Professional wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross who is currently working as the colour commentator for the All Elite Wrestling recently talked about the main event of SummerSlam 2002 and The Rock getting booed by the fans at the event.
SummerSlam 2002 is considered as one of the best SummerSlam events in WWE history. It featured some of the best matches of that time and it also started some of the biggest rivalries of WWE history such as the Triple H vs Shawn Michaels rivalry which begin at the said event.
Jim Ross Remembers The Rock Getting Booed At Summerslam 2002
The main event of SummerSlam 2002 was for the WWE Undisputed Championship between the People’s Champion and Brock Lesnar and it was one of the most anticipated matches of the night as well as of the year as well. But unfortunately it was quite a predictable match, the fans only weighed on it for the quality of the match.
It had already been reported that after this match the Rock would leave WWE for Hollywood, so it was quite obvious that he would not be winning the match. The WWE fans were not happy with the People’s Champion and they booed him throughout the match. Ultimately Brock Lesnar won the match to capture his first WWE Championship.
Jim Ross who is currently working as the colour commentator for the All Elite Wrestling recently spoke on his Grilling JR. where he talked about the main event of SummerSlam 2002 and The Rock getting booed by the fans at the event. He said;
“It’s happened more than once. We remember WrestleMania 20 with Brock, Goldberg, and Austin. Thank god Austin was in that equation, or it could have been even worse. The fans are very sensitive to the standpoint that, ‘We supported you, we bought your shirts and pay-per-views and done everything we could do. Now, you’re bolting on us.’
“It’s like getting deserted. It was a tough scenario, and you just have to go with what you’re hearing and seeing. You can’t make something there that isn’t there. So, on that night, Rock the babyface wasn’t there. The fans made him their villain because ‘you’re leaving us, and you hurt my feelings.’
“They did a real good job of following the classic [Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels] that preceded them, and I thought that was gonna be a challenging situation. Don’t think that Rock wasn’t aware. He may have been more aware of it than even Lesnar because of his experience, ‘We have our work cut out for us, we have to somehow get this crowd back into it.’ They had their work cut out for them, but they came through, which is certainly a credit to them.”
Quotes via 411 Mania