Triple H Explains How The Rock's WWE Finisher Initially Started Out A Joke

WWE CCO Triple H has described the origins of The Rock's People's Elbow move and how it was never meant to become as big as it did.

The People's Elbow earned a huge pop from the audience when The Rock used it, particularly in the Attitude Era, but Triple H has revealed in his appearance on the "High Performance" podcast that it began as a rib.

"The Rock does his finisher, the People's Elbow, right? It's the silliest move of all time. He runs twice, hits the ropes, and drops what's probably the worst-looking elbow on you," he began. "That's not a knock on it ... just that it started as a joke. It sort of began at live events that weren't televised, with him trying to make The Undertaker laugh and break character ... and he did. You know, we were all doing dumb stuff, and he did that one night. Everybody thought it looked really cool, as silly as it was. Then somebody dared him to do it on TV, and he did it as a spoof. The crowd reacted to it. He did it again, and they reacted even more. And all of a sudden, you realize, like, 'Wow, I'm onto something really wild here.'"

The WWE Hall of Famer highlighted how the set-up to the People's Elbow, where The Rock throws his elbow pad and looks around the arena, helped build anticipation among the audience. Triple H added that the move was never intended to become as iconic as it eventually did.

"It became a big thing, but it wasn't designed to be that way. It was just [The Rock thinking], 'Okay, I did this and they reacted, so I'm going to do that more.  I'm going to explore that.'"

The move, as exciting as it was for fans, also helped in merch sales as The Rock had disclosed a few years ago that WWE began to sell elbow pads after the move became popular.