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The Rock Opens Up on First Meeting with Vince Mcmahon Before WWE Debut in 1996; ‘I Don't Want to Be..’
The Rock has opened up on meeting Vince McMahon before his WWE debut in 1996. Read on.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson didn’t initially plan to get into the wrestling business until 1995. He wanted to excel in football and pursue it professionally. However, after being snubbed by his college football team due to a shoulder injury, Johnson decided to pursue wrestling.
He asked his father, Rocky Johnson, to train him for professional wrestling. Although his father was reluctant, he eventually agreed to train him when Johnson persisted. Within a year, Johnson was prepared to make his in-ring debut. However, before that, he had a meeting with Vince McMahon.
While speaking on the ‘PBD Podcast,’ The Rock opened up about his first encounter with the former WWE Chairman. He said the first thing Vince McMahon asked him was what was important to him. To this, The Rock told McMahon that learning about the wrestling business was the most important thing for him.
"I said, 'I'd like to do it on my own. I don't want to be given anything just because my grandfather wrestled for Vince McMahon's dad in the '70s, [and] my dad wrestled for Vince McMahon [Jr.] in the '80s,” Wrestling Inc. quoted Vince McMahon.
The Rock said that McMahon then gave him his WWE character name, which he reluctantly accepted. McMahon said, “Ok, got it. So your name is going to be Rocky Maivia, which is your dad's first name and your grandfather's last name.” The Rock responded, “Uh, that's not what I was hoping for,” he said.
As planned, he made his debut as Rocky Maivia at Survivor Series in 1996, alongside his father. However, his character was initially booed. When the entire arena was chanting ‘Rocky Sucks,’ The Rock grabbed the mic and said, “I might be a lot of things, but ‘sucks’ isn’t one of them.”
On that same night, a star was born. Rocky Maivia was rebranded as The Rock, and by 1997, he was the hottest heel in the company, becoming one of WWE’s (then WWF) biggest superstars. His classic feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin, with whom he headlined three WrestleManias, is remembered even today.
The Rock left WWE in 2004 to pursue his acting career full-time and returned only in 2011 for a brief period. He now seldom makes WWE appearances and is expected to perform at WrestleMania 41 next year in Las Vegas.
