An argument can be made for The Rock being the funniest wrestler forever leave WWEwhether he is trying to be or not. His recent return to Bad Blood is an example of how The Final Boss can be unintentionally hilarious. Showing up at the end of PLE with cryptic sign language and then cutting a crazy backstage promo on Instagram Live is absolute comedic gold.
The Rock has a lot of moments like this, especially in his prime and especially when he’s really trying to be funny. He’s naturally funny, without trying due to his charm, but when he starts making jokes at other stars’ expense, no one is safe. Whether it’s his antics during matches or his own promos, The Rock never stops making the crowd explode whenever possible.
10
Rock takes the camera against Austin
1999 reaction
It’s hard to talk about The Rock and not talk about Stone Cold Steve Austin. They are all very intertwined, giving each other the best matches of their careers and sharing some of the best WWE moments. One of their best (perhaps even underrated) matches together is the No Holds Barred rematch from WrestleMania XV for the WWE Championship at Backlash.
Naturally, The Great One takes a break from the action to have one of the funniest moments in Austin vs. Rock. When attacking Austin, he grabs an operator’s camera and essentially starts commentating his own match. The cherry on top is getting POV of Austin annoying Rocky before hitting him with the Stunner moments later.
9
The People’s Strudel
September 4, 2001 episode of SmackDown
What’s special about The Rock’s infinite charm is that he could show so many different facets of emotion. Arrogant, intense, angry and, of course, seductive. His most seductive side would emerge in interviews with names like Lilian Garcia, like the one in which The People’s Champion coins the term People’s Strudel. Not even a future WWE Hall of Famer like Lilian Garcia can resist The Rock’s endless charisma.
That’s another thing about The Rock: He always found a way to play around with a memorable phrase or phrase in almost all of his promos, adding another layer to make it worth remembering years after the fact. Nowadays a line like this probably wouldn’t fly, but the People’s Strudel will forever be remembered.
8
Making the trainer dance
January 24, 2002 episode of SmackDown
Some of The Rock’s funniest promos have come during backstage interviews. Your signature charisma has been unleashed as your interviewer tries his best to keep a straight face always made for comedy. A great example is whenever he shares the screen with Jonathan Coachman. It’s no wonder The Coach ended up becoming a real on-screen character and authority figure as the General Manager of Raw in recent years. He had no problem letting anyone make fun of him and he did it well.
Rock urging Coach to do the Charleston dance before kicking his “monkey’s ass” off-screen doesn’t get old, not even 22 years after the fact. It’s a testament to the power of good improvisation in professional wrestling and how Rock can take anyone, at any time, and make them funny and memorable.
7
Triple H Print
February 21, 2000, episode of Monday Night Raw
This was the homecoming episode of Raw before No Way Out 2000, where Triple H would defend his WWE Championship against Cactus Jack inside Hell in a Cell. However, Royal Rumble winner The Rock had his sights set on WrestleMania 2000, where he planned to regain the WWE Championship, and made a point of reminding the champion of his intentions.
He also made sure to remind Triple H of his promotional skills. While people still rank Triple H among one of the best mic announcers in WWE and people like MJF put him on Mount Rushmore for a reason, The Game has a specific promo style that can’t go unnoticed. “I AM THE GAME UUUUUUUH” became the prototype for everyone’s Triple H impressionand it all started with The Rock nailing it.
6
Rock and Austin sing Margaritaville
November 12, 2001 episode of Raw
Nothing compares to The Rock and Stone Cold sharing the ring during a homecoming episode before a big PPV match. Raw aired six days before Survivor Series 2001, where The Rock and Stone Cold led two respective teams, Team WWE and Team Alliance, in a Winner Take All match that at the time was considered the biggest wrestling match in the company’s history. The stakes couldn’t be higher and a showdown between Austin and Rock was imminent.
Except the confrontation wasn’t as intense or serious as audiences expected. Instead, it was the two rivals laughing and singing Margaritaville. Unexpected would be an understatement, but it was certainly a pleasant surprise. The Invasion angle may have been one of the most disappointing of all time, but at least it gifted us with gems like this.
5
Rock and the hurricane
March 3, 2003 episode of Raw
During The Rock’s last stint as a full-time WWE Superstar, the last thing anyone expected was for him to take the time to start a mini-feud with The Hurricane, of all people. By proxy, no one expected The Rock to open his closet and find a surprise Hurricane hidden inside. Most importantly, no one could have imagined that The Rock sharing the screen with The Hurricane would give comedy gold.
This segment was so funny that Raw not only did another backstage promo together the following week, but on the same night The Hurricane defeated The Rock for the biggest win of his career. Sure, the victory came with the help of Stone Cold at Road to WrestleMania XIX, but weeks before the Grandest Stage of Them All, an undercard talent’s comedic timing was strong enough to warrant a short program with the Most Electrifying Man in Sports . Entertainment.
4
This is your life
September 27, 1999 episode of Raw
The infamous promo that fans loved or hated when it aired, but over time gained a cult following as the highest-rated Raw segment of all time. It even inspired future This is Your Life segments, with The Rock giving Mick Foley his own This is Your Life on Raw in 2004. The original, however, was simple. Mankind continues to try to bond with his friend Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection and thus throws a birthday party of sorts reintroducing The Rock to important people who helped shape his life.
Only two problems: one is that The Rock has reason to hate all of these people, and two is that it’s not even The Rock’s birthday. “Rock’s birthday is May 2nd, you stupid son of a bitch” is enough of a perfect joke to make this entire (admittedly long) segment worth watching.
3
“But my name is Billy!”
July 11, 1999 episode of Heat
Speaking of infamous, this is another promotion that has become that way in recent years, with some saying it instantly killed Billy Gunn’s main event singles push following the King of the Ring win. Whether that’s true or not is a matter of opinion, but even Gunn went on record to say how much he loved Rock’s tirade against him. If Mr. Ass loved it, then maybe The Rock didn’t make a fool of him after all.
Either way, it’s hard for anyone not to laugh at what is probably the best “It doesn’t matter!” by The Rock! capitulation. Perhaps most impressively, this happened in a random episode of Heat. Even back then, Heat was considered a no show, but even in a no show, The Rock refuses to give anything less than excellent material on stick.
2
Calling the crowd crackheads
March 1, 2024, episode of SmackDown
The biggest advantage of seeing The Rock back in the ring for his unpredictable run in 2024 was seeing how unhinged he has become as a character, even by The Rock’s standards. Various IG Live promos and live TV swears would offer some unintentionally funny moments, but none funnier than this episode of SmackDown.
Arizonans in attendance knew a promotion was about to happen when one of the first words out of Rock’s mouth was stating that the state was the epicenter of methamphetamine and cocaine use. The promotion itself is filled with major storytelling gems, like The Bloodline responding to a WrestleMania challenge from Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes and The Rock himself finally acknowledging Roman Reigns as his tribal chief. But all of this is overshadowed by The Rock telling the Phoenix crowd to “smoke some crack” to end his promo.
1
The rock concert
March 24, 2003 episode of Monday Night Raw
The Rock Concert has become a landmark, practically a tradition in WWE and it’s difficult to talk about the first one without talking at length about all of them. It’s a concept that has been imitated many times by many fighters, but obviously there is only one Rock.
It’s hard to top the original that started it all, but that doesn’t mean The Rock hasn’t attempted a trilogy of hilarious sequels. Even the latest shows he still has lyrical venom in the tank with lines like, “you’re just an embarrassing son / just like Ja Morant when he’s brandishing a gun” directed at Seth Freakin’ Rollins. In all its forms, The Rock Concert does not age and shows it at its funniest. WWE.