On a recent episode of “Something To Wrestle”, Bruce Prichard discussed The Rock’s heel turn and the decision to have him start referring to himself in the third person. He credits JR and revealed that The Rock was hesitant to turn heel. Here are the highlights:

On The Decision To Turn The Rock Heel:

When we made the phone call, the entire situation was that Rocky was out with a knee injury and Russo did not know what to do with him. He kept going, ‘I do not know what to do with this guy.’ I brought up putting him in the Nation of Domination. That way we protect him with his knee. They were chanting “Die, Rocky, die,” so he has a reason to be in this group, so bring him back as a heel. Let him cut the promos on the people.

On Who Came Up With The Idea For The Rock To Speak In The Third Person:

God damn, boy. I saw Deion [Sanders] cut a promo, and he’s gonna have a good game. Why don’t you refer to yourself [like Sanders did] in the third-person. Call yourself The Rock, just shorten it.’

On The Rock Being Hesitant To Turn Heel:

Russo had called Rocky and pitched it, but Rocky did not want to be a heel. He didn’t want to do it. So, Jim Ross and I got on the phone with him, pitched it, and then he started going, ‘Okay, I could do that.’ At that time, nobody dreamed that he’d be a breakout star and take over the Nation like he did. When he did, I’ll never forget Vince [McMahon] going, ‘God damn, what’s wrong? You put a microphone in his hand and the crowd goes nuts. Give him a God damn microphone and let him talk!’ That’s what made The Rock.

You can check out this episode of “Something To Wrestle” below:

Credit: Something To Wrestle. H/T Wrestlezone