10 Forgotten WWE Upsets
Steve Blackman defeats The Rock (February 23rd, 1998)
Having his original run in the 1980s cut short due to a near-death experience, Steve Blackman exploded back onto the scene in 1997, blending legitimate MMA offence with nunchuck-swinging coolness. A silent assassin, he got some wins over cemented stars, such as wrestling’s first black world champion Ron ‘Faarooq’ Simmons.
On the 248th weekly episodic edition of Monday Night Raw in Waco, Texas, Blackman got a further career-elevating win when pinning Nation of Domination member, The Rock.
Despite Blackman’s well-known lack of charisma, the crowd seemed hot for him, popping huge when he got the win. In this competitive bout, Blackman managed to even kick out of the People’s Elbow. The storyline here was that the Nation were slowly disintegrating – in this, a miscommunication saw manager D’Lo Brown accidentally throw what Jim Ross referred to as “numchucks” to Blackman instead of The Rock. The martial artist then struck ‘The Great One’ with the Japanese-originated object before ultimately prevailing. The aftermath saw further tension between the faction with Simmons dropping one of his first uses of his “Damn!” catchphrase. Not only did this continue the dissolution of the NOD, but also hugely put over Blackman.
Blackman would go on to find a memorable fixture afterwards in the hardcore division as one of the greatest titleholders, with 6 reigns over 172 days (the longest combined days of any WWE Hardcore champion). Whilst The Rock was not yet the Hollywood-dominating, WWF top guy, he was not too far off from superstardom, with this loss being surprising to say the least – especially a loss to such a recently-arrived prospect.
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