5 WWE Superstars that The Rock refused to wrestle

The Rock is one of the biggest legends that WWE has ever created. Following on from a successful wrestling career, he made a move into Hollywood and is now the highest-paid actor in the world.

The Rock has since opened the door to the likes of John Cena and Batista, who have been able to transition from the squared circle to the silver screen in recent years.

While The Great One is considered to be one of the most approachable stars who always has time for his fans, there were times when The Rock refused to wrestle a few WWE Superstars during his tenure with the promotion.

#5. Former WWE Champion Shawn Michaels

The Rock and Shawn Michaels famously never crossed paths throughout their time in WWE, and much has been speculated as to why. Several superstars, including WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart, had noted that Michaels did bully The Rock when he came through the ranks in the company, and after his retirement, The Great One was finally able to excel.

The Rock made it clear that even after his return to the ring in 2002, he didn't want to wrestle Michaels. Chris Jericho even spoke about it while appearing on Saturday Night Special and claimed that when WWE attempted to put together a feud, The Rock shot it down.

“As far as I know, it's true, from what The Rock told me. It's the reason why The Rock and Shawn Michaels never worked a match. I think Shawn might have insulted The Rock when he was a kid in Hawaii or something, The Rock’s got a long memory. But yeah, even when Shawn came back, I believe there was one match where it was Triple H vs The Rock in Louisville, Kentucky. Shawn was the special guest ref and they were angling to try and do a storyline feud between Rock and Shawn and I don’t think The Rock wanted to do it," via Sportskeeda.

#4. Former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar

Many fans may not be aware, but there were once plans that The Rock and Brock Lesnar would main event WrestleMania 30. The two men were set to go one-on-one in what would have been a sequel to their epic SummerSlam 2002 encounter before The Rock pulled out.

After The Rock's match against John Cena at WrestleMania 29 left him on the shelf with a torn abdomen, the feud had to be shelved. The former world champion had to undergo surgery, which caused major delays to his filming schedule.

This became one of the main reasons why The Rock was then forced to decline any future WWE appearances. The People's Champion refused the match against Lesnar at WrestleMania 30 because he didn't want to cause any more delays to his movie shoot.

Instead of facing The Rock, Lesnar went on to end The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania 30.

#3. Billy Gunn

Billy Gunn is a WWE Hall of Famer in his own right and someone who excelled in both DX and as part of The New Age Outlaws. Back in 1999, The Rock and Gunn crossed paths when The Great One was tasked with pushing Gunn as a solo performer, something that irked The Rock when there were much bigger matches on the table for him.

According to Bruce Prichard on the Something to Wrestle With podcast, after The Rock defeated Billy Gunn in the Kiss My A** match at SummerSlam 1999, it was made clear that this was not a feud that could be circled back.

"Rock hated it. There’s no other way to explain it. The Rock hated it. He saw it as not as a demotion, but ‘OK, I’m the guy that’s gotta get this guy over?’ And not like I’m over, put me on top. And instead, I’m put in the role of trying to get this guy over. And I don’t know that Rock really had the confidence in Billy. This was at the time we were looking to get a singles run out of Billy and see what the hell he had."

He continued:

"He was away from the tag team with Road Dogg and was on his own – let’s see what he can do. This just didn’t work. I don’t know if it was being a tag team guy that there’s a different cardio level for tag team guys – and I say that about one of the most natural athletes ever in the business in Billy Gunn. But I don’t know that his pacing and time was right for singles run. That sounds weird, but it just wasn’t," via Sportskeeda.

#2. Former WWE Champion Randy Orton

Randy Orton and The Rock both come from famous wrestling families, and while they have shared the ring in the past, they have never gone head-to-head. The Legend Killer looked to make this right back in 2020 when he tweeted The Rock ahead of his appearance on SmackDown and asked John Cena if he was aware of his WrestleMania plans.

The Great One didn't even respond by saying yes or no to the match. He just made it clear that their parents didn't run up and down those roads for decades for him to be RKO'd through the earth at WrestleMania.

The Rock then made it clear that he was still recovering from the last beatdown that Evolution dished out to him. This was the last time Orton and The Rock crossed paths, and The Viper hasn't looked to challenge him since.

#1. Former WWE Champion Triple H

The Rock was in attendance for WrestleMania 31 more than seven years ago and as part of an in-ring segment with Ronda Rousey, Stephanie McMahan, and Triple H. They were able to set up a future tag team match during the segment.

Sadly, the bout was later forced to go ahead with Kurt Angle in his place since The Rock was required to withdraw due to acting commitments.

While promoting Rampage, The Rock opened up about why he couldn't participate in the WrestleMania 34 match.

“As a matter of fact, Vince McMahon and I were talking about two months ago trying to figure out what I was going to do if I went back to WrestleMania. He pitched me this really great idea that I’d get involved in a tag match with Ronda Rousey who is of course incredible and I’m very proud of her. We couldn’t make it work this time because I was in Shanghai, but who knows down the line?”

Of course, given Triple H's recent retirement, the match will no longer be able to take place, and instead, The Rock is expected to return to wrestle Roman Reigns.