Backstory Behind The Rock’s People’s Elbow Revealed

With WrestleMania 41 just days away, Triple H is letting a few secrets out—and this one’s all about The Rock and a certain elbow that fans never forgot.

During an appearance on the High Performance podcast, WWE’s Chief Content Officer pulled back the curtain on how The People’s Elbow, one of the most iconic moves in wrestling history, wasn’t even meant to be serious at all. In fact, Triple H said it was created just to mess with The Undertaker at a live show.

“The Rock does like his finisher, The People’s Elbow, right? It’s the silliest move of all time,” Triple H joked. “He runs twice, hits the ropes, drops like the worst-looking elbow on you. That’s not a knock on it. It just started as a joke.”

According to The Game, it all went down during non-televised house shows, when Rock decided to start fooling around to try to get a reaction out of The Undertaker. “We were all doing dumb stuff and he did that one night and everybody thought he looked really cool as silly as it was,” Triple H continued.

But then it turned into something no one expected. “Somebody dared him to do it on TV and he did it on TV as a spoof and the crowd reacted to it—and he did it again and they reacted even more,” he said.

What started as a rib quickly became The Most Electrifying Move in Sports Entertainment. Fans fell in love with the over-the-top setup, the theatrics, and the flair—everything that The Rock stood for. And while Triple H made it clear he still thinks it’s ridiculous, there’s no denying how much power that elbow had with audiences around the world.