History Trivia / DwayneJohnson

** According to Hunter and the Undertaker, the People's Elbow itself is this, with Rock first doing it on the latter in a triple-threate match where [[https://youtu.be/oB8JasqAzYo?si=ApFpl0uwaIW7Ti8m everyone was secretly trying to get 'Taker to break character]] and laugh.

** According to Hunter and the Undertaker, the People's Elbow itself is this, with Rock first doing it on the latter in a match where he was secretly trying to get 'Taker to break character and laugh.

* EnforcedMethodActing: The Rock and John Cena [[http://www.muscleandfitness.com/mythical-proportions-exclusive-interview-dwayne-rock-johnson legitimely did not get along]] at he time they were having their ''[=WrestleMania=]'' feuds, but both wanted to give the people what they wanted. The two learned to get along afterwards, though.[[note]]Cena even stated that him accusing The Rock of leaving WWE in favor of a career in Hollywood were his legitimate feelings on the issue, only for Cena to end up eating a lot of crow when his own well-received acting roles forced him to essentially do the same, after which he understood The Rock's POV.[[/note]]
** In particular, the moment during the buildup where Cena points out that the Rock has notes for his promo on his wrist was wholly unscripted. The seething rage and humiliation Rock feels in that segment is 100% real.

** The Brahma Bull championship belt. He was supposed to carry it around as champion in the same manner Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin did with the Smoking Skull belt. [[https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/exclusives/wwe-never-used-rock-s-custom-brahma-bull-belt-because-it-was-lost-mail As detailed here]], the belt's creator claims it was lost in the mail, while The Rock himself claims it was used "for a hot minute", but quickly dropped because [[ItsBeenDone it wasn't an original idea]]. This didn't stop the belt from gaining mythical status and many replicas are available, including official ones from WWE themselves.

** Don't mention The Tooth Fairy on his presence.

* 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 ''Wrestling/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 Wrestling/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 Wrestling/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 Wrestling/WrestleMania XXIX if he didn't lose. Now before he's even returned for 2013, what's been announced of his Wrestling/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.

* GrowingTheBeard: Perhaps one of the most textbook and successful examples in wrestling. He debuted as "Rocky Maivia", whose entire gimmick was that he was a third-generation wrestling (his name being a mix of Rocky Johnson, his father, and "High Chief" Peter Maivia, his maternal grandfather). Despite winning the Intercontinental title less than three months after his debut, the gimmick got stale ''fast'', and soon enough got XPacHeat before X-Pac was even named that. One FaceHeelTurn later, however, Rocky Maivia became no more, The Rock was born, and with him the world met an entertainer that ultimately surpassed even the realm of the wrestling world.

* EnforcedMethodActing: The Rock and John Cena did not get along [[http://www.muscleandfitness.com/mythical-proportions-exclusive-interview-dwayne-rock-johnson at the time they were having their Wrestlemania feuds]] but both wanted to give the people what they wanted. The two learned to get along afterwards though.

* 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 [[Characters/WCWInvasion 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.

* GrowingTheBeard: If Vince had followed the same rules he did before/after the Attitude Era, we never would've gotten The Rock. We would've had 14-time world champion Rocky Maivia and his pineapple hair.

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

* CreatorBacklash[=/=]OldShame:

* {{Fan Community Nickname|s}}: '''The ''MILLIONS!...''''' ''([[CrowdChant AND MILLIONS!!!]])'' of The Rock's fans. Later re-coined as "Team Bring It".
* FanNickname: "The Dwayne", following Johnson's moving away from his wrestling past (including the move to stop having "The Rock" included in his movie credits).
** Or "Dwayne-the-Rock Johnson", said as if it's part of his real name.

* GrowingTheBeard: If Vince had followed the same rules he did before/after the Attidue Era, we never would've gotten The Rock. We would've had 14-time world champion Rocky Maivia and his pineapple hair.