Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson shares heartbreaking story of how he overcame hate from WWE fans; life-changing request to Vince McMahon

WWE Superstar The Rock recently shared a heartbreaking story of how he overcame hate from fans when he initially started his career.

Dwayne Johnson's initial gimmick in World Wrestling Entertainment did not sit well with fans, even as a babyface he used to get booed every night. Johnson faced negative reactions during the rise of The Attitude Era with superstars like Stone Cold Steve Austin positive reactions as more edgy characters. The People's Champ wasn't a fan of his character either and wanted to do his own thing.

On the latest edition of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, The Rock revealed that he asked Vince McMahon to let him go out there with the mic and talk to the fans as he wanted to get on the fans' good side.

"So I said to Vince, 'Hey tonight when I go out there, could I just have two minutes on the microphone?' And he's like 'I don't know, it's live, you know all our time's accounted for, allocated'. I said, 'I just need 2 minutes'. He goes, 'Why?' I said, 'I just want to be real and just tell the fans how I feel and I feel like I need to recalibrate things here'. He said, 'Fine a minute you got'." [2:01:36 - 2:02:00]

The former WWE Champion further revealed how his mic skills helped him overcome the hate from fans and ultimately become one of the best heels in the business.

"Dude, that was the most freeing thing for me and my career, it was like you know how you have these defining moments? Even in that one little moment, I was just fu**ing ripping all this open, here I am. Now you can fu**ing boo me but now watch how I respond. F**k the smiling, I'll smile when I want to smile... The fans felt something that night. Within a month, I became the hottest heel in WWE." [2:02:21 - 2:02:58]

You can check out the whole podcast below:

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The Rock revealed that Vince McMahon wanted to protect his face in WWE

In the same podcast, The Rock revealed that Vince McMahon told him to stay away from razor blades while developing his skills in Tennessee as the latter did not want the former WWE Champion to mess up his face.

"As I'm leaving Vince McMahon's office, he says, hey by the way, don't go down there and cut your forehead up with razor blades. I went, okay got it. Because in wrestling there was a time, that's how you bled with razor blades. He [McMahon] goes, I want to protect this [The Rock's face]. All right then! Years later, I'm fu**ing doing this up in WWE." [1:51:06 - 1:51:33]

Dwayne Johnson jokingly revealed his college nickname as well. You can check it out here.

What is your favorite memory of The Rock's initial days in WWE? Let us know in the comments section below.

Please credit The Joe Rogan Experience and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling if you use any of the quotes from this article.