5 reasons why there will never be another Rock

To say that The Rock was a once in a lifetime star is a massive understatement. He rose from a blue-chip prospect to one of the most celebrated wrestlers of his generation; from an all-time wrestling legend to one of the biggest players in Hollywood.

Yes, he main evented WrestleManias 15 through 17, and he’s the only guy to have done so, and then come back to main event WrestleManias over a decade later and be significantly more over as a megastar based on his mainstream success away from the wrestling business.

But could there be another Rock?

While some wrestlers may have analogous backgrounds, physical attributes, and charisma, we have yet to see anyone put together the pieces in similar, let alone the same fashion. This article takes a look at five reasons why that’s the case, and why we’re unlikely to ever see anyone else ever emerge quite like The Rock.

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#5 The pedigree

The Rock is a third generation star

It’s no exaggeration to say that The Rock came from the wrestling business. That’s not just citing that he was famous based on his work in the wrestling world before he was famous as an actor.

Everything from his classical training as a singer to his foundations as a football player stemmed from money his family had made in the wrestling business.

The Rock’s father was Rocky Johnson, his grandfather was High Chief Peter Maivia, and his uncles included Afa and Sika, The Wild Samoans.

While this generation of wrestling’s celebrated Anoa’i family has near innumerable brothers, sisters, and cousins who’ve tried their hands at wrestling, The Rock’s, too, included cousins of similar age like Rikishi and Samu, not to mention Umaga and Jamal on their way up.

So, The Rock came from an unprecedentedly large, diverse, and celebrated wrestling family, and was WWE’s first third-generation star, these elements, in and of themselves, are difficult to replicate.

#4 No one saw it coming

Rocky Maivia didn't exactly seem like a crossover star.

While there have been other third-generation wrestling stars since The Rock, including Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt, The Rock was operating in largely uncharted waters. On top of that, however, no one had, to that point, achieved the crossover success that The Rock eventually would, and I dare say that no one thought it was possible.

Yes, Hulk Hogan had become a household name across the country, and you don’t need to be a wrestling fan to be aware of who Ric Flair or Stone Cold Steve Austin are. But each of these legends’ fame was associated with wrestling almost exclusively.

Hogan made an earnest attempt to crossover to Hollywood, but his acting chops and mainstream appeal just weren’t there to really make it.

While John Cena is finding some success in Hollywood, he’s just getting some traction at age 40, and it’s doubtful he could broach The Rock’s levels of thus far unparalleled mainstream stardom.

#3 The Attitude Era

The Rock blew up in the Attitude Era

The mid to late 1990s saw WWE challenged in a way it never had been before as Ted Turner’s money, Eric Bischoff’s business and creative direction, and an influx of former WWE talent allowed WCW to pose a more earnest challenge to WWE than ever before. WWE responded by going where it never had before, tapping into a more cutting-edge ethos in American pop culture at the time to tap into the Attitude Era.

There’s every reason to think The Rock ultimately would have thrived in just about any era of wrestling, but The Attitude Era, which offered talents more creative latitude and the opportunity to lean into an adult edge allowed him to get over as cool in a way that wrestlers seldom could before or since.

Give him a weekly national platform of live TV to get himself over, and you have a guy with more exposure than stars of his calibre had ever had before, and more freedom than anyone since to not only lay the smack down, but lay the foundation for mega-stardom.

#2 The rival of a lifetime

Stone Cold Steve Austin was an incredible rival for The Rock

For as much of a star as Hulk Hogan was, it’s doubtful he ever would have gotten over to such epic proportions without Roddy Piper to play off of as a loud-mouthed heel, Andre the Giant to topple as a true monster heel, Randy Savage to gift him the best matches of his career, or Sting to play the silent avenger to his heelish bombast.

The Rock only spent about six years as a full-time professional wrestler, which is an incredibly short span relative to wrestlers of comparable stature. And while he had excellent rivalries with Triple H, Kurt Angle, and others, there’s one feud that stands the test of time to have defined Rock’s career.

The Rock first battled Stone Cold Steve Austin with the Intercontinental Championship at stake. They’d later revisit their issue in the main event of WrestleMania 15 for the world championship. At the time, Austin was the much bigger star and presumptive victor.

Little could we know that they were just gearing up for WrestleMania 17 when the two would legitimately be two of the top five biggest stars in wrestling history, and rapidly approaching equal footing. Little could we know that they’d end their rivalry two years later at WrestleMania 19 in an Attitude Era throwback that wound up being Austin’s last match.

Yes, between his talents and his work ethic, The Rock was destined for greatness. Austin was his perfect, foil, though, in both personality and in terms of generating in-ring chemistry in their epic matches. He helped catapult The Rock from one of the best of his generation to all-time greatness.

#1 The range of talent

The Rock can do it all

When Randy Orton debuted, he drew immediate comparisons to The Rock for his killer physique, good looks, and athleticism. While Orton was good and would become a top player for WWE, his similarities to The Rock only underscore his fundamental differences. He could never talk at The Rock’s level. He could never engage a crowd at The Rock’s level.

And at the end of the day, while Orton has grown on a lot of fans, he’s never demonstrated the genuine magnetism of personality as The Rock.

When it comes to being a talker who can cut sensational wrestling promos and charm on the talk show circuit, being an athletically gifted human being who can perform at the highest level just a couple years into the business, and being a guy with the aura to command a room, no wrestler has ever been able to touch The Rock.

Might we see another star like that someday? Anything’s possible, but I wouldn’t hold my breath, because The Rock represents a uniquely diverse set of talents built for superstardom, not to mention the drive to take him all the way to the promised land.