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The Rock is arguably the most popular and charismatic wrestler of all time. John Cena and Hulk Hogan come close, but neither of them has the ability to control and manipulate the crowd like Rock. Apart from being the "the most electrifying man in sports entertainment", he is universally loved all over the world and fans can expect the loudest pop whenever he shows up for WWE.
Sure, his popularity increased when he transitioned into a Hollywood star, but the foundation of that success was built inside the squared circle by a young and hardworking Dwayne Johnson, for whom the sky was the limit.
Rock had the gift of switching the persona and characters with utmost ease and while his characters have always been rooted in by his confidence, his versatility is often undersold. Only a few could claim to be a great babyface and an even better heel. He kept on making minor changes to his character to bring out the best, but how has his character progressed over the years?
Here are the different faces of Rock in chronological order.
#1 Rocky Maivia (1996-1997)
Dwayne made his WWF debut in 1996 as Rocky Maivia, a combination of his father's and grandfather's ring names. He was instantly received by the crowd with complete rejection and boos. The character was just cheesy and was often met with chants like “Rocky sucks” and “die, Rocky, die”. It is nothing short of a miracle that Rock was able to bounce back after leaving the first impression of being an overbearing do-gooder guy.
Unfortunately, the management had huge expectations from him and thus, despite all the criticism surrounding him, WWE still decided to go with their plans and gave him a huge push in his debut match at Survivor Series itself. He was the sole survivor for his team after single-handedly eliminating Goldust and Crush.
He then became the Intercontinental Champion in early 1997, when he defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley on Raw. He had a couple of forgettable feuds against wrestlers like Bret Hart, The Sultan, and Savio Vega before WWF finally realized that this character was not working and the “The Blue Chipper” persona was finally dropped.
#2 The Nation of Domination (1997-1998)
In 1997, fans started booing Rocky Maivia out of the arena before WWF realized that it was just damaging his brand and thus decided to use that resentment to turn him heel. After being on the sidelines for four months due to a legitimate injury, The Rock returned to the ring in August 1997 as part of an already established stable, The Nation of Domination.
He finally got to play the character that he was comfortable in and started showing his charismatic side with his signature style of delivering promos.
The turn worked wonders for him and he went on to have amazing feuds with Ken Shamrock, Triple H, and D-Generation X. He even overthrew Faarooq as the Nation’s leader to establish his dominance.
No one was safe from his promos as he started insulting everyone from the crowd to interviewers without holding anything back. He deliberately turned babyface over time and for the first time in his career had the crowd support behind him.
He became The Rock and Rocky Maivia character was a forgotten part of history. From a lower card comedy act, he took himself to the main event scene in just two years. But it was just a teaser for what was to come.
The Nation gimmick also helped strengthen the careers of Farooq, D'Lo Brown and The Godfather. It was a time in the WWE where factions were plenty in number and it helped gain more screentime for all members involved.
#3 Corporate Rock (1998-1999)
By 1998, The Rock had proved his worth and had shown the entire world that he was in the wrestling business to stay. After doing all that hard work to change his identity from Rocky Maivia to The Rock, fans had finally started rallying behind him as the future star, which makes his heel turn in 1998 even more impactful and surprising.
He turned heel at Survivor Series when he defeated McMahon's associate, Mankind and won his first WWF Championship. This turn successfully transitioned Rock from a mid-carder to the bonafide main eventer.
Writers banked on Rock's promo skills to get heat from the crowd as he embarked on an amazing feud with Mankind, which never lost a beat until Wrestlemania 15. At this stage, he had completely transformed his character as a Corporate guy and thus started wearing flashy shirts and designer shades to tease the crowd.
Many believe that this is probably Rock's best run in his career and those two years as the company man was the greatest heel work of all-time, but he went on to better himself in the years to come.
#4 The People's Champion (1999-2001)
Rock turned face when Shane McMahon betrayed him to join forces with The Undertaker’s Ministry of Darkness. After this, he started referring to himself as the People's Champion and again had people rallying behind him as their ultimate savior.
His razor-sharp promos' quality only increased with time and his charismatic attitude kept on gaining new fans with each passing week. The arrogance and attitude were still there but now he was focusing more on his performances than ever before.
This gimmick saw The Rock become a multi-time champion, join forces with Mankind as part of the 'Rock and Sock Connection', and have one of the most satisfying victories in history when he beat Triple H at Backlash 2000.
This persona truly established him as the WWF's prime player. Even though until 1999, he was only seen as a heel character, his "People's Champion" persona gave him one of the best babyface runs of all time and he again showed to the whole world that he is one of a kind wrestler.
He referenced himself from a third person perspective in each of his promos and that caught the attention of the WWE universe. His mic skills kept getting better each time held a microphone and the fans just couldn't get enough of him, often imitating and playing along to his tunes.
#5 Hollywood Megastar (2003)
The Rock had left WWE to kick start his Hollywood career in 2002, so when he finally returned to the ring in 2003, there was a sense of enthusiasm among the fans. People were expecting the old People's Champion to return and reclaim his throne. But what they got was completely different from his old gimmick.
The Rock was no longer the People's Champion. Due to his success in Hollywood, he had turned arrogant and started looking down at the wrestling business, an industry that made him famous in the first place.
Even though this run as the arrogant heel was short, it produced some of the best heel work of all time and Rock went on to overshadow his corporate guy heel run. He started disparaging the crowd and his opponents on a weekly basis and debuted the “Rock Concert” segments, where he’d mock the show’s host city.
During this time, we saw Rock getting prominent victories over wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin before falling to Goldberg at Backlash. After this, he again went to Hollywood to resume his movie career, but this was truly Rock's best run in a very brief period of time.
#6 Rock vs Cena Trilogy (2011-2013)
By 2011, The Rock was one of the biggest names in Hollywood and John Cena was the face of the wrestling business. So, naturally, the rumors about a possible rivalry between the two created a lot of hype when Rock was announced as the guest host of Wrestlemania 27.
WWE saw it as a big opportunity and booked the match for Wrestlemania 28 a year in advance. They promoted it as a "Once in a Lifetime" match and attracted lots of casual fans. The match itself felt special and The Rock prevailed at the end.
Writers should have left this feud here, but they decided to bank on the success of the first match a year later when they again booked the match between the two at Wrestlemania 29. By that point, Rock had overstayed his welcome and fans were not happy to see CM Punk getting buried due to this rivalry, who at that time was doing wonders with the WWE Championship.
His promos for the first time in his career felt repetitive and their match was not even half as enjoyable as the first one.
It has, however, been viewed by many as a passing of the torch setup similar to what happened before with Hogan and The Rock.
#7 Special Guest Appearances (2014- Present)
Since 2014, Rock had made several guest appearances in WWE. He was a regular guest from Wrestlemania 30 to Wrestlemania 32 as part of different shticks. At Wrestlemania 31, he helped Ronda Rousey overpower Stephnie McMahon, and at Wrestlemania 32 he appeared to announce the record-breaking crowd attendance before squashing Erick Rowan in a match that lasted just 6 seconds.
Even outside the Show of Shows, he continues to embrace fans with his presence on special occasions like Royal Rumble 2015.
Even though these appearances do not mean anything as far as the storyline goes, it always attracts a large number of crowd and brings in a sense of nostalgia. Due to his success in Hollywood and his busy schedule, he might not wrestle again, but these one-off appearances still feel special.
He might be known as a Hollywood legend to a bigger group of people, but for the people who grew up hearing his energetic promos, he will always be the People's Champion.
