The Rock looks back on his final match as a full-time WWE Superstar and passes the torch to Brock Lesnar.
Twenty years ago, Brock Lesnar ascended to superstardom and captured the first of what would become 10 WWE World Championship titles. On that night, he beat The Rock who was arguably at the peak of his career. Little did everyone know that was the last time The Rock would ever be contracted to WWE as a full-time wrestler.
He would return for a brief period of time in 2003 to have matches with Goldberg and Stone Cold Steve Austin, before returning one more time in 2004 in order to team with Mick Foley at WrestleMania XX before leaving the world of professional wrestling for 7 years, but his match against Brock Lesnar was the end of his full-time career with WWE, which began at Survivor Series 1996.
On Instagram, Rock reflected on his match with Brock Lesnar:
20 years ago this week, we made history in New York and pro wrestling was never the same again ------
The Rock vs Brock Lesnar
WWE UNDISPUTED CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHI always had great chemistry with Brock as he was one of the greatest pure athletes I’ve ever danced with.
We spent about 6 months wrestling around the world together, grooming Brock to become @WWE Heavyweight Champion.
It culminated to this historic SUMMER SLAM PPV where the crowd was absolutely electric.
Historic for two reasons:
#1) In wrestling terms, I “did the honors” of having Brock beat me right in the middle of the ring, 1-2-3.
Brock is new champion.
Brock is new face of WWE.#2) My contract was up in WWE and I quietly - and GRATEFULLY - retired as a full time pro wrestler after an incredible (and insanely short) 6 year career.
It’s so wildly incomprehensible at times when I think back - that I only wrestled for 6 YEARS.
How crazy is that irony?
A 6 YEAR CAREER --
What a journey.
The Rock, if he is to wrestle another match, has frequently talked about a match with Roman Reigns. You can read what Roman Reigns’ special counsel, Paul Heyman has to say about that potential future match at this link.
