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WWE legend Steve Lombardi (aka The Brooklyn Brawler) recently spoke about The Rock and Triple H's heated backstage exchange back in the '90s.
Lombardi served as the opponent for Rocky Maivia when the latter wrestled his first match for the Stamford-based company back in early 1996 at a house show in Corpus Christi, TX. The youngster emerged as the winner of the contest and went on to have one of the most successful careers in the business.
The Brooklyn Brawler spoke with Sportskeeda Wrestling's Senior Editor, Bill Apter, this week. He shared a detailed description of Triple H and The Rock's interesting interaction before the latter's first match in WWE.
Here's what the veteran had to say:
"Hunter walks over, he's a little skinny guy. He looks like a pirate and he's like, 'Did I hear right? This is your very first match?' And then Rock goes, 'Yeah.' 'You know I'm gonna be the Intercontinental Champion,' Triple H said to him. Rock cockily, but I don't think he wanted to be cocky, he said, 'Oh the same title that Don Morocco had me wear. You're going to really like it when you wear it.' Triple H says, 'Maybe you could take a picture with me with it and buy some ring gear.' " (From 5:35 - 6:17)
You can watch the full interview here:
Steve Lombardi also spoke about The Rock's first interaction with Mankind
During the same interview, Brawler also discussed some advice Mick Foley (aka Mankind) shared with Rocky Maivia before the latter's debut bout.
"Mankind walked in and Mankind says, 'I feel real sorry for you because you're going to win your very first match.' He goes, 'What do you mean?' He goes, 'If you win your first match, Vince is going to be looking for a reaction. If you lose your first match, Vince ain't gonna be looking as closely,' which I don't think was great advice, but it's that's the way it happened." (From 6:42 - 7:07)
Lombardi mentioned that season two's eighth episode of NBC sitcom Young Rock clearly depicted how the events panned out backstage during The Great One's debut. It will be interesting to see if he returns to the squared circle for another match after successfully transitioning into Hollywood.
Have you had the chance to watch Young Rock? Let us know in the comments section below.
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