Relive Dwayne Johnson's First Time Hosting SNL After 'Young Rock' WWE Ode: Watch

The Season 3 finale of NBC's "Young Rock" is an emotional rollercoaster. Between the drama of Dwayne Johnson (portrayed by Uli Latukefu) headlining WrestleMania and finally fulfilling his longtime promise of buying his parents a house, it might be easy to forget where the episode started by the end.

Just a few episodes ago, "Young Rock" teased Dwayne's first stint hosting "Saturday Night Live," and the opening of the Season 3 finale showed us the triumphant aftermath of Dwayne being joined backstage by some familiar WWE faces after the show. There are two big moments from that show in 2000 that "Young Rock" references, and, luckily for us, the real-life versions are easy to find online.

RELATED: Why A James Bond-Era Sean Connery Played Such A Key Role In 'Young Rock'

The first moment is, of course, the monologue. During his now-iconic first stint hosting, Dwayne brought in three WWE Superstars — Mick Foley, Big Show, and Triple H — as well as big boss Vince McMahon to assist him and give a huge shoutout to WWE (then known as WWF). While "Young Rock" didn't fully recreate the monologue, the Season 3 finale shows Dwayne backstage after the fact where he's joined by Foley (Brock Dunstan), Triple H (Miles Burris), and McMahon (Adam Ray), who congratulate him on the performance (while still making sure he keeps his head on straight).

In the real-life monologue, Triple H is far less supportive of Dwayne's endeavors, with the pair teasing up the long-standing bad blood between them — Triple H goes so far as to approach him onstage after Dwayne calls him a "candy ass."

Watch the full monologue below: 

The second reference is far more glaring, with Latukefu's Dwayne recreating part of the beloved "Mr. Peepers and Papa Peepers" sketch. While crouching atop a table in a red onesie, we see a few seconds of Latukefu going ham on an apple while wearing a vacant expression and prosthetic ears and eyebrows.

No doubt, after that single glimpse, you had a visceral need to rewatch the full, original sketch.

If you'll journey with us back to 2000 — or, rather, to SNL's YouTube archives — we can relive The Rock's hilarious performance alongside Chris Kattan, in which they play recently discovered ancient primates:

We're not saying that the sketch could only have been improved by Triple H showing up as yet a third primate — Papa Peepers' long-lost cousin, perhaps — but ... OK, yes, that's exactly what we're saying.

Alas, we'll be happy with these throwback reminders of where The Rock came from. With, we're sure, only more to come. 

You can catch up on "Young Rock" on Peacock.