History Trivia / DwayneJohnson

* ActorAllusion: Films and series often play with his past, both as a wrestler and as an actor:
** ''Film/TheMummyReturns'' has a very curious scene of two scantily clad women fighting for the audience's entertainment. [[Characters/WWEDivas Considering who his co-workers were at the time]]...
** In ''Film/TheRundown'', Dwayne plays Beck, an aspiring chef[[note]]Possible reference to one of his many [[CatchPhrase/DwayneJohnson catch-phrases]]: ''"If you know what the Rock is cooking!"''[[/note]], and performs a Rock Bottom on a mook during a BarBrawl.
** He played a pit fighter in an episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', where he used the Rock Bottom.
** In the ''[[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious The Fast and the Furious]]'' movies, he gets to bust out a few wrestling moves: pulls off a Doomsday Device tag maneuver in ''6'', and hits [[FinishingMove the Rock Bottom]] in ''Furious 7''.
** His character's [[BrattyHalfPint daughter]] alludes to Johnson's foray into the ActionHeroBabysitter genre (''Film/TheToothFairy'', ''Film/TheGamePlan'' etc).
** In Fate, the last few syllables of his character's haka for the Red Dragons may sound familiar for anyone who's seen ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}''. His character also gets called "[[Film/Hercules2014 Hercules]]".
** In ''Film/BeCool'', there's this quote about his character, a gay bodyguard who dreams of getting his big break as an actor:
--> '''Linda Moon:''' ''[[FascinatingEyebrow He can raise just one eyebrow at a time]]... and that's all he thinks it takes to be an actor.''
** From ''Film/PainAndGain'', this quote from his character alludes to a previous role of Johnson in ''Film/BeCool'' where his character is mocked for selecting an aluminium bat instead of a wood one:
--> ''"I used to use an aluminum [bat], but then I upgraded to wood."''
** In ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'', his character does [[FascinatingEyebrow the People's Eyebrow]] and pec-pops the same way Rocky would. And in one of he songs, he lampshades his tendency to [[ThirdPersonPerson talk in third person]]. The design of his character was heavily based on his late grandfather "High Chief" Peter Maivia.
** In his appearance on ''Series/That70sShow'', while portraying his father, Johnson makes a reference to himself, where he hopes "his son" will one day become "[[CatchPhrase/DwayneJohnson the most electrifying man in sports entertainment]]". Red Foreman simply responds with "[[ItWillNeverCatchOn Yeah, good luck with that.]]"
** Cliffjumper's vehicle mode in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' has bull's horns on the front of the hood, referring a previous nickname of Rocky: "the Brahma Bull".
** ''Film/CentralIntelligence'':
*** He gets a remark that his character looks, "Like [[Film/Hercules2014 Hercules]]".
*** His character wears a black leather fanny pack, an allusion to an infamous picture of The Rock taken in the early 90's with a perm and a fanny pack.
*** His character mentions he doesn't let people see him naked, even during sex. He keeps it Film/PitchBlack like Creator/VinDiesel. The Rock has worked with Diesel in the "Fast and Furious" franchise and is often compared to him in general with them both being big, muscled, bald, biracial ActionGenreHeroGuy types who are close in age.
** Even in the WWE itself Rocky's media roles are referenced:
*** When he goes on a rant about how [[Wrestling/GregoryHelms The Hurricane]] pales in comparison to other superheroes ("''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' could beat the Hurricane" etc.), the Hurricane responds with "there's one person The Hurricane can beat... The Scorpion King". In ''Film/TheMummyReturns'', Richard "Rick" O'Connell beat the Scorpion King (played by The Rock.)
* AwesomeDearBoy: Part of the reason why Dwayne Johnson agreed to voice [[PhysicalGod Maui]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'' was the thrill of seeing his Polynesian ancestry so beautifully depicted in a major motion picture, and he admitted to crying TearsOfJoy over it many, many times during production.

* MoneyDearBoy: One of the main reasons he took up acting, even while his wrestling career was at a stellar level of popularity. In interviews, he's said that he enjoys wrestling more than acting, but acting pays a great deal better, has a more flexible work schedule, and is far less physically punishing.
* PlayingAgainstType: Sometimes, like his role as Elliott in ''Film/BeCool''. In his review of the film, one of Roger Ebert's criticisms was that The Rock was not believable as gay. The Rock himself acknowledged he had not convinced himself when asked.
* PromotedFanboy:
** He pushed ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'' extensively on his Facebook and Twitter accounts for a reason.
** He's a ''huge'' [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] fan, and has been the first, last, and only choice to play [[ComicBook/BlackAdam 'Cap's nemesis]] for years.

* TypeCasting: Well known for starring in lots of jungle adventures, to the point of MemeticMutation, including ''Film/TheRundown'' (known internationally as ''Welcome to the Jungle''), ''[[Literature/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth Journey 2: The Mysterious Island]]'', ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle'', ''Film/JumanjiTheNextLevel'' and ''Film/JungleCruise''. {{Invoked|Trope}} in ''Film/{{Rampage|2018}}'', where he's initially introduced in what appears to be a jungle setting but is revealed to be a wildlife sanctuary; ironically, it's often included in related memes for this reason, particularly as his outfit in the scene is similar to his ''Jumanji'' look.

** One trapped in DevelopmentHell is the live action ''VideoGame/SpyHunter'' movie, with Johnson in the lead role. However, he did manage to put in a performance in the What Would Have Been a Tie-In game ''Nowhere to Run''.
** Johnson pursued the role of Mr. Hinx in the ''Film/JamesBond'' movie ''Film/{{SPECTRE}}'', hoping to follow in the footsteps of Peter Mavia, who played a baddie in ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. However, MGM and EON thought he seemed too expensive, and cast Wrestling/{{Batista}} instead. Johnson [[http://web.archive.org/web/20180213094654/https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/540585514546778112 took this news in stride]].

** He was considered to voice [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed the Boulder]] in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' but was unavailable, so Wrestling/MickFoley ultimately voiced the character instead.

* DyeingForYourArt: He was already in incredible shape but buffed up significantly in preparation for ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'' with this physique becoming his new default setting. Then he bulked up even more for films like ''Film/PainAndGain Pain and Gain'' and ''Film/Hercules2014''.

** In Fate, the last few syllables of his character's haka for the Red Dragons may sound familiar for anyone who's seen ''Film/{{Moana}}''. His character also gets called "[[Film/Hercules2014 Hercules]]".

** In ''Film/{{Moana}}'', his character does [[FascinatingEyebrow the People's Eyebrow]] and pec-pops the same way Rocky would. And in one of he songs, he lampshades his tendency to [[ThirdPersonPerson talk in third person]]. The design of his character was heavily based on his late grandfather "High Chief" Peter Maivia.

*** Years before, he played a pit fighter in an episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', where he also used the Rock Bottom.

** In Fate, the last few syllables of his character's haka for the Red Dragons may sound familiar for anyone who's seen ''Film/Moana''. His character also gets called "[[Film/Hercules2014 Hercules]]".

** In ''Film/Moana'', his character does [[FascinatingEyebrow the People's Eyebrow]] and pec-pops the same way Rocky would. And in one of he songs, he lampshades his tendency to [[ThirdPersonPerson talk in third person]].
** The design of his character in Moana was heavily based on his late grandfather "High Chief" Peter Miavia.

*** Gets a remark that his character looks, "Like [[Film/Hercules2014 Hercules]]".

** At one point, he said that he was going to enter the Presidential Primary for the 2008 election cycle as a Republican. Eerie thing is, UsefulNotes/BarackObama sounds ''exactly'' like the Rock, just less awesome. It's said that those listening to the 1960 Kennedy v Nixon debates on the radio thought Nixon won; if you listened to Obama vs Johnson, you'd probably have a hard time figuring out who was speaking. One person at film.com even suggested that Johnson should drop forty pounds and play Obama in the inevitable movie. To which Obama used in his appearance on ''WWE RAW'' during the primaries to determine the Democratic Presidential Nominee, as he ended his segment with "...if you smell [[IncrediblyLamePun what Barack]] is cookin!"

** At one point, he said that he was going to run for President in 2008 as a Republican. Eerie thing is, UsefulNotes/BarackObama sounds ''exactly'' like the Rock, just less awesome. It's said that those listening to the Kennedy v Nixon debate on the radio thought Nixon won; if you listened to Obama vs Johnson, you'd probably have a hard time figuring out who was speaking. One person at film.com even suggested that Johnson should drop forty pounds and play Obama in the inevitable movie. To which Obama used in his appearance on ''WWE RAW'' during the primaries to determine the Democratic Presidential Nominee, as he ended his segment with "...if you smell [[IncrediblyLamePun what Barack]] is cookin!"

* AwesomeDearBoy: Part of the reason why Dwayne Johnson agreed to voice [[PhysicalGod Maui]] in ''Disney/{{Moana}}'' was the thrill of seeing his Polynesian ancestry so beautifully depicted in a major motion picture, and he admitted to crying TearsOfJoy over it many, many times during production.

** He was considered to voice [[{{Expy}} the Boulder]] in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' but was unavailable, so Wrestling/MickFoley ultimately voiced the character instead.

** During the "Wrestling/MondayNightWars", Ted Turner tried to bring The Rock in Wrestling/{{WCW}} by offering double the salary he got in WWE. The Rock refused, saying that his goal was to "move the crowd" first, and money would come later.

* {{Fan Community Nickname}}s: '''The ''MILLIONS!...''''' ''([[CrowdChant AND MILLIONS!!!]])'' of The Rock's fans. Later re-coined as "Team Bring It".

* FanCommunityNickname: '''The ''MILLIONS!...''''' ''([[CrowdChant AND MILLIONS!!!]])'' of The Rock's fans. Later re-coined as "Team Bring It".

*** When he goes on a rant about how Wrestling/TheHurricane pales in comparison to other superheroes ("''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' could beat the Hurricane" etc.), the Hurricane responds with "there's one person The Hurricane can beat... The Scorpion King". In ''Film/TheMummyReturns'', Richard "Rick" O'Connell beat the Scorpion King (played by The Rock.)

* DoingItForTheArt: Johnson didn't need the money to [[CatchPhrase/DwayneJohnson come BACK to WWE]].[[note]]He got a considerably heavier paycheck for his series of appearances than the regular talent, however, his pay for any one of his movies dwarves the total pay for any of his return periods, making WWE money basically chump change to him.[[/note]] His ''WrestleMania 28'' feud with Cena came at a time with no movie to promote (''Journey 2'' was released prior to ''Elimination Chamber 2012'', too late to generate any real box office bump; ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'' was still months away from release). He showed his goosebumps to the camera while in the middle of the ring during a ''RAW'' episode. If you were someone who thought The Rock wanted nothing to do with wrestling ever again (a popular sentiment on the IWC once "The Rock" was dropped from his name for a few years), The Rock promptly laid the smackdown on your candy-ass notion.
** From his 2011 return until he put over Wrestling/JohnCena in 2013, there was also the matter of the IWC consistently putting low expectations on his measure of commitment, him exceeding these expectations, them putting another benchmark to test him, and him exceeding those: First he was only gonna show up to host WrestleMania XXVII but that would be it, and he certainly would never wrestle again. Then the night after he came back and accepted Cena's challenge to a fight and scheduled it a year in advance for WrestleMania XXVIII. Then it was said he'd be done after that—which didn't help the mood with some of his detractors after he beat Cena. Then the night after that one he announced his intent to go after the WWE Championship. He followed up on that on ''[[MilestoneCelebration Raw 1000]]'' and announced that he had a title shot at Royal Rumble 2013. Before long people started saying he'd become an absentee WWE Champion before WrestleMania XXIX if he didn't lose. Now before he's even returned for 2013, what's been announced of his WrestleMania season schedule already rivals what a typical second-run Wrestling/ShawnMichaels schedule would look like in the same amount of time, with him set to appear live on the majority of ''Raw'' episodes and '''[[CueTheFlyingPigs at least three]] ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackDown Smackdowns]]'''''. At this rate it was thought the cycle would only stop when either most wrestling fans actually expected him to return full time or when his eventual retirement match and/or Hall of Fame induction was finally announced. Bonus points for largely rectifying the issue of Wrestling/CMPunk's BadassDecay before taking the title from him. This finally stopped after he put over Cena, making only rare appearances since then. That said, he did sustain a number of injuries during the second Cena match yet still finished it, and he would later tentatively cite it in interviews as his final match while still leaving the door opening for future match work if the right timing and occasion were to pop up.

** Also, those first two years back had consistently seen him appear easily more than Wrestling/TheUndertaker and, were it not for Wrestling/TripleH's involvement in the Punk and Laurinaitis storylines in summer-to-fall 2011, about as much as the Game as well. Sure, it's understood why they're not full time wrestlers anymore, what with HHH being on the new boss path and Undertaker's body being broken down. However, Rock's movie career is just as valid a cause for inactivity—something his HateDumb refuses to accept because to them his movie career is exactly the problem.

* CreatorBacklash[=/=]OldShame: His "Rocky Maivia" gimmick. Trust us, he does ''not'' like talking about it ([[DorkAge and neither does WWE, for that matter]]).

If you smell what Tical's cooking"

* FollowTheLeader: His upset victory over [[Wrestling/TripleH Hunter Hearst Helmsley]] for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Title]] at ''Thursday RAW Thursday'', February 13, 1997, led to Wrestling/{{WCW}} trying the same thing with Prince Iaukea[[note]]Mike Haynor, who was supposed to be the "son" of Wrestling/KingCurtisIaukea, who had last been seen in WCW in 1995 as The Master of the Wrestling/DungeonOfDoom.[[/note]] by having him defeat [[Wrestling/WilliamRegal Lord Steven Regal]] for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-tv.html WCW World Television Championship]] a mere ''four days later'' on ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'', proof that they really ''did'' write their TV based on what was on ''Raw''. Unlike Rocky, though, Iaukea never got his redemption. He wasn't even booed the way Rocky was, which would have actually been an ''improvement'' for him. After doing nothing of note for three years, he was repackaged as "The Artist Formerly Known As" Prince Iaukea, a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed CaptainErsatz for Music/{{Prince}}. It was as successful as you probably imagined it was.

* BreakupBreakout: He went from being a member of Wrestling/TheNationOfDomination to a full-fledged movie star

* FollowTheLeader: His upset victory over [[Wrestling/TripleH Hunter Hearst Helmsley]] for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Title]] at ''Thursday RAW Thursday'', February 13, 1997, led to Wrestling/{{WCW}} trying the same thing with Prince Iaukea[[note]]Mike Haynor, who was supposed to be the "son" of Wrestling/KingCurtisIaukea, who had last been seen in WCW in 1995 as The Master of the Wrestling/DungeonOfDoom.[[/note]] by having him defeat [[Wrestling/WilliamRegal Lord Steven Regal]] for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-tv.html WCW World Television Championship]]. Unlike Rocky, though, Iaukea never got his redemption. He wasn't even booed the way Rocky was, which would have actually been an ''improvement'' for him. After doing nothing of note for nearly three years, he was repackaged as "The Artist Formerly Known As" Prince Iaukea, a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed CaptainErsatz for Music/{{Prince}}. It was as successful as you probably imagined it was.

** The first round of the June 18, 2019 episode of ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', part of their Teen Tournament, had a whole category dedicated to him, titled "Mr. Dwayne Johnson."

* BreakupBreakout: He went from being a member of Wrestling/TheNationOfDomination to a full-fledged movie star.
* CreatorBacklash / OldShame: His "Rocky Maivia" gimmick. Trust us, he does ''not'' like talking about it ([[DorkAge and neither does WWE, for that matter]]).

* CreatorBacklash[=/=]OldShame: His "Rocky Maivia" gimmick. Trust us, he does ''not'' like talking about it ([[DorkAge and neither does WWE, for that matter]]).

* OldShame: His "Rocky Maivia" gimmick. Trust us, he does ''not'' like talking about it ([[DorkAge and neither does WWE, for that matter]]).

* OldShame: His "Rocky Maivia" gimmick. Trust us, he does ''not'' like talking about it (and neither does WWE, for that matter).

* BreakupBreakout: He went from being a member of Wrestling/TheNationOfDomination to a full-fledged movie star.