If you smell what the Juice is cooking!
Juventud Guerrera becomes The Juice.
There were alot of dream matches fans wanted to see between WCW & WWF/WWE. Some happened, Hogan-Flair, Bret Hart-Sting, others didn't Goldberg-Austin, Norman Smiley-Santino Marella.
One cross promotion rivalry that should have ended with in a match was the war of words between The Rock and Juventud Guerrera...
Shortly after Chris Jericho made his WWF debut in 1999, The Rock took a shot at Juvi with a throwaway line during a dueling promo with 'Y2J'. The line went a little something like: "You think you impress The Rock? Why? Because a couple of months ago you were down South beating some jabroni named Juventud?!"
(jump to about 6 minutes 50 seconds into the video below to hear first shot in the war, The Rock's comment about Juventud or just watch the full promo featuring Rocky, Mankind aka Mick Foley & Chris Jericho)
That jabroni, Juventud Guerrera, who Jericho had indeed unmasked years earlier, took exception to being called out in such a manner. Although he was injured at the time and therefore couldn't wrestle he took to the announce desks of WCW and started to incorporate Rock's own catchphrases into his commentary.
It wasn't long before The Juice returned to the ring and when he did he not only bought The Rock's catchphrases but also his mannerisms and moves to help get himself over on the WWF's rival shows WCW Nitro and Thunder.
Sadly, its pretty tough to find any footage of The Juice doing his, or should i say, The Rock's thing online. However if you jump to about 2 minutes 55 seconds into the video below. You can see The Juice layeth the smacketh down on Chavito by dropping The Juice's elbow at WCW's Bash At The Beach 2000.
While The Juice vs. The Rock might not have been a WrestleMania main event. It would have been an entertaining match up with a fun build up, especially if The Rock had been able to cut some promo's about "some jabroni named Juventud" face to face before going one on one with the Great One.
Though Juventud did end up working for the WWE a few years later, The Rock had already set off to Hollywood by that time. They couldn't even build up a Rocky comeback storyline to face off with his nemesis as The Juice didn't stay employed long enough for them to end the feud either...
Whether it was for running naked through hotels while under the influence of PCP, continuing to do banned maneuvers that had already injured other wrestlers, or getting into backstage fights after accusing people of deficating in luggage The Juicy One has proven to be truly great about getting his contract release.
So The Juice vs. the Rock is another one of those dream matches that just got away...
I've gotta give an "Earmuffs" warning before this next video, The Juice lets loose with some obscenities
well i guess that video proved The Juice was a poor man's Rock anyway and certainly not the People's Champ.
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