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The Rock Talks His Accomplishments on Smackdown, the Show’s Heyday, Recalls Vince Getting Mad at Him For Going Over His Time, More

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(Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)

In honor of the 900th episode of WWE Smackdown tonight, The Rock posted the following on Instagram:

“The Rock’ also holds the record for going WAY OVER his allotted time given for his matches than any performer in Smackdown history,” he wrote. “For ex: if I was given 20min total match time, I would notoriously hit the 35min mark causing a ripple effect in the 2 hour TV show. Reason this would always happen is, every night I would wrestle and be concerned with one thing: listening to the people. And every night, I learned to let THEM dictate how long my matches were.

After the match I would walk back thru the curtain and Vince would be pissed. He’d say ‘God dammit Rock! Great match but you went over time’. I’d immediately say ‘I’m sorry Vince and I understand, but.. I was listening to the people and you just can’t rush greatness’. He would look at me with that iconic ‘Vince glare’ and not say a word for 4-5 very long seconds… then break out in a big smile and say ‘that’s right. You can’t rush greatness’. Then we’d hug and I’d get his $5,000 suit all f*cked up with sweat. Those were good times.”

For TONIGHT’s huge 900th episode of SMACKDOWN, the @WWE asked if I would post something cool considering the show was created 899 episodes ago in my honor. Told them it’d be my pleasure. Here’s some cool facts they sent over. * The Rock main-evented the most highest rated episodes of Smackdown Live in history. The Rock holds the record for most Smackdown Live main events in a year (36). * Now here’s a fun fact that’s NOT in the record books. “The Rock” also holds the record for going WAY OVER his allotted time given for his matches than any performer in Smackdown history. For ex: if I was given 20min total match time, I would notoriously hit the 35min mark causing a ripple effect in the 2 hour TV show. Reason this would always happen is, every night I would wrestle and be concerned with one thing: listening to the people. And every night, I learned to let THEM dictate how long my matches were. After the match I would walk back thru the curtain and Vince would be pissed. He’d say “God dammit Rock! Great match but you went over time”. I’d immediately say “I’m sorry Vince and I understand, but.. I was listening to the people and you just can’t rush greatness”. He would look at me with that iconic “Vince glare” and not say a word for 4-5 very long seconds… then break out in a big smile and say “that’s right. You can’t rush greatness”. Then we’d hug and I’d get his $5,000 suit all f*cked up with sweat. Those were good times. CONGRATS WWE and the entire roster on your big night. Very proud and happy for you. Take care of my show dammit and above all else… Don’t be like me and stay on time. #SmackdownLIVE #SDLive900 #900Strong #TheRocksShow #TheVinceGlare #YouCantRushGreatness

A video posted by therock (@therock) on

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