Note: Please keep this page to YMMV items about Johnson's wrestling career. YMMV pages for actors are not allowed.
Awesome Ego: It's been one of his defining character traits as The Rock ever since his first heel turn, and thanks to his considerable microphone skills and creativity when it comes to trash talking, it managed to get him past his initial X-Pac Heat, and turned him into one of the most popular wrestlers in the business. Even when Johnson is designated as a heel, the fans love it and cheer him for it, and he's one of (if not the) best examples in all wrestling.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: On the night The Rock was revealed as the host of WrestleMania 27, the last thing we saw before commercial break preceding The Rock's appearance was a limo pulling up outside of the arena. The limo door opens and the camera panning low so that all we could see coming out is what appears to be the feet of a woman wearing high heels, assumed by the commentators to be the host. Of course, it wasn't the host, and she was never seen again. Granted, this being The Rock we're talking about, it's not impossible to assume that he had a very leggy lady friend with him in the limo, but the fact that this was not acknowledged again was still very weird.
Fans were divided during The Rock's 2013 reign as WWE Champion. Those in favor tended to point out that The Rock as champion meant great exposure for WWE and increased pay-per-view buy rates, as well as drawing interest from fans who previously watched WWE in the Attitude Era. Detractors, however, were quick to point out The Rock's obvious ring rust (becoming exhausted 5 minutes into each of his three 25+ minute matches), his failure to actively promote the company while being a champion (in the 2 months he was carrying the belt, he attended a number of movie premieres, talk shows and award presentations, only bringing the championship to one and failed to mention the WWE at any of them) and that he did not wrestle at all on any episode of Raw.
Even the mere fact of his feud with and wins over CM Punk have caused this, arguably due to Punk's massive popularity. Many fans hated Rock for being the part-timer who dared to end Punk's historic 434-day reign as WWE Champion. Made worse by the fact that this was done just in time for the road to the WrestleMania main event, as many questioned whether Rock deserved the spot over Punk and others still who had no problem with Rock having the spot felt that it was wasted on what was widely considered a Foregone Conclusion with John Cena getting his win back and being solidified as the top dog over both men. On the other hand, others credited the Punk-Rock feud for restoring Punk's credibility as a badass after months of the WWE Champion, of all people, being booked as an ineffectual chickenshit heel against Ryback and especially Cena, with Punk going from running away and ducking his challengers at all times to outright calling out and challenging Rock, even getting the better of him once or twice before the Rumble title match, and losing both that match and the next month's rematch under controversial circumstances. Then there was the pattern of Punk losing to majorpart-timers that eventually formed from this, which only frustrated fans further in the aftermath. Even Punk himself was not happy about this, though he didn't hold it against Rock, Taker, or Lesnar, all of whom he's cool with, but against the internal logic of the company's booking.
Catharsis Factor: It was really, really refreshing to see his 2011 Raw return and promo, bashing the company's biggest Creators Pets and cutting a promo the likes of which hadn't been heard in years.
Creator's Pet: Hard as it may be to believe now, he debuted as this in 1996-1997 under his original WWF ring name, Rocky Maivia. To elaborate: he started off hot as the first third-generation superstar, but pretty soon, his smiling-babyface schtick began to wear very, very thin, especially in a landscape where "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was already redefining the company's direction. By the time Wrestlemania XIII rolled around (with a match between him and The Sultan, that didn't exactly blow the roof off), it was obvious fans were just not into the guy at all, no matter how hard they were pushing his happy-go-lucky persona - and that was a lot, with Jim Ross constantly pushing him as "the blue-chipper" and the company going so far as to pipe in cheers for him in his own entrance music (you heard that right). Of course, as we all know now, things got better.
Draco in Leather Pants: Every time The Rock turns heel, he eventually gets so over with the fans through his natural charisma and mic skills that he ends up turning babyface again.
Fandom Rivalry: With both John Cena's fans and CM Punk's fans. WWE played this up for all its worth during the three guys' feuds with each other.
In February 2012, The Rock cut a promo for 15 minutes straight about Cena. The Rock topped that one month later with a series of "History Lessons" in and around Boston (Cena's hometown, mind you). This rivalry has gone off and on for a year, and it's safe to say some people got sick of it months ago. To his credit, the "History Lessons" were pretty funny. More interesting is that Cena is not the instigator in most cases. If that's not Ho Yay, we're not entirely sure what is.
Fan Nickname: "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.
Fountain of Memes: He lampshades this during Raw Gets Rocked episode:
"When The Rock talks on Twitter things trend worldwide.''
Franchise Original Sin: His return started the disturbing trend of the WWE over-relying on part-timers to carry them through its most profitable periods (WrestleMania and SummerSlam). When Rocky first came back, it was all well and good and everyone was happy. The WWE, seeing the success from his return, started bringing several past stars to cash in on the nostalgia. The problem is that it takes away time from the main roster, causing a bit of resentment from the fan base that reached a head during the 2014 Royal Rumble after Batista won the titular match a mere week after he returned, over fan favorite Daniel Bryan, who wasn't even an entrant. The crowd promptly booed him out of the building. What Rocky's return unintentionally promoted was the idea that "part-timers" draw while the stars on the main roster, including some upper-midcard/main event stars such as Sheamus, do not (or, at least, not as much). Rather than take on the work to build new stars to draw on the level, they instead just continued bandying about all these old stars instead (primarily Brock Lesnar). The one star they did try to build, Roman Reigns (who, coincidentally, is Rocky's cousin), rather than build him up slowly, got shoehorned right into the main event of WM before he was ready, right after an injury no less and, instead of allowing him to find a character that fit him, was made into a John Cena clone instead. The fans did not react well to this at all (fan reaction was so bad, in fact, that his victory at WM got pulled days beforehand and the title instead went to Seth Rollins). While the fans are still appreciative of Rocky's return, they resent how it gave way for past stars to come back and soak up all the spotlight.
Growing the Beard: He's always been regarded as a "pretty good" at worst when it came to wrestling, but his "Flex Kavana," which he admitted to thinking sounded cool when he first came up with it, wasn't one of his best ideas, which he also admitted. His initial WWF run as the squeaky-clean babyface "Rocky Maivia" didn't fare much better, with fans quickly growing tired of the gimmick, eventually leading to him being booed by those who felt he didn't deserve his push. Things got better for him once he made a Face–Heel Turn and joined The Nation of Domination. He added more edge and personality to the character, was allowed to show off his mic skills, and started going by "The Rock," gradually transforming into the character who would become one of the biggest names in the history of professional wrestling.
Love to Hate: The Rock is great as a babyface. He's superb as a heel. He's been particularly delightfully hateable during his 2024 "Final Boss" run, aligning himself with The Bloodline to stop Cody Rhodes from finally achieving his dream of becoming WWE Champion. Despite his despicable behaviour, such as threatening to whip Cody bloody and then hand his blood-stained belt to Cody's mother and threatening to have a referee fired if he didn't allow the Rock to cheat outrageously at Wrestlemania XL, the run has been one of the most popular of his career. He even managed to make one of the iconic lines of his character in Moana genuinely chilling.
"... and with all the blood on your son's belt here, and your tears on that belt, the Rock is gonna whisper in your ear. He's gonna wipe your tears away, and he's gonna say, 'Michelle, what can I say except you're welcome!'"
Any and all of his catch-phrases. This has reached a point where he can create memes by edict: whatever he says will be a meme will wind up as a meme. Look no further than the word "cookiepuss" in his appearance during the January 7, 2013 RAW episode.
An early meme was the "Rockblock" where a naked woman (usually a celebrity) would be covered up by an image of The Rock in a suit nicely asking, "Hey guys, what's going on?"
The Rock's 1990s-era turtleneck sweater picture has been making its rounds online, even to the point of becoming a Halloween costume.
It has also become popular to edit various gifs of him raising his eyebrow with a Vine thud noise.
IT'S ABOUT DRIVE, IT'S ABOUT POWER, WE STAY HUNGRY, WE DEVOUR. Explanation In 2021, The Rock appeared as a guest rapper on "Face Off" by TechN9ne. His verse received a mixed response, with some fans enjoying the intensity he brings to the track while others find it too silly to take seriously. Both camps have agreed on one thing, the meme potential is limitless.
"Shut up, Bitch!" has become a very common response video on various websites, especially Twitter.
FINALLY, THE ROCK HAS COME BACK TO (current location)!ExplanationDuring the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Rock would open up his promos with that and say where he has come back to.
During his 2003 heel run, Gregory "The Hurricane" Helms brought up The Scorpion King in a backstage segment. Subverted, as The Rock reacted accordingly, although it was more of the fact he was incensed at the notion of The Hurricane defeating The Scorpion King in a fight.
WWE tried to invoke this in-storyline with John Cena pointing out the cliff-notes for a promo that he wrote on his wrist were caught on camera. Unfortunately for Cena (and almost everyone else on the roster), reciting promos nearly word for word from scripts is pretty much a known common practice, and it can be argued that in worse-case scenario, the Rock at least does it well.
The Rock's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Cody Rhodes during the 3/25/24 episode of RAW, which turned the entire IWC's heads for just how sudden and violent it was. After Cody spent much of the show brawling with Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa, The Rock appeared to finish him off, smashing various objects on the already-exhausted Cody before drafting him out of the arena and into the rain to deliver a frightening smackdown that caused Cody to become visibly bloodied, a display that had frankly been unheard of in WWE since the company went PG decades ago, before taking out a custom weight belt and smearing it with Cody's blood, intending to give it to Cody's mother. While mitigated a bit by some of the Rock's usual quick wit and sense of humor, it's easily one of the darkest segments he's ever been involved in, not helped by the fact he's very visibly enjoying making Cody suffer.
The Rock:[while drawing blood from Cody's face]Get in close, cameraman! Look at your boy, Mama Rhodes! Look at the blood. At WrestleMania, this is what's gonna happen to your son! Your son's blood on Johnson's hands. Your daddy talked about hard times. He doesn't know about hard times, but you're going to talk about hard times, boy. You don't know about hard times, The Rock is going to learn you about hard times for life. The Rock and Cody Rhodes hard times, cause this is what happens when you fuck with the Final Boss!
Crewmember: We're clear guys... The Rock:[to Cody] Stay down— [to the crewmember] FUCK THAT! FUCK THAT! You shut your mouth! Clear my ass! [to Cody] How did that feel? Did that feel good? [to the crew] What? Just because she show's over, that doesn't mean this shit stops! The Rock doesn't give a fuck! [to Cody] Huh? You should cry! You should cry, boy! Look at that blood! Now, look at this! [whips Cody again] YES! Yes... [to the crew] What? The show's over and then it stops? Fuck that! Your script? Fuck that! [whips Cody yet again] This is what happens boy, when you fuck with the final— COME IN HERE CAMERAMAN! [a camera approaches Cody's bloodied face] Look at that face! Look at that! [smearing Cody's blood on his weight belt] Mama Rhodes, Mama Rhodes... this is for you. [to Cody] I'll see you at WrestleMania. [walks away]
He had a completely different gimmick, but "The Rock" was the ring name of Don Muraco in Hawaii first. He gave his blessing to this newer (and completely different) Rock, and Johnson didn't try to keep it a secret (but WWE seemed to).
Johnson admitted in the documentary The Sheik that "jabroni" was originally a word that was used by The Iron Sheik, and fully credits him as its creator.
His Red Baron "The People's Champion" was also a title that was originally used by a much different sports entertainer: Muhammad Ali. Johnson initially borrowed the title of a beloved athlete to piss people off (he first coined it while turning heel), but after a chance encounter with Ali's family, they encouraged him to keep using the name. This was actually acknowledged when The Rock was given a special tribute by Ali's widow during the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony.
He went from a generic babyface who got booed by the crowd for being so bland to "The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment".
Managed it again after his 2024 return, which saw quite a bit of vitriol come his way due to upending the obvious Cody vs. Roman Wrestlemania XL rematch. His heel turn has seen him steer into the skid, complete with leaning full-tilt into the accusations of backstage politicking by leveraging his position as a TKO board member, as well as flouting the typical modern WWE trappings with profanity-laden promos and a touch of Family-Unfriendly Violence. Many are calling it the best work he's done since his original 90s run.
His reaction to Owen Hart's accident, namely trying to hijack an ambulance that was at the arena for a later match and drive Owen to the hospital himself. Little bits of moments of awesome and heartwarming in there, due to The Rock's sheer determination to save him.
A Kayfabe example would be his reaction to learning Rikishi was the one who ran over "Stone Cold" Steve Austin so that The Rock's main competition for the WWF Championship would go away, citing how the company always pushed "the great white hope" and never let the Samoans on the roster get to the top of the card.note This was before negative reception to Rikishi's Face–Heel Turn (or more exactly, incredulity at the prospect of Rikishi doing it on his own volition) led to it being retconned into Rikishi actually doing Triple H's bidding. The look of utter confusion and pain in Rock's face is palpable through the whole promo.
Unexpected Character: On the May 17, 2004 Raw, Jonathan Coachman was belittling Eugene, telling Eugene that he had no friends and that he should leave. Eugene started walking to the back. Right before he got to the curtain, "IF YOU SMELLLL......!" The Rock walked out to everyone's surprise, with Eugene marking out. The Rock led Eugene back to the ring, acknowledged ring announcer Lilian Garcia, Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler and others, and ran down Coach, offering up a new insult, "popcorn fart."
He's one of the most famous cases of attaining and then escaping this. At the very beginning of his career his gimmick was "Rocky Maivia", a squeaky-clean third-generation superstar who was so pushed and overexposed as the Next Big Thing that fans were sick of him from the moment he set foot in the ring. He was Rescued from the Scrappy Heap when, in response to the fans' hatred, he undertook a Face–Heel Turn and joined The Nation of Domination as just "The Rock", which added some much-needed edge to his character and allowed him to cut loose with his formidable mic skills, letting him explode as a true star.
This briefly reignited something fierce in early 2024. Amidst the chaos of mass rebooking following injuries in WWE talent and a heaping dose of scrutiny towards the company following the latest lawsuit against Vince McMahon, The Rock returned to challenge Roman Reigns at the main event of WrestleMania XL. The fanbase went nuclear with rage because Cody Rhodes had just won the 2024 Royal Rumble and was seeking to finish his personal rivalry with Reigns once and for all (something that especially developed high expectations following his WrestleMania loss against Reigns in the previous year), with many critics feeling that a 51-year-old Legend forcing himself into the main event scene out of nowhere was a blatant burial for Cody and a clear case of WWE hitting the panic button for any remotely positive mainstream publicity (not helped by how around the time, Johnson became rather controversial in for his backstage politicking in Hollywoodnote , perhaps best exemplified by his role as Black Adam in the DC Extended Universe, where he made his character, a C-List Fodder best known for being a villain of Shazam!, into having little relation with said character's DCEU incarnation, and instead being built up into having a future fight with Henry Cavill's Superman, only for Black Adam's solo film to be a critical and commercial disappointment and one of the factors in the DCEU being rebooted and thus the proposed fight with Superman never happening), resulting in chants of "We want Cody!", the hashtag #WeWantCody going viral and massive opposition towards Rocky so severe that he and his daughter, Ava, began receiving regular death threats. Fortunately, WWE was able to make lemonade out of the situation in the WrestleMania XL kickoff by Cody forcefully reasserting his challenge to Reigns in main-eventing the show, with The Rock turning heel for the first time in over two decades and siding with Reigns, pivoting back to the original plans and providing a much-anticipated new development for The People's Champ who went back to his more arrogant ways.
" riffed from Race to Witch Mountain.