WWE: Can anybody still smell what the Rock is cooking?

It seems really strange that the People’s Champ, popularly known as the Rock, has now aced the World Wrestling Entertainment arena, Hollywood, and is thinking of sports – the place where it all started for him.

Dwayne Johnson was born in California to a pro wrestling family and thus it was just a matter of time for him to reach the pinnacles of glory. During his high school days, however, he was more into football, and NFL was his calling. All that changed after he graduated. Being surrounded by a plethora of world famous wrestlers, it was quite easy to decipher where his interests lay. His father decided to train him on his own and thus began the illustrious career of the Rock.

During his initial days, he was quite unpopular with the audience and he ended up abusing them in his promos. But that was not how it stayed for long.

Come 1998, and there was a turn of events which saw his popularity soaring high and thereby he was labelled the People’s Champ. His flamboyance was an instant hit among the crowd. People began to love him more for his outrageous way of addressing them and his moves got associated with the WWE fans, one being the People’s Elbow.

From 1998, his career graph began to soar; and towards the later part of 1999, he had ample shots at several single and tag team titles. The Rock had formed a tag team with Mankind and till date they remain the best of partners. The camaraderie that they shared during their heydays is unmatched. They enthralled the audience with their slapstick sense of humour that left the audience in peals of laughter.

After that he held numerous records, encountering feuds with every other superstar, The Rock became one of the top rung performers of his generation. He did not allow the superstars from the bygone era have their say after his one-on-one match with Hollywood Hulk Hogan. It was a high-intensity match which represented two generations of World Wrestling Entertainment. Thus the Rock has been a character who is associated with the people, and his popularity never seems to die. After a point of time, his appearances were quite sporadic in nature as he got fully engaged in Hollywood projects.

He did not leave any stone unturned and left an indelible impression in the hearts of his followers. He returned quite often after long breaks, and the audience went berserk on seeing their favourite superstar in the ring. He has always been a favourite of the masses.

Be it his charity foundation or his finishing moves, The Rock has been adored by the public. To this day, when he makes one of his most talked-about returns to the arena, he manages to retain his aura. He has the goodness that can be associated with the conventional heroes whom the masses worship. The homely feel which his presence emanates is one of the prime reasons for his ensuing popularity.

He does not believe in winning using any measure, but winning with panache. More than titles, he has won the hearts of his fans and that is why he was labelled ‘The People’s Champ’.

Hence, these days, when doubts keep cropping up with regard to whether he should continue coming back when most of his contemporaries have abstained from such erratic returns, the very phenomenon of The Rock puts such doubts to rest.

Whenever he returns, the audience goes crazy and till date he manages to retain a huge fan following even when he is not in the scene. Thus, he is an almost immortal asset of WWE and people can still smell what the Rock is cooking!