[1] Ever since 1998's Survivor Series and the "Deadly Game Tournament", The Rock and Mankind had been bitter rivals, facing each other on numerous occasions, mostly fighting for the coveted WWF Championship.

[2] Their feud ended after the Rock won his third WWF Championship against Mankind in a ladder match on the February 15, 1999 episode of Raw Is War.

However, Mankind became the special-guest referee in the title match at WrestleMania XV which involved The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

With this in mind, Mankind (who used a smelly sock named "Mr. Socko" as part of his gimmick) asked his former enemy if he could help with his fight against The Undertaker and Big Show.

[1] Several days later, Mick Foley and Dwayne Johnson helped Raw Is War achieve its highest rating ever with a segment featuring himself (as Mankind) and The Rock.

Later that night, during their match, a crushed Mankind refused to participate as he sat despondently on the steel steps, facing away from the ring, as Hardcore and Crash Holly (with outside interference once again by Triple H) beat The Rock for the tag team titles.

On the Thanksgiving episode of SmackDown!, The Rock 'n' Sock Connection defeated the Hollys to become number one contenders to the WWF Tag Team Championship.

The Rock even went so far as to rally the entire WWF roster on the January 10, 2000 Raw Is War episode to demand Mankind's reinstatement, which Triple H complied and did.

[8] In 2004, The Rock 'n' Sock Connection reunited at WrestleMania XX when they took on then Evolution members Randy Orton, Ric Flair, and Batista in a 3-on-2 handicap match.

The two then exchanged hugs once more, and The Rock congratulated Foley for his impending WWE Hall of Fame induction and wished him well.