The Evolution of The Rock in 6 stages

#3 Movie Star (2005-10)

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in a mid-2000's publicity still

The Rock's WWE deal expired at the end of 2004 and WWE, perhaps miffed at Rock's lack of appearances between 2003 and 2004, elected not to renew it.

Following his April 2003 loss to Goldberg, Rock made just one further PPV appearance before his contract expired at Wrestlemania XX. He appeared on just a handful of Raw's in that 18 month period too. Rock's priority was Hollywood, not WWE.

Between 2005 and 2010, Rock starred in the following movies:

Doom, Be Cool, Southland Tales, Gridiron Gang, The Game Plan, Get Smart, Planet 51, The Other Guys, Faster, Tooth Fairy

The vast majority of these productions were not hits, but Johnson's electric charisma ensured that he kept landing Hollywood roles. However, resentment from the WWE locker room at Rock's success would soon boil over when John Cena voiced his frustration at Rock's absence from WWE by publicly calling him out via media outlets.