Dwayne Johnson is one of the most established actors in the industry at the moment but that’s not how it always was. Almost everyone knows that before he became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Johnson was a very famous wrestler in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE) and his ring name was ‘The Rock’. However, that was not the name he debuted with in the wrestling world and once in an interview, the actor talked about how he got his iconic ring name.
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Dwayne Johnson talks about his first ring name
As many of his fans might not know, Dwayne Johnson did not always have the iconic ring name of ‘The Rock’ when he first debuted in the wrestling world. A few years ago, Johnson did a WIRED autocomplete interview along with his co-star from the Jungle Cruise movie, Emily Blunt, and revealed the story of how he debuted WWF and how he eventually got the name ‘The Rock.’ He said,
“My original name was ‘Rocky Maivia’, which was a combination of dad’s first name and my grandfather’s last name because both of them were pro-wrestlers. So my name became Rocky Maivia. When it was first pitched to me from Vince McMahon, he said, ‘I got your name and I want it to be Rocky Maivia and what do you think?’…I said, ‘I hate it, I hate it.’ And I hated the name.”
Dwayne Johnson further went on to reveal that he did not like this name at all because he wanted to make an identity of his own in the wrestling world and not just rely on his family’s name.
“I wanted my own identity, I wanted my own space. So while I was very proud to come from who I came from with my dad and my grandfather. I still wanted my own space. So, I said ‘I hate it’ and he[Vince McMahon] said, ‘Great, that’s your name.'”
However, the name ‘Rocky Maivia’ did not stick and Dwayne Johnson would go on to be known as ‘The Rock’ in the future.
The Hercules actor talks about how he got his iconic ring name
Dwayne Johnson revealed that he was given his iconic ring name ‘The Rock’ by his father figure in wrestling whom he respected a lot, Pat Patterson. He said,
“Eventually, when I became a bad guy, it [Rocky Maivia] got truncated down to The Rock. A guy who was my father figure and I’ve talked to you many times about him, Pat Patterson was a mentor of mine in pro wrestling…And he said, ‘What if we call you The Rock?’ He’s a French guy, he had a tough French accent. I said, ‘I love it.’ and he said ‘You’re The Rock.'”
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After acquiring the name of The Rock, Dwayne Johnson rose to the greatest heights in WWE and quickly earned his reputation as the most charismatic trash talker of all time. However, after 2004, Johnson left the WWE to pursue his acting career.
