The Undertaker has admitted he believed The Rock's WWE career was doomed from the moment he made his debut as Rocky Maivia in 1996, only to later realise he could not have been more wrong.

Speaking on the latest edition of Six Feet Under, The Undertaker recalled seeing The Rock's first appearance at Madison Square Garden and immediately questioning whether the smiling babyface character would ever connect with fans.

"I remember the night that he came out in Madison Square Garden, but I saw him with the kind of the island gimmick on, the, what were they, tassels? I don't know what those were called, but they looked like tassels to me. And he came out with this rah rah babyface kind of energy, and I was like, oh man, this guy's done for."

Despite recognising The Rock's athletic ability and football background, Undertaker believed the presentation would hold him back.

"I swear, I thought, man, you knew he was talented, he was an athlete, he played football at Florida, but he came out with that babyface presentation, and I was like, oh man, this guy, he don't stand a chance."

Looking back nearly three decades later, The Undertaker had no problem admitting he completely missed the mark.

"It's one of those things, duly noted. I was wrong. He had a fair run. I guess he's okay. Yeah, I definitely missed on that one. He really turned into something extremely special. I wish he'd have hung around a little longer. But you know, you got big dreams, you got to go live them."

The Rock Couldn't Stop Watching Himself

Undertaker also shared one of his favourite behind the scenes memories involving The Rock during a Monday Night Raw match.

According to The Deadman, The Rock became so engrossed in watching himself on the arena's giant screen that he stopped paying attention to the action unfolding in the ring.

"I remember one particular night that I'm working against Rock, and I think it was a Monday Night Raw. He is absolutely just kicking the s*** out of me, and he's just going off, and he's throwing punch after punch after punch, and I'm selling, and he's hitting me, and then I look at him, and I realize that he's not even looking at me. He's looking over my shoulder at the Tron."

"He’s basically watching himself kick my ass on the Tron. So he is over here wearing me out, but his head is looking this way, like he was really actually enjoying watching himself kick my ass."

Undertaker eventually had to call him out.

"I had to call him out. Like, hey, dude, if you're going to kick my ass, will you at least look at me while you do it? Which he laughed, and we had a moment. But that was just one of those deals. Like, are you kidding me right now? You're not even going to look at me?"

WrestleMania 40 Brought Everything Full Circle

The pair reunited on screen during the closing moments of WrestleMania 40, when The Undertaker made his surprise return to help even the odds in the main event.

Reflecting on that appearance, Undertaker joked that lifting The Rock was not quite as easy as he remembered.

"When I came out at the end of that at 40, that was fun, man. That was a little walk down memory lane. I tell you what, though, I think he got a little heavier, or I'm not quite as strong as I used to be. I don't know what that was."

More importantly, he said the moment gave him the sense of closure he had been looking for since retiring.

"To be able to get in there with one of the guys from that era and relive a little bit of that magic, that was fun. It was worth the run that I had to make to get to the ring on my brand new replaced knees. It all paid off, because that was a really cool moment, and actually, that really gave me a lot of closure as well to my in-ring wrestling career. It was just kind of like, wow, this is fun, and this is a good way to shut it all down."

The Rock originally debuted as Rocky Maivia at Survivor Series in November 1996 inside Madison Square Garden before evolving into one of the biggest stars in wrestling history.