The trending Twitter topic ‘Chad Frost’ has confused some WWE fans as the name doesn’t match any WWE star, past or present. Chad Frost went viral following the latest episode of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s series Young Rock. The episode explores the events leading up to the 1998 SummerSlam.
Johnson is a breakout WWF star with immense promise – he’s supremely athletic and has established a good rapport with fans. However, some WWE stars are plotting to end Johnson’s career before it truly begins. Chad Frost, portrayed as a Black man with a long ponytail clad in denim, is at the forefront of this sabotage effort.
Chad Frost reportedly represents retired WWE superstar Shawn Micheals
The episode’s narration points out that Chad Frost isn’t a real character – he represents a top wrestler who wanted to clip Johnson’s wings. Johnson doesn’t mention the wrestler’s real name, saying, “That guy never turned out to be a friend. And I’ll just leave it there.”
We have put two and two together and figured out that Chad Frost is a pseudonym for Shawn Michaels. According to Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Triple H targeted Dwayne Johnson, hoping he would break and quit. Hart said on Confessions of The Hitman:
“A lot of the wrestlers would give him a hard time in those days, a really hard time, enough to try to break him and get him to quit and they almost succeeded. [The Rock] was kind of a marked guy.”
Bret recalled when Michaels tore into The Rock for allegedly stealing Michaels’ move – a dropkick from the top rope. Michaels had significant influence in the late 1990s and reportedly tried to convince Vince McMahon to fire The Rock. Bret Hart continued:
“The Rock was [deflated] because in those days, Shawn had a lot of weight. He was a pretty important guy for the company, a veteran guy kind of dressing him down like that, he was apologizing and said he didn’t know, and he thought it would be okay.”
Hart opined that jealousy spurred Michaels’ behavior towards Dwayne. “Just jealousy, and distinctly jealousy,” Bret said. “Seeing someone that is a nice kid climbing the ladder bothered someone like Shawn Michaels or bothered Triple H so much that they couldn’t see past it.”
The attempts to stall The Rock’s career subsided after Michaels retired from wrestling in 1998 due to personal reasons and a lower back injury. Michaels returned in 2002; by that time, The Rock was on his way out of the business to pursue acting.
According to WWE legend Chris Jericho, the company tried to push a storyline between Michaels and The Rock, but Dwayne declined.