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The Rock began his WWE journey as Rocky Maivia in 1996, and it took off for a while. However, he was a literal babyface at that point. As a result, Vince McMahon and others asked him to smile as much as he could. This was the same time that fans had begun to embrace heels and anti-authority superstars, beginning with Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The constant smiling by Rocky Maivia did not help at all, and it led to the downfall of The Rock's first run with WWE. The Great One opened up about it on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast in 2023.
"You have this thing happening over here, the rise of the Attitude Era and then you have this kid who's just smiling away, everything is good even when he loses. It would never feel right to me and then fans started to turn, booing every night." [04:33 - 04:51]
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The continuous booing, even though it was Vince McMahon and WWE who had asked him to smile through it all and ignore the chants, led to McMahon realising that something was missing.
Rocky Maivia defended the Intercontinental Championship against The Sultan at his first WrestleMania, WrestleMania 13. He won the match but the entire arena was chanting 'Rocky sucks.' Vince McMahon knew something had to change once Maivia returned backstage.
"Vince looks at me and Pat, and just says 'I don't know what we did wrong but we have to make a change.' I know what that means. Two days later, I drop the belt to somebody else. Now, I'm getting beat every night and then I get hurt, I tear my PCL wrestling a guy named Mick Foley. Now by this time, it's May. Vince says 'take time off, heal your knee. I don't know what we did wrong or where we went wrong, but we got to really figure things out with you. I don't know if this is going to work out.'" [06:09 - 06:45]
Once he had healed, Vince took another chance with him and asked him to come back as a heel and join The Nation of Domination. However, this time, The Rock did ask for a minute on the mic just to be himself. When he entered the arena, fans were still chanting 'Rocky sucks,' but for the first time, he was able to answer them as he wished.
The Rock embraced his heel persona and insulted the fans, which the WWE Universe seemingly took a liking to. Within a month, he was the hottest heel in WWE, thus, bringing The Rock to life!
The Rock returned to WWE as a heel in 2024
When The Rock returned to WWE, it seemed that he was the big, strong babyface who would finally dethrone Roman Reigns. It felt more that way because Cody Rhodes voluntarily gave up his main event spot, introduced Rock as Reigns' challenger, and even embraced The Brahma Bull with a hug in the ring.
However, at WrestleMania 40's Kickoff press event, things took a rapid turn. The American Nightmare challenged Roman Reigns, leaving The Rock without any match for The Show of Shows. At the same press conference, The Great One slapped The American Nightmare and solidified his heel persona.
Following that event, The Rock has routinely humiliated the WWE Universe, as he has always done as a heel, and taken shots at Cody Rhodes and his family, and joined the top heel faction in WWE: The Bloodline!
