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When The Rock first walked through the doors of WWE, nobody in their right mind thought the Samoan star would become one of the most popular acts in the company's history.
Although the odds were stacked against him and he had a lot of pressure on his back, since he was carrying his family's name, The Rock did the hard work and dedicated his time to better his craft.
Years later, he's now recognized as one of the most electrifying and polarizing figures in the wrestling world.
While The Rock left WWE a long time ago when he made a transition to Hollywood, the things he did for Vince McMahon's company are still remembered by millions of fans around the globe. Still, there are some significant pieces of his life that most people aren't either familiar with or have forgotten.
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In this feature, let's take a look at a few things that you probably forgot about Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. So, let's get started.
#5 The Rock made his wrestling debut as Flex Kavana
During his teen years, The Rock had a great fondness for professional football. He dreamt of playing NFL one day. Even though that dream didn't come true, The Rock did enjoy his time as a football player. During his graduation years, The Rock played as a defensive tackle for the University of Miami.
Around the same time, he also played for the Miami Hurricanes, a national championship team. However, he never made it past the extras due to his history with injuries that made it hard for the higher-ups to pay enough attention to him.
Determined as a bull, The Rock kept working hard in hope he'd get a chance to play for the NFL soon. While he entered the 1995 NFL draft, he wasn't picked by any team.
As a result, he decided to play as a linebacker for the Calgary Stampeders, a Canadian Football League team. However, that didn't work out too well for him either. He let go of his dream of playing for the NFL and decided to try his luck in professional wrestling, just like his father and grandfather.
The Rock made his wrestling debut under the name Flex Kavana at United States Wrestling Association. During his USWA stint, The Rock became a two-time world tag team champion.
He left the promotion in less than six-months and went on to sign a contract with WWE, where he made his debut as Rocky Maivia, a name blend of his father (Rocky Johnson) and grandfather (Peter Maivia).
#4 The Rock was initially hated by fans
As previously mentioned, The Rock signed with WWE in 1996 and made his debut under the moniker Rocky Maivia. Despite the fact he was just a rookie and had little to no experience as a professional wrestler, Vince McMahon and the other higher-ups decided to bring him in hot and gave him a major push.
For his debut, WWE hyped fans with playing his lineage, as well as promoted him as WWE's first third-generation Superstar on TV. The Rock made his in-ring debut at Survivor Series and helped his team win a match in an underdog fashion.
While WWE was trying to build The Rock as one of the top babyfaces in the company, at the time, fans were struggling to accept his blue-chipper character. Thinking he'd become a fan-favorite, WWE made him win the Intercontinental Championship from one of the top heels at the time, Triple H.
However, this plan quickly backfired in Vince McMahon and the other higher-ups' faces, as fans hated seeing The Rock as the champion to the extent that they'd chant "Die Rocky Die" and "Rocky Sucks" during his matches.
Fortunately, the officials soon realized the Samoan Superstar wouldn't work as a good guy just yet. They repacked him as a heel character, while also making him align him with an antagonist stable, The Nation of Domination, led by Faarooq.
Years later, The Rock is one of the biggest babyfaces in WWE history.
#3 Saturday Night Live! is a major reason for The Rock's success
The Rock is undoubtedly one of the biggest Superstars in Hollywood today. From acting, producing, and singing, he's doing all sorts of things. Not many people know this, but The Rock kickstarted his career in Hollywood by hosting Saturday Night Live, a late-night sketch comedy and variety show, in 2000.
During that time, The Rock wasn't a big Superstar like he is today, but SNL took a chance on him. Fortunately, the Samoan Superstar exceeded every expectation and delivered one of the best performances in the history of the show.
A few months later, The Rock started receiving offers from Hollywood. Soon, he got his big break when he was offered The Scorpion King. For this movie, he received a paycheck of $5.5 million and registered his name in the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest-paid actor in his first leading role at the time.
The Rock has mentioned many times that his SNL hosting role is a major reason for his success in Hollywood, as it opened the door for him to the show business.
#2 The Rock had serious tension with Shawn Michales
The Rock and Shawn Michaels are two of the biggest box-office drawers of all time. Just one match between the two of them would've pulled drastic numbers and left every single fan wide-eyes open. However, due to their legitimate beef, The Rock and Michaels never faced each other inside a squared circle.
According to the reports, the problems between The Rock and Michaels stemmed from a confrontation that happened during an independent wrestling show that was being promoted by The Rock's grandmother, Lia Maivia.
During the show, Michaels said some disrespectful things to Lia. As you can imagine, that made the Samoan star so enraged that he wanted to beat HBK up, although he didn't.
Fast forward to a few years later, the time around The Rock was becoming a major fan-favorite in WWE. Michaels and Triple H are reported to have tried to hold him down and push him down the card. At one point, HBK and HHH even attempted to subvert The Rock's chance to main event WrestleMania 15, thankfully they failed.
A lot of people saw that Rock had a lot of friends and he had a lot of potential. They wanted to make sure that he didn’t get there and he was smart enough to see that it happened.
The Rock and Shawn Michaels have never made their real-life rivalry official, but the two men are reported to have buried the hatchet a long time ago.
#1 The Rock wanted to be an agent
The Rock always wanted to make it big in professional football, but when he realized it wasn't going to work for him, he turned to professional wrestling. While it worked out more than just fine for him, The Rock's name would've never been linked with the sports-entertainment industry had he chosen to become an agent.
Speaking in an interview, The Rock once revealed he never thought about making a career in professional football or wrestling. Instead, he planned to work for two of the top law-enforcement agencies in the free world, FBI or CIA.
While he graduated as a Bachelor of General Studies in criminology and physiology, for him to become an agent, it was necessary he'd have some kind of degree in law.
Unfortunately, he wasn't very good when it came to his grades. On top of that, he was arrested multiple times for committing trivial crimes during his teen years. It was hard for The Rock to let go of his dream of working for the FBI or CIA.
However, it was probably for the best. His decision eventually led him to the doors of pro-wrestling, which goes without saying turned around his life. Years later, the Samoan Superstar is inspiring millions and millions of people and is recognized among one of the most influential people in the world.
