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“It’s Bad Gas”: Dwayne Johnson Made a Monkey Out of Vince During an XFL Game 19 Years Before Buying the League

Published July 28, 2023, 2:15 PM EDT

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Vince McMahon should officially be declared a global meme face. It’s a stance half of the wrestling world will agree with. Well, The Rock, too, hasn’t sung differently. Like many other talents on the roster, The Rock hasn’t maintained a decent connection with the notorious WWE boss for years. This heat once culminated in a rib-ticking roasting, Johnson’s signature way to disarm people he dislikes.

DJ’s football passion has been an open secret to fans. Even before channeling his love through reshaping a declining XFL with a massive $15 million purchase, The Rock has followed the game religiously. During one such XFL appearance in 2001, Johnson made the notorious WWE boss an object of unkind laughter.

Vince McMahon was the victim of The Rock’s hilarious roast

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There are a lot of characters that made quite a buzz in the world of pro wrestling, both in positive and negative senses. But Vince McMahon’s impact on the fans is one of a kind for some reasons. Despite being a marquee figure behind the drastic development of the $6 billion global juggernaut, McMahon garnered a lot of wrath from fans and company insiders for a bunch of controversial deeds he made on the professional and personal front.

Even after stepping down from the creative, McMahon has received blame for almost every wrong thing cooking under the promotion. No one has ever been keen to know what might be in his mind-space before jumping into the blame game straight away.

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Dwayne The Rock Johnson is on the exact flip side of the coin. Even after being away from the business for a while, fans continue to get behind him. The aftereffect of a long-grown pleasant image clearly speaks here.

Standing at the opposite end, DJ took pride in his inflated image and dished out a savage insult to his off-screen foe 22 years ago, In between the XFL match of Chicago vs LA, The Rock had caught up in a light interview, where he noted, ”The Rock can honestly say that Vince McMahon will never be out of gas hahaha and it’s not the good gas it’s bad gas everybody wants to smell what The Rock is cooking, damn sure don’t want to smell what Vince McMahon is cooking.

However, the animosity between the two heavyweight WWE entities resulted in its culmination at WrestleMania 21 backstage.

The Rock and Vince McMahon cleared the bad blood between them at WrestleMania 21

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The Great One received serious pushback from Vince McMahon after he retired from wrestling back in 2004. Wrestlers adopting their in-ring names get so attached to the same that they sometimes forget the real ones. There was no exception with Johnson. The WWE forced him to use the name Dwayne Johnson for his acting career as the promotion demanded the sole ownership of the name The Rock.

The incident didn’t sit well with DJ for obvious reasons. Furthermore, he wasn’t on talking terms with McMahon for years until WrestleMania 21 hit the room. The prestige event cooled the air of heated disagreement between them. Back in 2005, both stars bumped into an unexpected yet dramatic backstage encounter that saw Johnson initiating their peaceful settlement.

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Watch This Story: Despite Dwayne Johnson’s Fast X Return Barbie’s Nostalgia Act Outshines 155M Franchise Movie At The Box Office

What’s your take on Dwayne Johnson ridiculing The WWE Boss during a past XFL event? Do you think they’re on good terms now? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by:

Shreya Nag

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Shreya Nag is a WWE writer at EssentiallySports, whose love for the sport began when she saw Cody Rhodes win the Royal Rumble in 2023. Since then, she has been an ardent fan of Rhodes and the world of pro wrestling. Shreya's writing combines her passion for the sport with her writing abilities, which she uses to provide readers with a nuanced analysis of WWE superstars.
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Edited by:

Amal Joyce