The Rock names WCW stars he wanted to wrestle after Vince McMahon bought rival promotion in 2001

The Rock wanted to face the likes of Goldberg and Sting following the demise of WCW.

The Rock names WCW stars he wanted to wrestle after Vince McMahon bought rival promotion in 2001

The Rock and Vince McMahon (via WWE)

The VICE docuseries “Who Killed WCW?” aired its final episode yesterday. The Rock, whose production company was behind the development of the series, expressed his thoughts as well. Further, The Final Boss recalled a conversation with Vince McMahon after the latter bought WCW in 2001. Rocky wrote down a list of wrestlers from the rival promotion he would’ve liked to face.

Among those names were the nWo, Goldberg, Randy Savage, and Sting. Although he would end up facing the notorious faction and Bill, The Brahma Bull never stood across the ring against the latter two. Following the buyout, the Macho Man never returned to WWE, while The Icon refused an offer to join due to the way WCW stars had been treated during the Invasion.

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Stinger would eventually debut in WWE at the Survivor Series 2014 pay-per-view. However, he and The Great One didn’t cross paths, as Sting ‘retired’ a year later. Meanwhile, The Rock would square off against the NWO and Goldberg after the Invasion. Following the underwhelming storyline, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall introduced themselves at No Way Out 2002. 

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I remember sitting down in my hotel room and writing down all the wrestlers who I had hoped to wrestle. Goldberg, Sting, [Randy] Savage, everybody in the nWo. I remember writing everybody down and going to Vince and saying, ‘Hey, this might be a good idea.'
The Rock (H/T: Ringside News)

This eventually led to the well-acclaimed Icon vs. Icon battle between Hogan and Rock at WrestleMania X8. A year later, Goldberg debuted on the Raw after the Showcase of Immortals and targeted The People’s Champion. In his first in-ring WWE match, the former WCW World Champion defeated “Hollywood” Rock.

The Rock’s recent WWE run was a major success

At the age of 51, The Rock returned to WWE for presumably one final run to face his cousin, Roman Reigns. However, a major turn of events changed the course of the road to WrestleMania, and specifically, The Brahma Bull’s character. For the first time since 2003, he turned heel and joined forces with The Bloodline.

The Rock
The Rock (via WWE)

The self-proclaimed Final Boss of WWE engaged in a deeply personal rivalry against Cody Rhodes. This led to weekly captivating segments and promos by all entities involved in the main event of WrestleMania. On the first night of the show, Rocky, along with Reigns, emerged victorious in a well-paced tag team bout that proved that the Hollywood star hadn’t lost his touch inside the ring. 

After Rhodes finished his story, The People’s Champion confronted him the next night on Raw. Handing him a mystery item, Rock vowed to return and win the Undisputed title against The American Nightmare. Since then, reports have indicated that the anticipated singles match will take place at next year’s WrestleMania.

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