Dwayne Johnson made his Hollywood debut in 2001 in The Mummy Returns, but the actor-turned-wrestler had to wait almost a decade to really cement his place in the industry, finding his breakthrough role as Luke Hobbs in Fast Five in 2011. Another decade followed before he managed to push his way into the list of highest-paid actors after impressing fans with his immense physique and likable big-guy persona in both action and comedy movies.
Similarly, Johnson had to really work hard and wait a long time before he became The Rock who wrestling fans know and love to this day. This journey included some heartbreaking moments, including the time he considered leaving WWF for another fighting organization after a difficult conversation with Vince McMahon.
How Vince McMahon Reacted After Making a Huge Mistake With Dwayne Johnson
In 1996, Dwayne Johnson made his debut in WWF as Rocky Maivia, a babyface wrestler who divided plenty of opinions. During this time, fans were starting to cheer wrestlers who represented anti-authority ideas led by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Contrastingly, Vince McMahon, the boss of the organization, was building the career of this new kid who was supposedly grateful for the opportunity and always smiled, even after losing a match. In the Attitude Era, this gimmick as a babyface didn’t gel well with the audience who started booing him regularly. Johnson disagreed with how he was being represented (or told to act) but he was advised to continue doing what he was doing: smile all the time. The 51-year-old recalled during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast:
“Going into my first WrestleMania, Chicago. I’ll never forget it, every night they were chanting Rocky s**ks and I had to smile through it.”
McMahon went on to admit that he did something wrong with Johnson after 20,000 people chanted “Rocky s**ks” during WrestleMania 13 and suggested he take some time off. Johnson continued:
“Vince looks at me and Pat and just says I don’t know what we did wrong, but we have to make a change. Two days later I drop the belt to somebody else. Now I’m getting beat every night and then I get hurt. I tear my PCL against Mick Foley. By this time it’s May, and Vince says take time off, heal your knee. I don’t know what we did wrong or where we went wrong but we got to really figure things out with you. I don’t know if this is going to work out.”
The situation in the arena was so bad that The Sultan who was taking on Rocky Maivia for the WWF Intercontinental Championship, whispered to him to not listen to the chants and boos from the audience. During this time, Johnson also considered quitting WWF for PRIDE.
Read more: Dwayne Johnson Reveals How He Got the “F*cked up Hair Cut” on His WWE Debut at Survivor Series 1996
Dwayne Johnson Came Close to Quitting WWF for PRIDE
It was the summer of 1997 when PRIDE Fighting Championships was starting to attract all the MMA stars with lucrative earnings. With things not working out in WWF, Johnson, who at this point was clearly sick of smiling without any reason, considered training MMA and going to PRIDE to make some “real money.”
Then McMahon called him and asked him to give it another try by joining the Nation of Domination, a popular group during the Attitude Era. On his return, Johnson took the mic and faced the booing crowd, announcing: “I’m a lot of things. But s**ks isn’t one of them.”
The young wrestler continued to build on this newfound confidence and tendency of even going against the audience to earn their respect and eventually started referring to himself as The Rock – the wrestler who we know and love even today.
Read more: Only The Rock & Jackie Chan Can Save $840M Sylvester Stallone Franchise from Going Down Under
