411’s WWE Timeline Report: ‘By Any Means Necessary’

-The WWE has decided to drop the newest episode of Timeline today after it being on Wednesday the last 2 weeks. This time instead of just a feud, we are getting a Timeline of the history of a young Rock. Let’s get to it!

-Air Date: 09.01.20
-Run Time: 46:30

-Aug 11, 1997: RAW: Farooq is facing a member of DOA and the ref gets bumped. In comes Rocky Maivia after a period off WWF TV and he hits a Rock Bottom to give Farooq the win. The once smiling young prospect was now a heel and we will find out how it happened on this episode of WWE Timeline!

-That hair and that baby fat on Rock’s face back in the day! Also soft spoken at the time as he talks about making a name on his own. JR: “He may be the future of The World Wrestling Federation.” Yeah! Crazy this man became the biggest star in the world!

-Survivor Series 1997: Rocky Maivia makes his debut at MSG and gets the win as the lone Survivor in his match. Apparently, everyone jumped on the Rocky Maivia bandwagon including a storyline where Sunny had her eyes on him. You tend to forget how amazing Sunny looked then. Just wow! We get footage of the fans all over the world embracing Rocky.

-RAW: Feb 13, 1997: I believe this was RAW Thursday RAW and Rocky beats HHH for the Intercontinental Title. They may have something with those feuding for the next 5 years or so. All seemed good as Rocky dedicated the win to his family and everyone on the announce team talked about how much of a gentleman he was. However, fans started to want more than a happy to be there babyface and “Rocky Sucks” chants started.

-The Slammy Awards 1997: Ahmed Johnson teases that Stone Cold has won breakout star of the year, but it goes to Rocky instead. Austin staring a hole through Rocky is great and I think those two might be able to draw money against each other some day as well. Rocky’s acceptance speech is what you would expect from him at the time. Austin storms the stage and wants to know what Rocky’s phone bill is like because he had to be voting for himself. Hot take, but 1997 Austin was amazing!

-The Rock starts losing and gets beaten down to build sympathy, but that just makes him a loser with no personality. Nagging injuries forced Rocky to take some time away. Meanwhile The Nation of Domination was at a cross roads as well and the two were perfect for each other. We go back to where we started as Rocky Maivia joins The Nation of Domination and man, was it a breath of fresh air for the kid.

-Aug 18, 1997: RAW: We get the heel turn explanation as he has three words: “Die Rocky, Die.” He became the youngest IC Champ in history and all it got him was chants of Rocky Sucks. The New Nation is all about respect and they will earn it by any means necessary.

-Nov 10, 1997: RAW: Austin returns from his neck injury and The Rock wants his IC Title. You can just see the confidence building and the kinks in the character being worked out during this period. The Rock’s bugged eye take when Austin tells him he sucks because he says so is great!

-Nov 17, 1997: RAW: Austin checks with the crowd as they apparently want The Rock to get his ass whipped. Man, just give me a timeline of Rock/Austin. The Rock steals the title while Austin beats up The Nation. Austin tells JR that he will be here all night. Later in the show The Rock faces Dude Love, but he won’t put his IC Title on the line. It’s crazy seeing the future of the Attitude Era colliding in these matches in 1997 without anyone really knowing how big this was all going to explode within the following year. Rock escapes again, but D-Lo eats another stunner.

-Nov 24, 1997: The Nation is here and The Rock calls Michael Cole a jabroni. The Rock also dubs himself The People’s Champion while his mic fades in and out and the lights go crazy. On the screen “Rocky Sucks” keeps flashing. The Rock sends the Nation to fix things and we see that Austin is causing havoc in the production truck. He tells Rock that when his beeper goes off and it reads 3-1-6 he knows it’s time to get his ass whipped. Austin also drops a line about being live or Memorex to really date this one. In a great moment, Rock’s beeper goes off and his sell when looking at it as great as Austin comes from behind and beats his ass. Austin grabs a chair and chases off The Nation. This feud was fantastic and Vince had to have dollar signs in his eyes.

-Dec 7, 1997: In Your House: Degeneration X: The Main Event was Shawn defending the WWF Title against Shamrock, but everyone was waiting on Rock/Austin. The simplistic set is pretty sweet in contrast to what we get now. Austin drives his pickup to ringside and you just knew it was going to come into play at the time. It’s a short brawl where D-Lo takes a backdrop bump onto the hood and windshield. Austin stuns the ref by mistake and The Rock tries to use brass knuckles, but gets stunned so Austin retains his IC Title. Fun stuff!

-Dec 8, 1997: RAW: Vince McMahon tells us that Stone Cold went too far and he endangered the lives of the WWF fans by driving his truck into the arena and down to the ring. He also struck a WWF official, who was going to DQ Austin, but the second ref made the count first. Vince is demanding Austin defend the IC Title against The Rock tonight on RAW. Austin won’t do it tonight because he whipped his ass last night. He asks if Vince will fire him and Rock chimes in that “The Rock thinks you should fire him.” Fantastic! Austin is only concerned about the WWF Title, so The Rock can have the title. Austin congratulates The Rock and then stuns him. “DTA Rock!” Austin takes the belt as he has plans for it next week.

-Dec 15, 1997: RAW: The Rock is easily the star of The Nation and he starts stepping on Farooq’s toes as you would expect. Austin pops up on The Tron as he is on a bridge with The IC Title and this is classic! Austin cuts a hilarious promo as he tosses oxygen tanks, snorkels, flippers, a cell phone, and a beeper into the water. “I’ll page you back, put the 3-1-6 and give you the big thumbs up.” Austin then chucks the IC Title off the bridge in a great moment that has been touched on several times since.

-Dec 29, 1997: RAW: The Rock moves on to Shamrock (as Austin was off to be the biggest star in the company) and the tension with Farooq continues. Shamrock beats Kama and The Nation is set to attack, but The Rock calls them off as Rocks offers up Farooq to face Shamrock the next week.

-Jan 5, 1998: RAW: Shamrock vs Farooq with The Nation at ringside. The Rock distracts ref, but Farooq ends up taking a chair shot and Shamrock taps him out.

-Jan 12, 1998: The Rock and D-Lo vs Ken Shamrock and Mark Henry. Mark wearing a “Rocky Sucks” shirt is pretty much a give away he is turning heel and sure enough he turns on Shamrock to join The Nation. Farooq doesn’t seem pleased, but allows it.

-The following week The Rock cuts a promo about cloning as he is the only person worthy enough for the honor. He is The People’s Champ and the best damn IC Champion of all time.

-Feb 15, 1998: No Way Out: Fun promo as Farooq wants everyone to fall in and threatens to beat Rocky’s ass. While Farooq cuts this heated promo, The Rock makes eyes at the camera and flexes his pecks. Simply great character development! The Nation face off with Shamrock and friends in a 10 Man Tag. The Rock taps to Shamrock to continue that story to WrestleMania. The Rock is heated and gets in Farooq’s face for not helping him. They all nearly come to blows, but The Rock bails as the other 4 sort things out.

-Feb 21, 1998: RAW: More greatness as The Rock wants to clear the air with The Nation. He promises there is no bad blood between the Nation. Everyone wants to be like The Rock, so he has gifts for everyone. He gives Kama, D-Lo, and Mark $15,000 gold Rolexes. For Farooq he gets something even better: a framed photo of The Rock. Later in the night Farooq takes on Steve Blackman. The Rock makes sure everyone can see the photo, so Farooq takes it away from him and wants to use it as a weapon. The Rock steals it back and Farooq gets rolled up as Blackman wins. Farooq destroys the portrait and The Rock gets left alone in the ring.

-March 23, 1998: RAW: The Rock heads down to interfere in a match between Chainz and Farooq, but Farooq has things under control. The Rock “accidentally” hits Farooq with a chair and has The Nation help their leader to the back. The Rock’s facial reactions during all this are just perfect!

-WrestleMania XIV: Shamrock destroys The Rock and then takes out The Nation. Farooq heads down, but he decides to leave Rock on his own to a monster pop from the crowd. Shamrock goes crazy after the match and gets the decision overturned for not releasing the hold. Poor Rock gets thrown off a stretcher and beaten some more.

-March 30, 1998: RAW: The next night The Rock makes up with Farooq and guarantees The Nation will be the strongest it has ever been. The Rock and Farooq are in tag action and The Rock walks out on him. Farooq gets beaten rather easily and is rather pissed. He wants The Rock back so he can “wear a good ass whipping.” The Rock is back and Farooq tears into him and they start trading blows as The Nation and some refs try to separate them. The Rock leaves, but it’s not over as Farooq wants more. The Rock raises an eyebrow and The Nation turns on Farooq. The Rock heads back down and we have a new Nation with a new leader. The Rock is now not only the leader, but the ruler of The Nation of Domination.

-Over the next several months The Rock has highs and lows as he loses the King of Ring to Shamrock. During the summer The Nation and DX have a war that led to a show stealing, career making ladder match for both HHH and The Rock at SummerSlam. Survivor Series: The Rock wins The WWF Title Tournament and becomes The Corporate Champion. The Rock then becomes a mega star as he headlines stadium shows with Austin and has dream matches with Hulk Hogan and John Cena. In the WWE there are stars, superstars, and megastars, but there is only one Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment.

-This was fun as focusing on his early run was a great choice. Everyone knows the massive star he became but it’s great to see where and how it started. His initial run and rise took place during The Monday Night Wars and I was team WCW then so some of this stuff I missed or caught later. This is an easy and fun show to watch and you can see the confidence grow as the light went off and Rocky turned into The Rock. Thanks for reading!