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aka: The Rock

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The Great One.
The Brahma Bull.
The People's Champion.

"Finally... The Rock HAS COME BACK!... To TV Tropes! Which means... FINALLY... THE ROCK HAS COME BACK!... ...home..."

Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972) is a former football player-turned-professional wrestler-turned-actor, also known as "The Rock".

He was born into the Maivia Wrestling Family on his mother's side, which has close ties to the Anoaʻi family (its members known for playing up the Wild Samoan stereotype). Before going into professional wrestling, Johnson previously played collegiate football for the University of Miami as a defensive lineman and briefly played professionally for the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL. His father, also a pro wrestler, was Black Nova Scotian and former WWF Tag Team Champion Rocky Johnson.

Dwayne's ambiguous biracial features allow him to shift gimmicks at will without sacrificing his universal sex appeal. He first entered the then-WWF as "Rocky Maivia", a Legacy Character (and something of a Creator's Pet) to both the Maivia family and his father, a perpetually-smiling face who drove the audience insane with how much he was pushed. He eventually fixed this X-Pac Heat by turning heel and restyling himself as a Jerk Jock-type villain; this evolution into "The Rock" freed him creatively and allowed him to show off his incredible talents on the microphone.

Within just a few years, using his natural charisma and skills as a wrestler, The Rock quickly ascended the ranks of the WWF and was soon competing with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for the top spot in the company, becoming his Arch-Enemy and rival. He would also feud with Attitude Era's The Dragon Triple H, and the three-way feuds with Austin and Triple H would be a common running theme.

He's since become one of the most prominent examples of Rescued from the Scrappy Heap in professional wrestling, exploding as a fan favorite and star. In a twist of fate, Johnson's entertaining, charismatic promos made it impossible for him to drum up heel heat; he reverted to a quasi-face, still stoking old feuds with the likes of Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin, which added variety to his angles.

When his contract with WWE ended in 2004, he started a full-time acting career. After leaving wrestling for several years, Johnson re-signed in 2011 as a part-time performer until 2013, before announcing his retirement from wrestling in 2019.

He also is a co-owner of the current iteration of the United Football League, created with the late-2023 merger of the 2020s iterations of the USFL and XFL. Johnson had led the group that bought the 2020 iteration of the XFL out of bankruptcy after that league was one of the first victims of the COVID-19 Pandemic through unfortunate timing, and relaunched that league in 2023 before its merger after that season.

The following year, Rocky became a member of WWE's Board of Directors. Soon after, he entered his first significant program as a performer in nearly a decade courtesy of his involvement in the story of Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, which also led him to cross paths with Triple H once again.

He is an 8x WWE Champion, a 2x WCW World Heavyweight Champion (won during The InVasion Angle), a 2x WWE Intercontinental Champion and a 5x WWE World Tag Team Champion, holding the belts 3x with Mankind as the Rock N Sock Connection, once with The Undertaker and once with Chris Jericho.

The show SmackDown actually comes from one of his character catchphrases, which caused him to call it his show. "Smackdown" is also in the dictionary.

For more about his acting career, see his creator page.

Were you looking for the movie directed by Michael Bay? IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR!


"The Rock says: KNOW YOUR ROLE AND READ MY TROPES, JABRONI!":

  • The Ace: The Rock's force of personality, acting talent and following superstardom brought his in-ring persona to new heights never before achieved in wrestling and never achieved since. As far as a successful career goes, how many legends can claim to have achieved his level of superstardom both in wrestling and acting? The Rock's ability to captivate audiences was simply peerless; he literally told crowds to chant his name, and they did it. Even one of his catchphrases, "[lay the] smack down", became the name for the WWE program itself, with The Rock claiming it's "his show".
  • Ambiguously Brown: As he put it himself, he has “Black and Samoan in [his] veins.” If someone didn’t know that, however, he’d be almost impossible to guess right.
    • While gushing over a portrait a fan painted of him (yes, really), he praised a number of aspects of the painting, including getting his skin tone right, which he described as a "peanut butter complexion".
    • Family Guy lampshaded this, calling him black, Hispanic, mixed, and "maybe a little Filipino" all at the same time.
    • As did his opening monologue in the Season 42 finale of SNL, where he's considering a run for President in 2020; he says he'll get the minority vote because every minority group assumes that he's whatever they are.
    • Many probably thought he was a white man who had a George Hamilton-esque tan when they first saw him.
  • Amicable Exes: His ex-wife is his business manager, and her new husband is his personal trainer.
  • "Angry Black Man" Stereotype: He made his Face–Heel Turn when he joined the black supremacist "Nation of Domination" Power Stable. Subverted when The Rock made it clear it had nothing to do with the color of his skin, but because of the fans booing him and chanting "Die Rocky Die". After he took over the stable, he changed it from an all angry black man group into one built upon his own "cool" image, and subverted it by adding the heel-turned Token White Owen Hart.
  • Animal Motifs: The Brahma Bull, which he has on his merchandise and tattooed on his right arm. It's also one of his Red Barons.
  • Arch-Enemy: To his nemesis and archrival "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as the two competed for top spot in the company and with the crowds. It was only Stone Cold that could really match The Rock in Ham-to-Ham Combat; The Rock became co-protagonists with Austin, their popularity almost the same from 1999 onwards. Being the top babyface naturally The Rock would feud with Vince McMahon as the Big Bad, but more importantly Triple H as The Dragon; The Rock, Austin, and Triple H were commonly caught in three-way feuds. Additionally, Mankind. John Cena sees him as this in 2011-2013 for Broken Pedestal reasons, after the Attitude Era.
  • The Artifact: He's never credited as "The Rock" in his movies (not since The Scorpion King anyway), and for trademark reasons, he's not referred to by the monicker in promotional material. It's possible that most people would be confused if you casually started a conversation with them about, "the latest Dwayne Johnson movie." But if you start talking about "The Rock" they know exactly who you mean.
  • Ascended Meme: When The Rock returned to the WWE, he called John Cena a "big fat bowl of Fruity Pebbles". Not long after, Post made a marketing deal with Cena for...you guessed it, Fruity Pebbles.
  • An Ass-Kicking Christmas: On the December 20 (taped December 18), 2001 WWE SmackDown, The Rock cut a promo on Test set to "The Twelve Days of Christmas.":
    "On the night Test faces The Great One
    This is what he'll see
    12 Sharpshooters stinging
    11 Eyebrows raising
    10 Spines-a-busting
    9 Noggins knocking
    8 Kicks-a-kicking
    7 Punches punching
    6 Suplex smashing
    5 Seconds of the people chanting The Rock's name
    [Rocky, Rocky, Rocky]
    4 Rock Bottoms
    3 People's Elbows on your
    2 Buck teeth
    And an ass-kicking all over New Orleans
  • Ass Shove: One of his Catch Phrases.
    "Take [this/that] [noun], shine it up real nice, turn that sumbitch sideways and SHOVE/STICK IT STRAIGHT UP YOUR CANDY ASS!"
    • Literalized, along with Asshole Victim, on the December 6, 2001 SmackDown!. This was when Vince McMahon was running rampant humiliating people with his "Kiss My Ass Club". Due to a stipulation on Raw (The Rock and Trish Stratus d. Vince and Kurt Angle), Vince would have to kiss The Rock's ass here. Rock changes his mind and first brings in commentator Jim Ross. Then he brings in Trish, the one ass Vince probably would have wanted to kiss. Rock changes his mind a third time and brings in... RIKISHI! Vince objects and Rock forces Vince into a Rikishi Stinkface to the cheers of the crowd.
    THE ROCK: "On behalf of The Millions, ("And Millions!") The Vince McMahon Kiss My Ass Club is officially closed!"
  • Badass Boast: ALWAYS!
    • Worthy of note was that he said he wanted to be able to make one by feuding with John Cena; he wanted to be able to say he was the only man who had beaten Hulk Hogan, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and John Cena at Wrestlemania. Given the injuries and retirement of the former two, he is probably the only man who ever will be able to lay claim to the feat.
  • Bald of Evil: He completely shaved his head during his Heel run as "Hollywood Rock", and it was during this heel run that he let his newfound Hollywood fame go to his head and became a cocky heel once again.
  • Barbarian Longhair: He was probably one of the most famous examples of this trope during his WWF days and in movies like The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King and Hercules.
  • Beat Them at Their Own Game: At some point down the line, The Rock picked up a habit of using his opponents' Finishing Move on them. This included Pedigree-ing Triple H onto a table, chokeslamming The Undertaker, putting Kurt Angle in the ankle lock and giving Austin a Stone Cold Stunner at pretty much every opportunity he could... which was a lot. Naturally, this is inverted when his opponents give him a Rock Bottom back.
    • Subverted in multiple occasions with the People's Elbow: anyone who attempts it on The Rock are likely to receive a Rock Bottom for their troubles. Ironically, in his last two WrestleMania matches, he nipped up when Ric Flair was going for it at WrestleMania 20, and oddly enough, Cena at WrestleMania 28.
  • Big "SHUT UP!": "Know your role...and SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"
  • Bittersweet Ending: The Rock's WrestleMania 20 tag-team match with Mick Foley against Evolution, which was losing effort for them both. Despite this, he didn't mind the loss and hugged Mick Foley after the match.
  • Broken Pedestal: Cena saw him as this in-ring and in real life during their two-year feud.
  • Captain Ersatz: In the Game Boy Advance Fire Pro Wrestling.
  • Celebration Miscalculation: Mick Foley throws a birthday party for him in the end of the "This Is Your Life" segment, but Rock bluntly tells him this:
    The Rock: The Rock's birthday is May 2nd, you stupid son of a bitch!
  • Character Catchphrase: The man's so prolific at them, he has his own page.
  • Cheap Heat: His first "Hollywood" Heel promo in Toronto had him invoke this.
    "...faster than a bear, stronger than a buck, the biggest thing to hit Canada 'cause the Maple Leafs suck!"
    • During the first ever "Rock Concert" at Sacramento, he took a shot at the Sacramento Kings:
    "... but I'll be sure to come back when the Lakers beat the Kings in May!!!"
    • "Finally, The Rock has come back...to (insert town name here)!"
    • Subverted during his "Hollywood" heel run: The Rock would bastardize a city's name instead of complimenting them, and at times even mock the crowd for popping at their city being name-dropped:
    "FINALLY The Rock HAS COME BACK to Toron... to Toron... TORON HIS MOUTH ON ALL YOUR CANDY ASSES!"
    "What, is this the first time you heard someone mention your city? "Yay, he said Toronto! Woo, yay! That's where we live, we live in Toronto, yay!" SHUT UP!"
    • Upon joining the Bloodline, Rock would proceed the previous intro with "Finally... Your life has meaning!" followed an insult to the crowd.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Surely enough he's got quite the foulmouth. His 2011-era run downplayed this slightly as although his promos are the most foul-mouthed, he doesn't use the actual F-word.
    • Semi-averted within his 2024 run due to his status at TKO, to the point he's the only wrestler who isn't restrained from WWE's social media rules, allowing him to say anything he wants, and he surely has taken advantage of this with loads of F-bomb-ridden posts.
    • According to Stephanie McMahon in her 2015 podcast with Chris Jericho, Rock got in trouble for actually dropping the F-bomb, which was because Stephanie could barely keep herself from laughing to the point that she was late in cutting him off in the promo.
  • Commuting on a Bus: Following his return to wrestling in 2011, due to his filming schedule, he would make a few appearances when time was given, and the fact he never said he would be there every single week. This was worked in to his feud with John Cena for their WrestleMania 28 match.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: His 2024 heel turn has shades of this. With his position as a board member acknowledged by wrestlers and commentators alike, he tries to swindle Cody Rhodes out of a rematch against Roman Reigns by attempting to set up a Roman v Rock main event for WrestleMania 40 at the kickoff, something that he described as a main event that was "bound by blood". This did not fly with Cody, who confronted Rock and declared that it was his right as the winner of the Royal Rumble to face Roman at WrestleMania 40, noting that their family would be ashamed by what they attempted to do after Roman mocked Cody's father Dusty. This led Rock to slap Cody in the face and confront Triple H backstage along with Roman, telling Hunter that he needs to fix it or they would.
  • Cool Shades: Well, they started as normal shades, but considering that everything the Rock touched got a bit of his coolness, they ended up this way.
    • They led to a great moment with him and Mankind as tag partners. While putting Mankind down with his usual flair, he went to do his "If you smell..." bit but knocked his own shades off. He couldn't finish the bit without them but picking them up would have made him look like a putz. So, Mankind goes over, picks them up and hands them to him. The Rock then earnestly tells him, "The Rock thanks you for that." before going back into the bit.
  • Costume Porn: There seemed to be a limitless wardrobe of flamboyant "500-dollar shirts" in 1998/1999/2000. Until they started making more and more merch for him, and then it all went away.
    • The "500 dollar shirts" worked when The Rock's character was more emphatically that of a self-important Jerkass. After tagging with Mick Foley, a lot of his more jerk attributes went away so the loud, pointlessly expensive shirts didn't fit him anymore.
  • Crossover: He's one of a select few truly "homegrown" WWF wrestlers who has wrestled a noticeable amount for other promotions while still under WWF contract. So they were seeking a developmental deal with IWA Puerto Rico and Jerry Lawler owned USWA but he's also popped up in Border City Wrestling and Memphis Power Pro Wrestling. While OVW would send guys out to other promotions fairly regularly, they were somewhat atypical and this was before then, obviously.
  • Crowd Chant: Integral to his role as the People's Champion was his interaction with his millions... (AND MILLIONS!)... of fans, often achieved by them joining in on his catchphrases. When he returned in 2011, the crowd's interaction was a little rusty, so he got them back into the mood:
  • Dare to Be Badass: His speech to Chicago about Team Bring It. See the Heartwarming Moments page for details.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The Rock has displayed a very dry sense of humor when he isn't yelling and electrifying.
  • Defeating the Cheating Opponent: Before their match at Backlash 2000, The Rock has the odds stacked against him. Not only was Triple H the WWF Champion, but Vince McMahon had ordered a referee in HHH's pocket to oversee the contest. The Rock made "the promise of the promise" that he would still win anyways. And thanks to the timely intervention of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin cleaning house with a steel chair, Linda McMahon intervening to play fair, and formerly-fired ref Earl Hebner doing the count instead, Rock managed to defeat HHH and win the title.
  • The Dragon: To Faarooq in The Nation of Domination after his initial heel turn. Though with his charisma he quickly rose to become Dragon-in-Chief, which of course eventually lead to him becoming a Dragon Ascendant, as he took over as leader of the Nation.
    • The Rock was also The Dragon to Vince McMahon when he joined The Corporation and became Vince's "Corporate Champion". This position was quickly discarded and he became a Face as no one could really hate him, with the position being replaced by Triple H. Also played straight during Rock's Hollywood heel run, as Vince would have him fight Hulk Hogan at No Way Out 2003, before Hogan took on Vince himself at WrestleMania XIX.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: The wimpy nice guy Rocky Maivia was like a whole other person compared to The Rock. Even then, it took him some time to get the act down.
  • Enemy Mine: Despite pretty much hating each other, The Rock and Stone Cold were often forced into tag teams together against a team of whoever they were feuding with. Outside of maybe Mick Foley, Stone Cold was probably The Rock's most consistent tag team partner in spite of the fact that they hated each other.
    • He teams up with John Cena at Survivor Series 2011. He lists his reasons as being because 1), the fans want it, and 2), he and his fans hate The Miz and R-Truth more.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: At CHIKARA Young Lions Cup VI Night I, June 13, 2008, "The Motion Picture" Ethan Page started his promo on his cell phone, saying that if "they" want him for Brokeback Mountain 2, "they" better get Dwayne Johnson.
  • Evil Costume Switch: The early part of his run with the Corporation saw him trade his standard wrestling trunks for athletic pants and shirts as if he wasn't even taking his opponents (usually Mick Foley) seriously anymore. He also started wearing his Costume Porn around this time.
    • His 2003 heel turn saw him trade the merch shirt/athletic pants for leather pants and an open vest.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Johnson's first, going from Rocky Maivia to The Rock and joining up with The Nation of Domination, led to the boos being leveled at him turning from X-Pac Heat into Real Heat.
    • After receiving boos as a face in some high profile matches (Austin at WM 17, Hogan at WM 18, and then Lesnar at Summerslam in 2002), the Rock took a hiatus to shoot a movie and then returned to the WWE as a full blown heel for his “Hollywood” gimmick with his arrogance and self-importance turned all the way up. Ironically, fans weren’t really all that interested in booing him full time to the point that when he had his last full time match against Goldberg, he finished the night dropping all Kayfabe and thanking the fans before heading off into the sunset.
    • In 2024 The Rock would turn heel for the first time since 2003 when he sided with his cousin Roman Reigns and slapped Cody Rhodes, joining The Bloodline in the process.
  • Fake Interactivity: Because of his hectic movie schedule, The Rock would sometimes have to tape himself from where he was filming (er, "via satellite"), so whoever he was cutting a promo on, The Rock's promo would have to use this trope in order to make it seem like they were having an actual conversation. See him do this with Hulk Hogan here.
  • Fascinating Eyebrow: The People's Eyebrow. (as well as the image source for the trope)
  • Finishing Move: The People's Elbow (the most electrifying move in sports entertainment!) and The Rock Bottom.
    • Midway through his career, he added the Sharpshooter as a submission finisher as a tribute to his former stable-mate in the Nation, Owen Hart.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • During his early days in the USWA as Flex Kavana, he gave the kind of promos and ring presence that would one day signify him as The Rock.
    • At the WrestleMania XL Kickoff, when he presented the Samoan wrestling family tree, some eagle-eyed viewers noticed that The Rock would also be listed as "High Chief Seiuli." When he would later join the Bloodline, it's strongly implied that he was the new leader with Tribal Chief Roman Reigns now following him.
  • Friend to All Children: Jokingly defied in many fan meetups, where he'll gleefully exclaim that he doesn't like kids. Of course, in reality it's completely played straight, with him always making time for young fans in addition to being a very devoted father.
  • Gentle Giant: Off-stage, he's said to be one of the nicest and most approachable men in the business.
  • Glasses Pull: During the oft-mentioned return to the WWE in February 2011, during his promo he took off his Cool Shades, turned down the volume, and said he wanted to address the crowd as Dwayne. For about a minute he allowed his true personality to show and gave a heartfelt thanks to the fans for continuing to cheer despite his seven-year absence. And then the glasses went back on and the Most Electrifying Man in All of Entertainment reappeared in the ring.
  • Good Is Not Nice: As a babyface. Even when playing the role of a hero, The Rock was quite rude and disrespectful to interviewers and other babyfaces. Kevin Kelly, in particular, was often his usual Chew Toy.
  • Ham-to-Ham Combat: The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, being the two biggest stars of the Attitude Era, had some great instances of this. Too many to name, but special mention goes to the time they sang "Margaritaville" together.
  • Heel–Face Turn: His turn after leaving The Corporation was very much welcomed.
  • Heel Realization: After his face turn against the Corporation, Rock was a face insomuch that the crowd loved him but character-wise was a still a self-absorbed asshole who would bully and boss around anyone who he could get away with doing it to, especially Mankind who he was Tag Team Champions with. Then, Mick gave Rock his new book as a present only to later find it in the trash. Mick then tore into the Rock in a huge "The Reason You Suck" Speech where he laid out how selfish and ungrateful the Rock was. It would later be revealed Al Snow had trashed the book but the Rock took this to heart and slowly turned into a more honorable character that mostly just bullied those who deserved it with their actions.
  • Hell-Bent for Leather: The Rock has a fondness for leather, especially during the Hollywood Rock era.
  • The Hero: He and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin are the main characters of the Attitude, InVasion, and the first part of Ruthless Aggression Eras.
  • Heroic Build: The Rock is incredibly large and muscular.
  • He's Back!: To host WrestleMania XXVII.
    • And now, to wrestle John Cena in a legit dream match at WrestleMania XXVIII.
    • He's also back FOR REAL. That Other Wiki confirmed that he has signed a contract with WWE, and he is signed to the Raw brand.
      • And now: finally The Rock is once again WWE Champion!
  • History Repeats: In a weird way: his cousin Roman Reigns' career is starting to mirror the early parts of his (i.e., trying to get over with a squeaky-clean face character only to be rejected by fans). In fact, the parallels are so strong that many are beginning to wonder if fate is trying to tell Vince something, and Vince, without WCW at his back, is being stubborn and trying to fight against it. In 2020, this belief was vindicated: Roman finally turned heel, and promptly spent the next year becoming one of the most over performers in all of wrestling, and the company's most popular male star since Daniel Bryan.
  • Hot-Blooded: Some of Johnson's promos veer right into this territory, and then he'd go out to the ring and back it up.
    • Also, pretty much any time Rock puts someone in the Sharpshooter or any other submission move, he gives that look of insanity that Ken Shamrock would give.
  • How Much More Can He Take?/No-Holds-Barred Beatdown/Unnecessary Roughness: Johnson's "I Quit" match with Mick "Mankind" Foley at Royal Rumble 1999 was all three of these - the second for the nature of the match, the first and third for the 10 unprotected chair shots in a row Johnson delivered to Foley.
    • Brutal enough to make Foley's wife and children leave their ringside seats in a crying, hysterical mess, as documented in the Beyond the Mat documentary.
  • Hypocrite: The Rock apparently took major offense to Cody bringing up Roman Reigns' and The Rock's families, stating that their grandfathers would be ashamed of them in the buildup to WrestleMania XL, but the only reason Cody did that is because Roman claimed that Cody was "Irrelevant, just like [his] dad."
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    • On the December 4, 2000 Raw, building up to the big WWE World Heavyweight Title six-way Hell in a Cell match that Sunday at Armageddon where Kurt Angle would defend the belt against Austin, the Rock, Triple H, the Undertaker and Rikishi, the Rock cut a promo verbally running down all his opponents, including affecting a wimpy, high-pitched voice for Angle where he talked about eating some milk and cookies. It qualifies because, essentially, Rock was portraying Angle as the same kind of lame, milquetoast character that Rocky Maivia himself had been.
    • A similar case happened earlier, during the famed "God spoke to Billy" promo. Portraying fresh King of the Ring winner Billy Gunn as a simpleton unable to win over the crowd in spite of his achievements calls back to rookie cookie-cutter titleholder Rocky Maivia's Scrappy run.
    • During his 2003 program with Stone Cold, he’d mock Austin by referring to him as a “bald candy ass” despite Rock himself at this point being bald.
  • Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Let's face it, nobody but The Rock could've made the Tearaway Track Pants/Gaudy Metallic Shirt ensemble look cool.
  • Innocent Innuendo: His often-used tactic to bait subjects into the "You sick fffffffreak!" routine or even just to get a misguided reaction for his own amusement. Works every time, too.
  • Insult Backfire: During his time in 2024 as a heel, millions of fans clamored for Cody Rhodes to get his rightful opportunity to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, as opposed to The Rock stepping in from out of nowhere to face Reigns. The Rock referred to Rhodes' fanbase as "Cody Crybabies" on multiple occasions, but the fans eventually became proud to call themselves "Cody Crybabies," especially after an endorsement from Cody himself at 2024's Elimination Chamber event.
    Cody: What is it that he calls fans of mine?
    Grayson Waller: [enthusiastically] Cody Crybabies, he calls them Cody Crybabies; it's pretty funny.
    Cody: Let me ask... are there any Cody Crybabies in here tonight?
    [crowd roars in approval]
  • Irony: His most recent look (bald with a badass goatee) actually favors his old rival "Stone Cold" Steve Austin somewhat.
  • Jerk Jock: Even as a face, Johnson was the cool slick athlete that made fun of everybody. His interactions with Coach were especially telling; the crowd still went nuts over him.
    • It was the crowd-pleasing charismatic awesomeness with which he did this that convinced WWE to turn him face.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As a face, especially his friendship with Mick Foley in later years.
  • Lampshaded Double Entendre: Once used to great effect with Lilian Garcia, telling her if she gets wet... with perspiration, standing next to him...
    • "If You Smell What The Rock Is Cookin'" is derived from this trope.
  • Large Ham: Even as far as Professional Wrestling goes, Rocky's one of the largest.
  • Last-Second Word Swap: He did this a couple of times, often drawing it out to heighten the effect.
    The Rock: You sick ffffffffffffreak.
  • Legacy Character: Johnson was the first third generation wrestler in WWE history.
  • Lighter and Softer: In 1999, the Rock was a flashy, flamboyant Jerkass that could spend ten minutes running down characteristics of his opponents. By 2000 he had turned face and his mockery was often left to Michael Cole and assorted backstage fodder, save one incredible promo about Rikishi, Austin, and others. His Costume Porn was replaced with basic gym pants and his merch shirt. As Badass Decay took hold, he nearly turned into The Scrappy, to the point where he was booed at a WrestleMania while fighting a guy who hit him with a big rig. Now, said crowd was wearing Nostalgia Goggles for Hulk Hogan's first WWF outgoing in something like eight years, but still...
  • Lightning Bruiser: He wrestled a pretty straight power wrestling style, but was not slow at all; the guy could perform a kip-up, and the pop for that was always incredible.
  • Loners Are Freaks: Part of the WWE roster's seemingly legit beef with the Rock backstage involves the words "he keeps to himself". He's admitted to it in his own book that he winds down better just in his room with something to read or watch.
  • Manly Man: The Rock was never really overly masculine during his initial WWF tenure in the late 90s/early 2000s, but he gradually became more intense and more enamored with weightlifting until he became the hulk of a man we know him as today.
  • Meaningful Name: Johnson's first ring name, Rocky Maivia, was a tribute to both his father ("Soulman" Rocky Johnson) and grandfather ("High Chief" Peter Maivia).
  • Mistaken for Racist: Political journalist Margaret Carlson seems to have held some dubious views regarding The Rock at one point, as she called him a "white skinhead hateful wrestling guy" on Capital Gang and was in Time Magazine accusing him of being anti-black, among other things. If it needs to be repeated, The Rock is half-black, half-Polynesian (admittedly with a skin tone able to pass for "well tanned").
  • Motor Mouth: When he gets going on the mic, he goes full speed ahead, and it's as gloriously hammy as it sounds.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: The People's Elbow. It's really nothing but an elbow drop with theatrics, but damn if he doesn't make it look like it'll crack your ribs.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Of The Person variety.
  • Nepotism:
    • Actually subverted. Rocky may be the first third-generation superstar to have ever been in the WWE, and while that might have played into his initial push as "Rocky Maivia", the Rock is generally regarded as very deserving of his superstardom since he came into it with his own talent rather than relying on his family name. In his autobiography, Johnson related asking Pat Patterson (at that time one of Vince McMahon's "stooges", but also a creative executive) to watch him train, but quickly assured Pat that he wasn't trying to use his family connections to jump the line, he just wanted to know what Pat thought of his work.
    • Played absolutely straight, however, in the WWE's attempt to get over Roman Reigns by associating him with The Rock at every possible turn. Reigns is Rock's second cousin (through blood brotherhood), and the commentary crew never lets the audience forget this fact. This only died down after Reigns started improving as a performer and showing that he had legitimate talent in his own right; the damage his booking did to his character, however, was so great that ultimately he only really got over as a performer when he (ironically) turned heel like Rocky did in 2020.
    • General agreement that this is the reason why Nia Jax remained employed for so long, who is distantly related to both the Rock and Reigns but doesn't have a fraction of their talent. While she wasn't anywhere close to being as overpushed as Reigns was, the backlash against her was far more vehement as, despite her intimidating size and presence, she's not only a mediocre ring worker, but she's proven to be a dangerous performer, repeatedly injuring other women she had to work with. After she was finally released in 2021, backstage reports indicated that she actually had been criticized for her poor in-ring work by management, and that the only reason she stuck around for so long is because of her relationship with Rocky.
  • Nice Guy: Very sweet, sensitive and self-deprecating, and as a rule rather than exception these days plays exact opposites of his macho wrestling persona in movies.
  • No Hero to His Valet: His daughter apparently prefers Aquaman. Johnson joked that now he wants Black Adam to beat him up.
  • No-Sell: Had a tendency to do this in his early days.
  • Odd Couple: His team-ups with Mick Foley, aptly labeled The Rock and Sock Connection. The Rock went from being a Jerk Jock who consistently bullied Mick to slowly respecting and liking Mick to the point where, in his last match, he was acting as something like a big brother for Mick in regards to his feud with the bullies in Evolution.
  • Older Than He Looks: He's pushing 50 as of 2020. Aside from a little gray in his beard, there is absolutely nothing to indicate he is anywhere near that old.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: During his 2000 feud with Chris Benoit, who repeatedly attacked him from behind and put him in the Crippler Crossface, it was telling the usual jokes and insults towards his opponents disappeared, instead demanding Foley give him a chance to kick Benoit's ass with a seriousness and rage even Triple H rarely brought out. It eventually culminated in Rock cracking, repeatedly battering Benoit in the head with a steel chair and giving him the Rock Bottom on a car hood. Commissioner Foley had to make their title match so that the WWF Championship could change hands on a disqualification because he was so worried The Rock would just try and beat Benoit senseless.
  • Popularity Power: The Rock was on another level of popularity, equaling and perhaps exceeding his archrival, Stone Cold. He became so popular that the audience would chant his name with or without him telling them to. One only needs to look up the videos of the Rock during 1999-2003 and they can see just how powerful a force he was. He was pretty much unstoppable and the audience loved him. The only reason anyone buys the People's Elbow as a finisher. Lampshaded by Mick Foley in his autobiography Have A Nice Day:
    "It looked totally ridiculous, but its effect on a crowd was phenomenal."
    • Also seen in the fact that he's one of the few people that can get something to trend on Twitter simply by saying that it's trending on Twitter. Which in itself is an extension of how he's one of the few people that can get a crowd of tens of thousands of people chanting his name simply by saying they're chanting his name.
    • The Big Show had the misfortune of finding out in early 2000 that calling out the Rock, even on the grounds of being a disrespectful Jerkass towards the rest of the roster who were looking to him for leadershipnote  against the McMahon-Helmsley reign of terror, is an easy way to get the fans to reject you. It got to the point that, despite succesfully proving he was the rightful winner of that year's Royal Rumble and having The Rock himself conceding the argument, it massively backfired on his attempt at getting the crowd on his side of the argument, as The Rock used the rest of the promo to mock the giant's inability to earn credibility.
  • Power Stable: The Nation of Domination; The Corporation; The Bloodline.
  • Product Placement: In the Got Milk? commercial where he stars, he delays handling any problems around him - including a cat up a tree, bank robbers, and an Alien Invasion - so he can get milk for his kids. (The phrase he uses after he does, "Gotta go to work", would appear later in the movie Furious 7.)
  • The Protagonist: The Rock shared being the Protagonist with Austin in the later parts of the Attitude Era, outright replacing him in from late 1999 - late 2000 when Austin took time off to recover from surgery, with Triple H as the Deuteragonist/Tritagonist wrestling heel and The Dragon to Big Bad Vince.
  • Ragdoll Physics: The Rock can oversell the Stone Cold Stunner in ways that made it impossible not to laugh, like how he sold it during his match with Austin at WrestleMania X-Seven. Apparently, both men were reported to have an unspoken beer bet between each other as to how much Rock can sell the Stunner.
  • Real Men Love Jesus: Is a devout Christian in real life, and, unsurprisingly, the 6'5', 230-plus-pound tank of a man has never been short on masculinity.
  • Recognizable by Sound: "Do you smell what The Rock is cookin'?", later changed to a much louder "IF YA SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKIN'!" Either way, it let everyone know The Rock was on his way to the ring.
  • Red Baron: "The People's Champion", "The Most Electrifying Man In Sports-Entertainment" (which later became "In All of Entertainment" when he branched into acting), "The Great One", "The Brahma Bull".
  • Reformed, but Not Tamed: After leaving the Corporation, he remains the fully-blown trash-talker and still picks on the interviewers, commentators, and other officials, only stopping the insults directed towards the audience.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Thanks to being wildly over with the fans, a big time Hollywood star, and generally being untouchable on the mic, The Rock can get away with things any other professional wrestlers would get fired (or at the very least punished harshly) for. Most notably, he actually made a phone call to CM Punk during a Raw after the show went off the air when the crowd started chanting his name. What makes this audacious was that this happened after Punk had very acrimoniously left WWE in 2014. Vince, Triple H, and management backstage were said to be extremely angry that The Rock did this, but couldn't do anything about it due to The Rock's high profile and WWE generally needing him around every so often to boost ratings.
  • Rhymes on a Dime: All of his "Jabroni beating, pie eating..." rants end with him rhyming. Pretty impressive since most of his promos are improvised.
    Rock: ...stronger than a bull, faster than a buck, the best thing to hit Canada 'cause the Maple Leafs suck!
    Rock: ...step off the brakes, put on the gas, ready to come here and whip some candy ass!
  • The Rival: Stone Cold is undoubtedly The Rock's archrival. The Rock shared a special relationship with Stone Cold Steve Austin both in character and out, with The Rock ascending and competing with Austin for top spot in the company, with the two pretty much neck and neck from 2000 onwards; Triple H to a lesser extent, as naturally he was The Dragon to Big Bad Vince. Later Randy Orton indirectly, as he tried to duplicate the Rock's success as a "third generation superstar".
  • Rogues Gallery: Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho and most recently John Cena.
  • The Runner-Up Takes It All: Though some wrestling aficionados would say that The Rock was the second biggest star of the Attitude Era to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, there is a solid argument that The Rock is the greatest of all time. He has become one of the biggest, highest-paid stars in the world. No one from wrestling has come close to his achievements.
    • Some argue that The Rock eclipsed Austin by the year 2000-2003, especially by his unmatched skills on the mic and the way he captivated crowds.
  • Running Gag: In recent years, almost all of his characters either have a background as either an accomplished athlete or elite military background, justifying why even his more "normal" characters have such a massive build and ass-kicking skills.
  • Screw the Rules, I Make Them! and Have Money: As member of the board of directors of WWE, the Rock vowed to Cody to use his power to not only screw him out of the United WWE Universal Championship but also make Seth Rollins' World Heavyweight Championship "disappear" implying heavily it will be forcibly absorbed into the UWU title or deactivated.
  • Self-Deprecation:
    • He had once cringed briefly at his appearance prior to his College Football career, saying that he once looked like "the guy from 'Menudo'".
    • On Raw's 20th Anniversary show, he came out to perform a "Rock Concert" similar to his feud with John Cena a year before. Before he started singing, however, he reflected on his debut with a picture of his past self on the Titantron.
      Rock: Sweet moonwalkin' baby Moses... what was I thinkin'?
    • Has also riffed down through some of his previous movie roles for laughs, particularly the likes of The Tooth Fairy. In particular, after ripping John Cena about The Marine at the 2008 WWE Hall of Fame, Rock added he was only kidding:
      Rock: Hey, you know what? I made Doom. Did you see it? [Beat] Yeah, no one else did either.
  • Serial Escalation: He was very muscular as a wrestler and at the beginning of his acting career. Then he bulked up even more in preparation for Pain and Gain. Then he bulked up EVEN MORE to play Hercules. He's gotten so big that if it wasn't for his distinct smile, it's sometimes hard to tell that he's the same guy who entered the mainstream as the Scorpion King. This does not seem to be helping his wrestling career, oddly enough, as he received numerous injuries during his return work with John Cena, The Shield and CM Punk.
  • Shout-Out: In his feud with John Cena, the Rock referred to Cena as a "Yabba-Dabba Bitch".
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: His "It doesn't matter" Catchphrase, as perfectly executed during his derailing of Chris Jericho's debut.
    "You come here to The Rock's show and don't even have the class to introduce yourself? What is your name? ... IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS!
  • Small Name, Big Ego: His original heel concept. Then his new-found popularity started kicking in, and the writers were required to turn it into 'Big Name, Gargantuan Ego'.
  • Smug Snake: The Rock's heel persona...and really his face persona during the Attitude Era.
  • The Starscream: And if you need evidence that you should deal with them early, witness the Rock take over the Nation of Domination.
  • Still Got It: 2011-2-14 Raw. He comes out to a deafening pop and cuts a promo starting at 10:55 and getting to go for almost 30 minutes (including a 20 minute run-over) that proves that he's STILL the best promo guy in the business EVER, even after being out of the business for SEVEN YEARS.
    • And at Survivor Series 2011, he proved that, yes, he can still go in the ring. The crowd agreed.
    • And then at WrestleMania 28, he proved that he can still go one on one in the ring.
    • Then the angle and finally subsequent WWE title match with CM Punk. His Theatrics of Pain and Wrestling Psychology are still off the charts compared to the vast majority of today's wrestlers.
  • Strong and Skilled: He tends to play a lot of these roles in film. Most of his action role characters have military or similar training on top of being built like...well, The Rock.
  • Stylistic Suck: When Rock sings. It's not that he's horrible, but he deliberately hams it up to be worse than it is. A series of "Rock Concerts" in 2003 amounted to acoustic performances about how awful the host city is.
  • Suddenly Shouting: A majority of his promos veer into this.
  • Sweet Tooth: He absolutely loves desserts and baking in general, wishing to one day open his own bakery. He's also a big fan of The Great British Bake Off and has stated that, if he had the time for it, he would love to participate in the celebrity edition (Celebrity Bake Off) for charity.
  • Take That!: The Rock's first heel turn came when the fans didn't buy in to his "chosen one" status. Not only did they boo him (as a babyface), they threw things at him and even crossed the line (he was once met with a "Die, Rocky, Die" chant). So he and Vince sat down and hashed out his heel persona and Vince told him to basically feed the crowd's hatred back to them in his unique style. So for most of his first heel run he vented his frustrations at the crowd and often held nothing back.
  • Taking a Third Option: After being barred from the Arena, on the last Raw before the Royal Rumble, instead of just abiding by the rules and wait or try and force his way in, Rock simply bought a ticket.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: And he knew it, and loved to remind Lillian Garcia.
  • Tall, Dark, and Snarky:
    "Know your role and shut your mouth, or The Rock will layeth the smacketh down all over your roody-poo candy ass!"
  • 10-Minute Retirement: Averted; Johnson, who left WWE after WrestleMania 20 to concentrate on his film career, didn't wrestle for another seven years.
  • Theatrics of Pain: The Rock sells pain like few others.
  • Third-Person Person: In character, refers to himself almost exclusively as "The Rock" or one of his Red Barons. You could probably count on one hand the number of times he's used the word "I" or "Me" on WWF/E television.
  • This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Heel Rock in particular liked to emphasize his statements by calling his opponent "bitch".
  • Three Chords and the Truth: He wrestled this; the Rock does not have an incredible number of moves, what he does have is a such an incredible energy that electrifies the entire crowd.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He started his career as a talented yet under-appreciated face, but after he turned heel, he began his rise as the "most electrifying man in sports entertainment".
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: The Rock didn't start out as the wisecracking, foulmouthed and muscular bad guy we all know and love. "Rocky Maivia" was a joyous and talented Ideal Hero but was pushed into villany by the fans.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Pie, lots of pie!
    • He also loves cod and estimated that he eats TONS of it per year.
  • Trash Talk: While it's common in pro wrestling, The Rock perhaps made this trope into a form of art. He even mentions that he talks trash in his sleep.
  • Tsundere: Type A towards Mankind, during their time as The Rock & Sock Connection.
  • Underwear of Power: For all The Rock's talk about his expensive suits and pants, this is all he wrestles in.
  • Unnecessary Roughness: Johnson was recruited by the University of Miami to play football, but injuries kept him out of the starting lineup for most of his college career. His biggest moment in a game was when he became involved in a bench-clearing brawl (Miami vs. San Diego State) and was shown on ESPN chasing the San Diego mascot screaming "I'll kill you!" Good times.
  • Unscrupulous Hero: The Rock is usually this type of hero when portraying a Face. The basic characterization of The Rock is that his ego is completely out of control, and this trait remains no matter what "side" he's on. The Rock doesn't care about anything other than himself. There are only two differences between a Face Rock and Heel Rock: a Face Rock is willing to earn his victory with his own wits and skill while Heel Rock is willing to take the cheap path to a championship, and a Face Rock cares about having the crowd on his side. Still, both of these methods only happen to satisfy his ego; he does it just to prove he can do it. So, the one thing that keeps him from being a Nominal Hero is that, as a Face, he has a personal code of honor.
  • Unusual Euphemism: Mentioning "Strudel" typically gets a pop out of the audience, regardless of context. Because he says it when referring to male genitalia. "Pie" is the female equivalent.
  • Vocal Evolution: The Rock started out smooth and slow, became increasingly hammier during his Nation and Corporation stints, became more high pitch during the "Hollywood" Rock era and switching back and forth after his 2011 return.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Has been called out by John Cena for leaving the people that made him a superstar and that half his promos (at the time after his February 2011 return) had been via satellite. Rock addressed these comments the next week, and after that, things got a bit silly.
  • When She Smiles: Gender-flipped. For all of his Smug Snake, Trash Talking, Deadpan Snarker tendencies that caused his character to borderline on The Stoic, he was always regarded as having a beautiful, enchanting smile. He played it up as he moved past his Attitude Era character until he eventually became what could be considered a downplayed Perpetual Smiler in the 2010s and onward.
  • Who Are You?: Employed a variant of this in his wrestling days: would often act nonplussed when being addressed by someone he viewed as inconsequential (which was pretty much everybody), waiting until they were finished before asking them, "Who in the blue hell are you?" or "What is your name?", then interrupting them after a couple of syllables with, "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO YOU ARE/WHAT YOUR NAME IS!"
  • Workaholic: A huge part of his persona as an actor, due to the sheer number of projects he works on and his insane workout schedule. Taken to the extreme in his ad for the Iphone 7.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Johnson is willing to hurt women in the ring as much as men. for example, he gave Stephanie McMahon a Rock Bottom and followed it up with a People's Elbow at WrestleMania 2000 and hit Chyna on an episode of Raw.
  • Wrestling Family: Johnson is one of the many, many wrestlers in the Anoa'i family. He's not a blood relation, but the Anoa'i brothers were "blood brothers" to Peter Maivia (having grown up as Maivia fans in San Francisco, and he helped them get into the business). High Chief Peter Maivia, Johnson's grandfather, was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008, appeared in You Only Live Twice and trained "Superstar" Billy Graham. In 2020, one of his daughters, Simone Johnson, signed a contract with WWE under the ring name Ava Raine as part of The Schism.
  • Younger Than They Look: A notorious case of this in his youth, thanks to his large build. In interviews, Johnson noted that his classmates in high school frequently assumed he was an undercover NARC because, at 15, he already looked like a grown adult.

IF YA SMELLLLLLLLALALALALALAO!!!!! WHAT THE ROCK! IS! TROPIN'!!!

Alternative Title(s): The Rock

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The Rock

The Rock shuts down Triple H by reminding him of who The Rock is, which he then finishes by saying the now-memetic line "So shut up, bitch!"

How well does it match the trope?

5 (5 votes)

Example of:

Main / ThisIsForEmphasisBitch

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