sucks."

That's the gratitude I get from you pieces of crap.

- And I'm watching along with the other talent,

backstage on the monitor, maybe a few weeks into his

tenure with the Nation of Domination,

The Rock says the words to Ron Simmons,

the leader of the pack.

He says, "With all due respect,"

- The Champ is talking.

- And we all looked at each other like,

"I think he's got something."

- I was in the Nation, became the leader of the Nation,

then started to break off.

My goal was just to entertain the fans.

The Rock is the People's choice.

Just in that I was just able to be myself, and from then on,

[finger snap]

it was shot out like a Rocket.

- I just remember watching Rock, him starting to gain momentum,

starting to establish a relationship with the crowd.

- The Rock is going to raise the People's eyebrow.

He's going to lay the smack down on your candy ass.

If you smell what The Rock is cooking.

- This was a great confluence of events in that The Rock's star

had been rising as a good guy.

The heir apparent to Stone Cold Steve Austin.

- The intention always was to go with Rock and Stone Cold at

WrestleMania in Philadelphia.

We needed an opponent for The Rock.

You let Rock get some heat on his way to Stone Cold.

- And I get the call to be that guy

that is hopefully going to get him where he needs to be,

and I take that job very seriously.

- The idea behind putting Mick with Rock

was you let Rock get some heat with Mick,

and it was easy to do on the way.

Mick was very sympathetic.

- The Mankind character changed dramatically.

- Look at the corporate Mankind with a shirt and tie on.

- He evolves so quickly.

Mankind, by that point already,

he was the corporate Mankind trying to, you know,

make Vince happy and all this stuff.

- Vince, it's me.

I brought you some presents.

- He's the demented guy,

but now he's kind of like

the lovable loser that wants to be buddies with the boss.

- Say hello to Mr. Socko.

- Mick Foley is Mr. McMahon's right hand man.

- You like me, Vince.

You really like me.

"Mr. Socko too."

- And ends up being handpicked by WWE,

the corporation, right?

to be the guy.

- It's almost like my life has taken on a whole new meaning.

- Mick Foley represents the corporation,

and that's at that point,

this is The Rock's biggest enemy

at the moment is the corporation.

- I don't give a damn about the people, which means Rock,

I have a problem with you

because you're the People's Champion.

- The Rock.

Third generation looks like a million bucks.

And the audience is like, "That's my guy."

Because, oh my God, everybody wants to be The Rock.

And when you look at Mankind, who at the time

was somewhat of a corporate puppet.

It was easy to feel sorry for Mankind,

even though Mankind was supposed to be

the heel in this situation,

and it's made.

It's so simple because opposites attract and Rock was everything

that Mick wanted to be,

and Mick was everything that Rock despised.

So put them together and you got a match made in heaven.

- Welcome, everyone, to the 12th Annual Survivor Series.

- Wow.

- Tremendous ovation from these 21,779,

for The Rock.

- The Rock is this

white hot baby face,

and Mankind is a corporate stooge.

- You know, he's the corporate stooge,

but people care for him because of the way he's portrayed.

- He's a pawn in this whole orchestration.

- He just wants to be accepted.

Everybody can relate to that.

- Mankind is Mr. McMahon's chosen one,

and McMahon made it very clear he does not want the Rock

to win the WWE title.

- This is the big one.

I in my heart don't feel like I'm WWE title material.

I feel like I'm going to do

my best to have a really good match,

because there's no question that The Rock and Stone Cold

are the future of the company.

- Rock in control.

- You had a hard time,

like, "Who do I cheer for?"

The Rock,

people wanted to cheer him because he was so cool.

Mankind,

you felt bad for him.

Because of all the things he had been through.

- Oh my gosh, look at this.

Ooh.

Hell Mankind can gut and quarter The Rock,

and not get disqualified.

He'd probably get a raise.

- Oh my gosh, look at this.

- Oh good God almighty.

- Mankind is sick.

- Oh in God's name,

can these guys recover from this?

- Oh my gosh, look at this.

- Oh good God almighty.

- Mankind is sick.

- Well, the carnage is just-

- You all right?

- -unbelievable.

- Mick Foley and The Rock?

I love this rivalry.

- This match was the genesis of it.

- The winner of this match is the new man

of the World Wrestling --.

It could be time for the People's Elbow.

This is not what McMahon wants to see.

- No way.

Oh.

- Two and a near fall.

- The excitement of

"Well, who is going to become champion?"

Everything that you knew changes in one moment.

- There's a Sharpshooter.

- Sharpshooter?

- Hey, McMahon said ring the bell.

Wait a minute.

What?

- We do a double turn.

Rock becomes the bad guy.

- What?

- What the hell?

They were in on it all along.

All three of them.

They screwed us all.

- I was watching with my friends

when it dawned on us what happened.

It was so shocking.

- These fans are stunned.

- Whoa.

- It was a hell of a shift.

And it was a hell of a turn,

because now you align yourself

with the company's top heel,

who is Vince McMahon.

- And now the People's Champion becomes the corporate champion.

What?

What, you betrayed us.

How dare you?

- You can believe that each and every one of you

are just as pathetic and gullible as Mankind.

- And like Mick, sold it so well too.

Because he's not even mad.

He's just sad.

- So now that we have Rock as a massive heel, you know,

everybody knows it's going towards

Steve Austin versus The Rock.

- The Rock is the new WWE champion.

But for how long?

- But Mick Foley has so much momentum.

- Now, there is a ton of empathy for Mankind.

- Poor Mick Foley.

- There's anger at The Rock.

He's off to the races.

- Well some of you call The Rock,

a kiss ass?

Well, I'm sure you will.

Because, quite frankly, you are all unintelligent

pieces of trailer park trash.

- You take the moniker of the People's Champion,

which people loved that engagement,

and being part of the People's everything.

People's eyebrow People's Elbow and you turn it corporate.

It was a recipe for phenomenal success,

and success, just in terms of fans loving to hate me.

Fantastic.

- At the time, it was shocking to see Rock joining forces with

the McMahons and poor Mankind, who is, you know, just

such a sympathetic character

being set up and screwed over

uh, that really set the table for, you know,

wanting to see these two clash and wanting to see Mick prevail.

- He had a way of making people connect with him on an emotional

level, and he also had something that was strangely relatable.

- It's a lot more attainable to look like me

than it is to look like The Rock.

- So I think-

- People connect to that.

- that's it.

People connect to that.

Yeah.

[fan yells "The Rock sucks"]

- The Rock was so arrogant, so cool.

It's hard to relate.

- Right.

- The next pay per view was called Rock Bottom.

To obviously give The Rock as much, you know,

- Steam.

- Yeah, as much steam as he can

once he turned and now he's the champion.

- Well it does pay to suck up to the boss, doesn't it?

- I guess so.

- It was an uphill struggle for the Mankind character, for sure,

but that's what made it so enjoyable.

And as a result of that uphill struggle,

fans really got behind Mankind.

- Mankind trying to win the WWE Championship

for the very first time.

- Now there were those like a Non-wrestling fan who would be

watching with their friends and they would go, "Wait a second,

so you're telling me that guy who looks like he's carved out

of stone and looks like a Hollywood star,

he's the bad guy.

And that guy with the leather mask and the white work shirt,

he's the good guy."

- It's kind of polarizing as a fan.

Whoa, this is so different.

- But within minutes, they would get it.

- Mankind,

what a way to stick it to the corporate team if he could win

the WWE Championship tonight at Rock Bottom.

- There it is.

- Because personalities make the matchups.

- Smell what The Rock is cooking.

- And we played off each other so well.

It's the chemistry that takes it to that next level,

and we always had that.

- When I think about Mick, just how special of a performer

Mick was,

His desire to entertain an audience

through great impact with his body.

It was mind boggling.

Staggering.

- He's ready.

He's ready to finish him off.

Oh, no.

- Missed with the clothesline.

Mankind now, DDT.

Double arm.

- This is bad.

- Rock can't-

He can't stand straight.

- It's the sock.

- Socko.

The Mandible Claw.

Socko.

The Rock's in trouble.

[bell rings]

- It's over.

We have a new champion.

We have a new WWE champion.

- Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of this contest.

- My name was actually announced winning the WWE title.

And out comes Mr. McMahon.

- All right.

Mankind wins the match.

Mankind wins the match.

- We have a new champion.

- However.

- Wait.

- The only way to become a WWE champion

is by pinfall or submission.

And since The Rock did not tap out or did not say "I quit."

Still, your WWE Champion ladies and gentlemen, The Rock.

- Oh, that's a damn shame.

- No, he's right.

- I was okay with it because I thought

the interest was in the chase.

Fans were building up a lot of empathy for me.

- King, this should have been

the greatest moment of Mick Foley's life.

And look at this.

Not only did he have the championship

ripped away from him,

now he's getting attacked by Bossman and Shamrock.

- Them screwing him multiple times,

that only made him even more likable and more lovable.

And it made him the ultimate underdog.

Like the whole corporation, this billion dollar entity was, uh,

trying to hold him back.

- The WWE Championship is up for grabs,

The Rock against Mankind,

and the odds are stacked against Mick Foley.

- He's somebody people could relate to that just was living

his dream was feeling very fortunate to be in his dream.

- Mankind, obviously the underdog.

- Watch, look at this.

- And Rock hammering away on Mankind.

- But he knew, this was his opportunity,

and he was willing to give it all,

including sacrificing his body to the absolute limit

for the entertainment of the fans.

- Oh, we got big problems here now.

Ah.

- The Rock is putting Mankind through a tremendous

amount of punishment.

That could be it.

Cover two and Mankind gets the shoulder up.

- What?

- The world loves an underdog story.

- You've got to give him credit.

He has so much heart.

- And we got to live that

through Mick Foley.

- Mr. Socko.

The Rock may be out.

- Yes.

- Oh.

- To see him in this moment, knowing he's already up

against the odds with an opponent like The Rock,

and then-

[Stone Cold's music]

Glass break.

Stone Cold Steve Austin.

- The Rattlesnake is here.

Look out.

Stone Cold with a chair.

He put Mankind on The Rock.

- No, no.

Don't do it.

[bell rings]

- Mankind actually wins the title on Raw

because of Stone Cold.

I'm screaming like a maniac when Mick Foley wins the title.

I woke up the whole house.

It was so unexpected.

- It just felt beautiful.

It felt to me immediately, like more of a lifetime achievement

award than it did a WWE title.

- It's a really special moment.

- Yeah, we you know, we hoi-

- Yeah, you guys hoisted him on your shoulders.

- like, hey, you know,

"Once he wins the title, why don't you guys pick him up?"

It was just-

- You guys did that on the spot.

- He was so like over.

And the sentimental favorite to everybody.

It was just like.

It was great.

- Mankind has achieved his dream and the dream of everyone else

who's been told you can't do it.

- He had a very special magic to him and fans could see it.

- I mean, you think about the appeal of Mick Foley.

Foley does all this for the Rock.

You're setting up The Rock versus Stone Cold.

Foley is so hot in this,

he not only makes The Rock into a mega star,

he keeps himself as a mega star this entire time.

Then he wins the title.

- The last week was, without a doubt,

the greatest moment in my 15 year career.

- As you stand in the middle of The Rock's ring with The Rock's

WWE title, it makes him sick.

The least your unworthy ass can do is give The Rock

what is rightfully his, and that's a shot at his WWE title.

- You and I at the Royal Rumble in an "I quit" match.

- What?

- You see, what I'm going to do, very simply

is beat the living hell out of you.

You will be screaming the magic words "I quit."

"I quit."

"I quit."

- I'm seeing The Rock as the lead heel.

The problem I see is that he's so entertaining

that he's hard to truly dislike.

And I see the future.

And the future is Rock, Austin.

And I feel like my job in wrestling The Rock is to get him

in the best place possible,

to have the biggest money match possible,

Steve Austin.

And I convinced Dwayne

that the world needs to see a different side of him.

They need to see a bona fide mean streak,

and we're going to show it to them.

- Folks, there are no pinfalls.

There are no count outs.

There are no disqualifications.

There is only one way to win the title.

And that is for your opponent to say "I quit."

- The character of The Rock needed this match.

- He definitely had to step it up because that was outside

of the box for him.

I've never seen him in a match like that before.

- I think people were ready

for this great challenge for Dwayne.

And Mick created a great challenge for Dwayne.

- Before I was a writer, I was a big WWE fan

and I was actually at the "I quit" match

between Mankind and The Rock.

[bell rings]

- Rock's got his work cut out for him.

- And King because of the rules of this matchup,

it's going to be the most physical

title match in the history of the WWE.

- Now say it.

- The Rock is going to kick your fat ass out there.

- It was one of those moments where it's fun.

- Bells will be ringing.

- And then it gets a little uncomfortable.

- This is dangerous.

This is bad.

- Oh my God.

Oh my God.

- Sparks flying and everything that used to be like,

"Oh, that must be the end of the match."

- King, they got to stop this thing.

- He raised the bar in terms of taking

Taking punishment and pain.

- That's it, that's it.

- No no no no.

No doctor, no nothing.

That son of a bitch will scream, "I quit,"

and I'll be damned if he doesn't.

And I didn't hold back that night.

- Turn around.

- That match got carried away in a way that I hope

no other match ever does.

- Say "I quit."

- I mean I put him in that position,

and encouraged everything he did beforehand.

- Mankind.

Your monkey ass

says "I quit."

- I quit, I quit.

- What?

- What?

- I quit.

- The words "I quit, I quit,"

had been piped in from a previous interview I'd given,

and it was really imaginative way of

getting to that ending.

- It was too violent.

But Mick did it in the spirit of making The Rock look stronger.

- The Rock is the WWE champion.

That match was pivotal in The Rock's build,

his toughness, his credibility, all those things.

- That was my primary goal and in that we were successful.

Like the world saw a different side of The Rock

that night for sure.

- The Rock makes me sick.

- I hate this guy.

I think they played it perfectly.

He went to the level that he had to go to in order to get the

people to turn on him as hard as they did.

- It got us where we needed to go,

but did it in a way that was a little bit unpleasant.

It affected the relationship in that for a while,

I didn't think he appreciated what I was trying to do for him.

And, uh,

I let it, I let it get to me.

And, you know, Rock and I did what

I think is the mature thing.

We sat down one day and we talked about it.

We shook hands.

We hugged, and we've been tight ever since.

- This may be the most heated, most hated rivalry

in the history of the WWE.

- The Royal Rumble 1999.

The match where Mankind brought out a new side of The Rock.

- If the task was, let's get Rock to a level where

people see this-

this is a bad guy who can do bad things

going into the program with Stone Cold.

That was mission accomplished because it was really shocking.

- After the infamous "I quit" match,

We're at Super Bowl 33 and uh, something very unique

at halftime, uh, WWE presented a thing called Halftime Heat.

- Super Bowl '99 is a great game.

It's the Broncos and the Falcons.

John Elway's ride off into the sunset moment.

Halftime, by the way,

Stevie Wonder and Gloria Estefan.

But if you're a fan of WWE,

all due respect to the icon Stevie Wonder,

I got to flip over and see what's happening

with The Rock and Mick Foley.

- There was no doubt that our rivalry,

Mankind and Rock was really rolling.

The Rock and I were given an opportunity to

have a match at halftime of the Super Bowl.

And I suggested the empty arena match,

and I remember Terry Funk and Jerry Lawler

having this amazing empty arena match.

So I arranged for WWE to get a copy of that match for Dwayne.

- And there they go, back in the chairs.

- And Dwayne gave me a call a couple of days later,

Says uh, "Mick, it's Rock.

Uh, I think we got a little problem here."

I said, "What is it?"

He goes, "I watched that match."

and I said, "Yeah."

And he goes, "It sucks."

"No, no, it doesn't suck.

It's a classic."

He goes, "No, it sucks."

And I later approached Terry Funk and I was like,

"Terry, how is it that match has gone down in lore

as being a classic?"

He said, "Oh, Cactus, that match is terrible."

But it's such a, it's such a surreal spectacle.

The empty arena.

Lawler.

Funk.

Funk's cursing, which I'd never seen before.

- I heard enough [bleep] from everybody.

- But by this time, we were already tied into

the empty arena theme.

Now, the issue we had at hand is because the Royal Rumble match

had been pretty excessive in its bloodiness.

I was under an edict there could not be a single drop of blood.

And that's that's pretty harrowing when you've got a

large gash up there in your scalp.

So I showed up for that match swathed in more gauze than

Boris Karloff in the original Universal Mummy movie.

It looks really strange when you watch it.

It looks almost like I'm bald because the gauze is just so

tightly wrapped around my head.

- What you're watching is history in the making.

The first time ever empty arena match for the WWE title.

- One on one.

- What have you got?

- We're in an empty arena watching a match.

- Which is one of the hardest things to do.

- Yeah, when you're when you're a live entertainer,

you need that feedback

Yeah.

So, to, to, to have this match with no crowd at-

Wow, that's-

- And you get a lot of the personality

from The Rock with this.

You know that's where you get the commentary from The Rock.

This is a really hard thing to do.

And these guys pulled it off.

- Finally halftime Super Bowl The Rock the great one,

The most electrifying man in Sports Entertainment today.

If you smell what The Rock is cooking.

Now, I'll tell you what-

what Mankind can do.

What?

[yelling]

- An empty arena match affords

The Rock and Foley the opportunity

to get creative, to get violent.

- How about a kick in the ass?

- But also to get silly as well.

- Oh, look at this.

Too much salt.

Went to the catering, and it was like

messing around with the food.

[yelling]

- What would maybe come across as hokey,

came across as for whatever reason,

so cool when they would do it.

- It's mild, you-

- It's kind of their superpower.

- You want to smell what The Rock is cooking?

[yelling]

- And he was on,

he had verbiage for every room that he was in.

- Yeah, Smackdown hotel.

That's right.

Well, no, Mankind is not available right now.

He's a little busy.

His mouth is full with The Rock's foot in his mouth.

[laughing]

- I mean, WWE was so hot back then

that if Halftime Heat went long

and cut into the Super Bowl,

you wouldn't have cared.

- Rock and Mankind.

Hammering it out.

- I thought we did a pretty good job-

Down.

-in what was, in a sense, the first WWE cinematic match.

- No, don't don't don't pin him.

No, no,

No.

- I'm walking away with the WWE title

and we draw in a monster crowd.

A lot of new eyeballs on the product.

- And it ended up just sort of furthering the legend

of Foley and The Rock.

- These two men, very best

Sports Entertainment has to offer.

- They had so many big matches close together,

from Survivor Series to Valentine's Day Massacre.

We're talking November to February.

They headlined every pay per view.

I remember as a fan, not once did I think,

"Oh, Rock versus Mankind again."

- You're over it.

- I never felt that

'cause every match was all so different.

- The Rock has a little challenge of his own.

The Rock proposes a match called Last Man Standing,

which means there are no pinfalls.

There are no submissions.

If you've got enough testicular fortitude,

then you'll go ahead and accept The Rock's challenge.

- You have a sympathetic character like a Mick Foley.

- You look at The Rock when the Rock is speaking to you.

- They had that chemistry because of that.

Rock is so quick witted and Mick was the perfect fodder for him.

- The Rock will proceed to beat your roody poo candy ass

all across the arena.

Through my nature, my desire to entertain.

I wanted to go into every performance,

whether it was on

the microphone or whether it was

in the ring, without inhibition.

And I always thought every single night,

there was nothing that I won't try.

Know your role.

Get your candy ass out of the Rock's chair.

[laughing]

- The Rock is here to add a little bit of class to the show.

The challenge was to be an arrogant,

entertaining individual.

Look at The Rock's competition.

Look at him.

It looks like a big monkey came down here, took a crap,

and out came Mankind.

But at the same time, audiences would still enjoy seeing

get the better of it.

Come here.

- Look out.

- The rivalry was so special because they could go in and out

of so many things.

Touch a little bit of comedy and then it can be very serious

the very next second.

- The Rock counters.

No, no.

- It was a really physical match.

I'd be hurting for quite a while after that.

- Foley may be broken in half.

- Mick Foley would do anything for the audience,

anything to make sure that

when that person went home,

they had a memory that would last a lifetime.

- No, no, no.

- That's what drove Mick Foley.

- How the hell is he still moving?

- I try my best to make everything I do original,

but once in a while you borrow a little bit.

And so in the Last Man Standing match,

Rock and I borrowed from The Rocky Two finish

with the double knockout.

- Mankind to his feet.

Rock with his feet.

Both have chairs.

Oh.

They both clocked each other with those chairs.

- So we ended up with a double knockout finish.

Inconclusive.

- This bout is a draw.

[crowd boos]

- The reasoning for it was to get to a match on television and

to-to kind of pay it off on TV,

where you have a larger audience.

- The Rock will try to become

a three time WWE champion.

He will meet Mankind in a ladder match for the title and a chance

to go to WrestleMania 15 as champion.

- Now you're going to have a decisive winner,

because there's only one championship belt

that will be hung above the ring.

You got to climb a ladder and fight like hell to get there,

but only one person is going to grab that championship

and be the champion at the end of the day.

- I was pretty banged up, but we still had a good match.

Like we couldn't help it.

We had the chemistry there.

- Mr. Elbow.

- His whole run with Rock was so entertaining.

I mean, they had such a great chemistry together.

- Mankind climbing the ladder.

- I enjoyed that whole rivalry quite a bit.

- Mick was always wanting to do something that was going to be

great for the match,

great for you,

and great for him.

- Mankind is in serious trouble here.

- Mick didn't have a selfish bone in his body.

- No, no.

Rock Bottom.

Rock Bottom.

Holy cow.

- He had everybody's respect.

- Rock DDT, planted Mick Foley.

[crowd cheers]

- The Rock climbing the ladder.

The Rock has the championship belt.

The Rock is going to WrestleMania as champion.

- And that's the way we ended this magnificent

journey The Rock and I had been on.

- I thought Mick really benefited from this as far as

establishing him as the sentimental favorite.

- And for The Rock,

he needed someone like this to give him the credibility.

- Yeah.

- Right.

They were so different and they had this incredible rivalry, and

they made so much magic together, and they really both

elevated each other to be becoming bigger stars.

- By the time you get to summer in 1999,

WWE is starting to really get to its peak of mainstream appeal.

- Hasta la vista, baby.

- Mr. Socko.

- The Rock and Mick Foley became these superstars

beyond the ring.

Both just went to the moon.

- The Rock's says this Big Show and The Undertaker.

You two Jabronis, you come on down here

later on at the end of the night,

you face The Rock in a handicap match.

- Rock has laid a challenge down.

[Mankind's music]

- I'm here to tell you.

That you don't have to do this alone.

You see, Mankind was talking to the people.

And the people want Mankind

as The Rock's partner.

- What?

- Wow.

- I thought they hate each other.

- Together we will stand side by side.

[crowd cheers]

- Yeah, the fans are standing.

- And lay the Smackdown.

- Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa.

- I don't think this is going to happen, JR

- Lot of bad blood between these two.

[crowd chants "Rocky"]

- The Rock says one time you will be the People's partner.

- What?

Wait a minute.

- It's going to happen

- The Rock and Mankind are two of the biggest stars,

and to see these two guys

that were constantly battling against each other all of a

sudden form this very different union.

- The tag team titles at stake here now.

- Man this stinking Socko is out.

What is this?

It's the most electrifying.

Oh.

- A double People's Elbow.

The Rock got the cover,

can he?

Yes.

[bell rings]

[The Rock's music]

- We've got new tag champions.

- The birth of The Rock 'n Sock connection,

which I don't think anybody saw coming.

Especially me.

- The best rivals often make the best partners.

- The greatest tag team in WWE history.

- The Rock 'n Sock connection.

You get something straight right here, right now, don't you ever,

and the Rock means ever

[crowd yells "Ever"]

- Refer to The Rock and yourself

as The Rock 'n Sock connection again.

- It's all just Mankind's whole backstories,

always having a hard time being accepted

and all he wants is to be accepted.

And The Rock is so cool and too cool for school all the time.

- These two guys are still the most unlikely tag champions

I've ever seen.

- For us to come come as partners,

and it's Rock ' n Sock connection.

The Rock will take that goofy mask you got on

turn that sumbitch sideways,

and stick it straight up your candy ass.

He was able to exercise his muscles as a comedian.

- Uh, Mankind, uh,

how do you feel?

- It doesn't matter how I feel Michael Cole.

- Rock spoke of me with such disdain.

- Rock's not even listening to you.

Rock can't even hear himself talk.

[bleep] sakes.

- That's good stuff, though.

Like-

Like I was beneath him even to be out there.

While in real life we were having the time of our lives.

High five.

You got me again.

I'm off.

I've got work to do.

The show is over.

Cameras are no longer rolling,

and Rock and I are still there for another 5 or 6 minutes.

- If you smell-

- What The Sock is cooking.

- Foley made impeccable comedy timing with Rock.

That just made you laugh out loud.

- You smell what The Sock is cooking?

- We had so much fun doing that.

It was a nice dynamic between us.

- And the truth is, we didn't team up all that long.

It was like a two month period of time.

- Well this crowd supports The Rock 'n Sock connection.

- The Rock 'n Sock was a beautiful experience,

and then he went his own way and I went mine.

- A few years have gone by

- You know, Rock by that point was doing the movies.

Wasn't really around much.

- Yeah, he's definitely a Hollywood star at this point.

- I get a phone call from Brian Gewirtz,

who was the head writer of Raw at the time,

and he asks me how I would feel

about The Rock as my partner at WrestleMania.

I kid you not, I got, like, warm tinglies.

[laughing]

I got, I did,

I felt all fuzzy because I did not know

that he thought that highly of me.

- That parallel of the outcast truly being embraced

by the cool kid

is something that really, really, truly touched his heart.

- For me to come back to WrestleMania

and team with a guy who I admire, who I respect.

It's a thrill.

It's a pleasure.

You see, Mick Foley, it's our night.

It's our night.

Let's go out there and electrify as only you and The Rock can.

Let's go out there, slap the lips off those Evolution

sons of bitches, whoop their candy asses.

- Rock 'n Sock

are rocking and rolling here.

It really ended up becoming this fun additional chapter

that you never thought you would get.

- Oh, look out Randy.

- And oh, Randy Orton with the RKO.

- Beautiful.

- Out of nowhere.

- Oh.

- And Evolution wins it.

Mick Foley and The Rock gave us all they had here.

[crowd chants "Foley"]

- The ending was very nice.

- I think you call it respect.

- And so we really came full circle.

And we've continued to be, uh, very good friends.

He reached out to me and let me know that there was going to be

a Christmas episode of Young Rock inspired by me.

- Merry Christmas, Mick.

- Back at you, buddy.

- And I found myself in a hotel room,

sitting in a chair by myself, fighting off tears, thinking

"This man, the biggest star in the world,

who I once thought did not have enough respect for me,

is showering me with respect and love.

And it was one of the best experiences of my life.

- It makes me have a great admiration and appreciation

for a guy like that.

When you think about all the things that he's done,

just in terms of putting his body on the line.

- They both really became bigger stars

in working with each other, but they needed each other,

and we saw that.

- My rivalry with The Rock was huge.

It opened the door for the single biggest

moment of my career-

- Mankind has achieved his dream.

- -and I think the teaming meant even more.

- I have love for you and respect.

Let's do our thing.

- If you smell-

- They were so opposite that they blended so well.

- The Rock 'n Sock connection.

People never got tired of it.

They can come out now and still people would enjoy the segment.

- Do you think The Rock walked all the way from the other side

of this arena, right here to find you,

just to shake your hand?

The rivalry that I had with Mick Foley was very special.

[laughing]

And it was a pleasure

to work with him and to be his partner.

- Hey, hey, my my Rock 'n Sock will never die.