The Rock vs Hollywood Hulk Hogan is one of the most iconic matches, maybe THE most iconic match, in WWE history. However, it wasn’t even the main event of WrestleMania X8 – a move widely criticised ’til this day.
Speaking on an AdFreeShows watchalong of the match, the man in the middle – Mike Chioda – opened up about why the match wasn’t put on last, and how Chris Jericho was telling the office it should be on last for the entire day.
“All day, Jericho was running around. I remember Chris saying, like he had told me afterwards, like not too long ago when I was with AEW, we talked about that. But all day, he didn’t think that should be, they shouldn’t have gone on last. Rock and Hogan should be last. He kept saying, ‘There’s no way we can follow this match,’ and he kept telling it to everybody. And, you know, Chris was young at the time, an unbelievable worker and he’s from Canada. So, I mean, it was more or less, he was telling the office. I remember him saying, like, ‘We shouldn’t be on last, man.’ He goes, ‘The Rock and Hogan should be last. There’s no way…’ you know.”
Speaking as to why the match didn’t go on last, Chioda – known backstage as “Coyote” would say Triple H didn’t want to give up the title match, and that it would be detrimental to the main event.
“So anyway, he complained about that all day, and I just think Triple H didn’t want to give up that title match main event at the end. So, after that energy was taken out of that crowd, I felt bad for the last that title match that night because the energy was just sucked out of the whole crowd because it was just so electrifying. And it should have been the main event, it should have been.”
Chioda would divulge more on The Rock and Triple H’s relationship back then, saying both men were “battling for position” a lot.
“Yeah, I don’t think it was that good back then. I mean, back then, it was more battling for position, not as far as in the company, but as a professional wrestler, and I don’t they didn’t see eye to eye too many times, that’s for sure.”
The long-serving referee also opened up about another occasion where their fractious relationship came to light.
“Yeah, that was in Anaheim one night, and I remember there was a text message with Rock. I said , ‘Hey, Rock, you coming down, Cap,’ I used to call him ‘Cap’ like Captain. But I said, ‘Hey, you coming down the WrestleMania party?’ And he had a meeting with Vince that night, and it was in Anaheim after WrestleMania and he had a meeting in the garden. I remember him saying something about it, and he goes, ‘Man, if Triple H shows up at this meeting. I’m out of here.’ And that was the last time I seen him pretty much until he came back. But he kind of left and went to Hollywood at that point. Yeah, meeting didn’t go too well.”
Meanwhile, after the watch along, Inside The Ropes‘ Lead Writer Gary Cassidy got to ask Mike Chioda all about the Montreal Screwjob.
You can watch back the Hulk Hogan vs The Rock WrestleMania X8 watch along with Mike Chioda via Patreon.com/AdFreeShows
Please H/T Inside The Ropes if you use any quotes from this article.