The Rock is gold

Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock,[3] is an
American actor, producer and retired professional wrestler.[6][7] Regarded as one of the greatest
professional wrestlers of all time,[8][9] he wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE)
for eight years prior to pursuing an acting career. His films have grossed over $3.5 billion in North
America and over $10.5 billion worldwide,[10] making him one of the world's highest-grossing and highest-
paid actors.[11][12]
Johnson was a college football player at the University of Miami, with whom he won a national
championship in 1991. He aspired to have a professional career in football and entered the 1995 NFL
Draft, but went undrafted. He signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football
League (CFL), but was cut from the team in his first season. Shortly after, he began training as a
professional wrestler.[13]
An honorary member of the Anoa'i family, and the son of wrestler Rocky Johnson and grandson of Peter
Maivia, Johnson secured a contract with the WWF in 1996.[2] He rose to prominence after developing
the gimmick of a charismatic, boastful, trash-talker. He won his first WWF Championship in 1998,
becoming the promotion's first world champion of African-American descent. Johnson helped usher in
the Attitude Era, an industry boom period in the late 1990s and early 2000s.[14]
In 2004, he left the WWE to pursue an acting career. He returned in 2011 as a part-time performer until
2013, and made sporadic appearances until retiring in 2019.[15] Johnson headlined the most-bought
professional wrestling pay-per-view (WrestleMania XXVIII) and was featured among the most watched
episodes of WWE's two flagship television shows (Raw and SmackDown).[16][17] He is a 10-time world
champion,[18] a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time Tag Team Champion, the 2000 Royal
Rumble winner, and WWE's sixth Triple Crown champion.
Johnson's first leading film role was as the titular character in The Scorpion King (2002), having
previously briefly portrayed the character in The Mummy Returns (2001). He has since starred in many
successful films, including The Game Plan (2007), Tooth Fairy (2010), Journey 2: The Mysterious
Island (2012), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), Hercules (2014), San Andreas (2015), Central
Intelligence (2016), Moana (2016), Rampage and Skyscraper (both 2018). His role as Luke Hobbs in
the Fast & Furious films, beginning with Fast Five (2011), helped it become one of the highest-grossing
film franchises.[19] Johnson also stars in the Jumanji films, appearing in Jumanji: Welcome to the
Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019).
Johnson produced and starred in the HBO series Ballers (2015–2019), which ran for five seasons and
was ranked as HBO's most-watched comedy in six years.[20] He also stars and produces the
autobiographical series Young Rock (2021). In 2000, Johnson released the autobiography The Rock
Says, a New York Times bestseller.[21][22] In 2012, he founded the entertainment production
company Seven Bucks Productions.[23]
In 2016 and 2019, Johnson made the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list.[24][25] He is the co-
owner of the American football league, the XFL.[26][27]

Contents

 1Early life

 2Football career

 3Professional wrestling career

o 3.1Early career (1996)

 o 3.2World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

 3.2.1Debut and Intercontinental Champion (1996–1997)

 3.2.2The Nation of Domination (1997–1998)

 3.2.3WWF Champion and rise to superstardom (1998–2000)

 3.2.4Record-breaking world champion (2000–2002)

 3.2.5Final feuds and first retirement (2003–2004)

 3.2.6Non-wrestling appearances (2007–2009)

o 3.3Return to WWE

 3.3.1Feud with John Cena (2011–2013)

 3.3.2Sporadic appearances (2014–2019)

o 3.4Independent circuit (2009)

o 3.5Impact Wrestling (2020)

o 3.6Mainstream crossover

o 3.7Legacy and career assessment

 4Acting career

 5Other work

 6Activism and philanthropy

 7Personal life

 8Filmography

 9Championships and accomplishments

 10Awards and honors

 11See also

 12Notes

 13References

 14External links

Early life
Dwayne Douglas Johnson was born in Hayward, California[28] on May 2, 1972,[29] the son of Ata Johnson
(née Maivia; born 1948)[30] and former professional wrestler Rocky Johnson (born Wayde Douglas
Bowles; 1944–2020).[31][32] Growing up, Johnson lived briefly in Grey Lynn in New Zealand with his
mother's family,[33] where he played rugby[34] and attended Richmond Road Primary School before
returning to the U.S.[33] He attended Montclaire Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina, before
moving to Hamden, Connecticut, where he spent a couple of years at Shepherd Glen Elementary School
and Hamden Middle School.[35][36] He attended President William McKinley High School in Honolulu,
Hawaii, then Glencliff High School and McGavock High School in Nashville, Tennessee, and
finally Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.[37] Before the age of 17, he struggled, being
arrested multiple times for fighting, theft, and check fraud.[38] A gifted athlete, he was on his high
schools' gridiron football, track and field, and wrestling teams.[31]
Johnson's father was a Black Nova Scotian, with a small amount of Irish ancestry.[39][40] His mother
is Samoan. His father was part of the first black tag team champions in WWE history, along with Tony
Atlas.[41][42] His mother is the adopted daughter of Peter Maivia, who was also a pro wrestler, and his wife.
[43]
 Maivia's wife, Lia, was the first female pro wrestling promoter, taking over Polynesian Pacific Pro
Wrestling after her husband's death in 1982, and managing it until 1988.[44][45] Through his grandfather
Maivia, Johnson is considered a non-blood relative to the Anoa'i wrestling family.[46][47][48][49][50] In 2008,
Johnson inducted his father and grandfather into the WWE Hall of Fame.[51]

Football career
Dwayne Johnson

No. 94

Position Defensive tackle

Personal information

Born: May 2, 1972 (age 49)

Hayward, California

Career history

Miami (FL) (1990–1994)
College

Bowl games Cotton Bowl Classic (1991)

Orange Bowl (1992)

High school Freedom (PA)

Career highlights and awards

 AP Poll national champion (1991)

Johnson was a promising football prospect and received offers from many Division I collegiate programs.
He decided on a full scholarship from the University of Miami where he mostly played defensive tackle.
In 1991, he was on the Miami Hurricanes' national championship team.[52][31] Johnson would appear in a
backup role, starting only one game in four years, playing behind players such as Pro Football Hall of
Famer Warren Sapp.[53][54]
After Johnson graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of General Studies in criminology and physiology,[55] he
signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League as a linebacker. He was assigned
to the practice roster but was cut two months into the season.[31][56][57]

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1996)
After his football career, Johnson decided to pursue a career as a professional wrestler.[31] Veteran
wrestler Pat Patterson got Johnson several tryout matches with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)
in 1996. Under his real name, he defeated The Brooklyn Brawler at a house show on March 10[58] and
lost matches to Chris Candido and Owen Hart.[33] After wrestling at Jerry Lawler's United States Wrestling
Association as Flex Kavana and winning the USWA World Tag Team Championship twice with Bart
Sawyer in the summer of 1996, Johnson signed a WWF contract. He received additional training
from Tom Prichard, alongside Achim Albrecht and Mark Henry.[5][33]

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

Debut and Intercontinental Champion (1996–1997)
Johnson made his WWF debut as Rocky Maivia, a combination of his father and grandfather's ring
names, although his real name was acknowledged by the announcers.[59] He was initially reluctant to take
this ring name but was persuaded by Vince McMahon and Jim Ross.[45][60] He was given the nickname
"The Blue Chipper" and his lineage was played to on TV, where he was hyped as the WWF's first third-
generation wrestler.[3] Maivia, a clean-cut face character, was pushed heavily from the start despite his
wrestling inexperience. He debuted on Monday Night Raw as a member of Marc Mero's entourage on
November 4, 1996.[61] His first match came at Survivor Series, on November 17, in an eight-man
elimination tag match; he was the sole survivor and eliminated the final two members of the opposing
team, Crush and Goldust.[62] On February 13, 1997, he won the Intercontinental
Championship from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on Monday Night Raw.[63][64][65] Maivia then successfully
defended the title against Helmsley at In Your House 13: Final Four. He had his
first WrestleMania match at WrestleMania 13 where he was victorious in his Intercontinental
Championship defense against The Sultan. WWF fans started to reject his character and push from the
company.[66] He defeated Bret Hart by disqualification in a title defense on the March 31 episode of Raw
is War.[67] Behind the scenes, Hart mentored Johnson for his first year in WWF[68] and refused to be
booked to take the title from him.[69] On April 20, at In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker, he lost
to Savio Vega by countout but retained the title. Audiences became increasingly hostile toward Maivia,
with chants of "die, Rocky, die" and "Rocky sucks" being heard during his matches.[2][45]
The Nation of Domination (1997–1998)
After losing the Intercontinental Championship to Owen Hart on the April 28, 1997 episode of Raw Is
War[70] and suffering a legitimate knee injury in a match against Mankind,[2] Maivia returned in August
1997 and turned heel for the first time in his career by lashing out at fans who had been booing him and
joining Faarooq, D'Lo Brown and Kama in the stable called the Nation of Domination.[71] He then refused
to acknowledge the Rocky Maivia name, instead referring to himself in the third person as the Rock,
though he would still be billed as "the Rock" Rocky Maivia until 1998. The Rock would then regularly
insult the audience, WWF performers, and interviewers in his promos.[71]
At D-Generation X: In Your House, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated the Rock in under six minutes to
retain the Intercontinental Championship.[72] The next night on Raw Is War, Austin was ordered by Mr.
McMahon to defend the title in a rematch, but forfeited it to the Rock instead, handing him the title belt
before hitting him with the Stone Cold Stunner.[73][74] The Rock feuded with Austin and Ken
Shamrock through the end of 1997 and beginning of 1998.[75][76] On January 19, 1998, at Royal Rumble,
the Rock defeated Shamrock by disqualification to retain the Intercontinental title. Later that night, he
entered the Royal Rumble match and lasted until the final two before he was eliminated by Stone Cold
Steve Austin. On March 29, at WrestleMania XIV, he defeated Shamrock by disqualification once again
to retain the title. The next night, on Raw is War, the Rock debuted a new Intercontinental Championship
design and would later overthrow Faarooq as leader of the Nation of Domination to spark a feud
between the two. He then successfully defended the Intercontinental title against Faarooq at Over the
Edge: In Your House on May 31. The stable would then refer to themselves as simply "The Nation".[77]
The Rock and The Nation then feuded with Triple H and D-Generation X, with the two stable leaders first
meeting in the quarter-final of the 1998 King of the Ring tournament, which the Rock won. At King of the
Ring, the Rock defeated Dan Severn in the semi-final match and lost to rival Ken Shamrock in the final.
The Rock then resumed his feud with Triple H, as the two had a two out of three falls match at Fully
Loaded: In Your House for the Intercontinental title, which the Rock retained in controversial fashion.
[78]
 This led to a ladder match at SummerSlam, where the Rock lost the title.[79]
The Rock saw a big uptick in fan support during this time, causing him to be booked in a feud with fellow
Nation members Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown, turning babyface in the process. Henry defeated him
at Judgment Day: In Your House, after interference from Brown, effectively breaking up the stable.[80][81]
WWF Champion and rise to superstardom (1998–2000)
Main article: The Corporation

As part of The Corporation, the Rock feuded with Stone Cold Steve Austin and stole Austin's personalized WWF
Championship, the "Smoking Skull" belt

The Rock was then entered into the "Deadly Game" tournament for the vacant WWF Championship. The
finals occurred at Survivor Series, where the Rock defeated Vince McMahon's associate, Mankind, to
win his first WWF Championship.[82][83] A "double turn" then occurred as the Rock turned heel again after
allying with Vince and Shane McMahon as the crown jewel of their stable, The Corporation, after the
McMahons betrayed Mankind.[82][84] On December 13, 1998, at the pay-per-view named after him, Rock
Bottom: In Your House, the Rock had a rematch with Mankind for the WWF Championship. Mankind
appeared to win the match when the Rock passed out to the Mandible Claw submission move, but Vince
McMahon ruled that since the Rock did not tap out, he retained his title.[84][85]
The Rock continued to feud with Mankind over the WWF Championship, which was traded back and
forth between them. First, in the main event of the January 4, 1999 episode of Raw Is War, Mankind
defeated the Rock after interference from Stone Cold Steve Austin.[86] Then at the Royal Rumble on
January 24, the Rock regained the title in a brutal “I Quit” match, a type of submission match that only
ends if one of the combatants says “I quit” on a microphone. Intended to show a vicious mean streak in
the Rock's character, this match went horribly wrong as at the end of the match the Rock hit Mankind in
the head with a steel chair 11 times instead of the scripted five, five shots already being a risky amount
(most wrestling matches in the Attitude Era involving steel chairs had at most 2 or 3 shots to the head).
After the 5th shot, Mankind was still at ringside instead of being two-thirds up the entrance ramp where
he was supposed to be, and after the eleventh shot which knocked a bloodied Mankind out, a recording
of Mankind saying "I Quit" from an earlier interview was played over the public address system.[87][88] On
January 31, during an episode of Sunday Night Heat, the Rock and Mankind participated in an Empty
Arena match, a match that took place in an arena with 22,000 empty seats where any part of the facility
could be used to contest the match. After 20 minutes of chaotic brawling in the ring, the stands, a
kitchen, the catering area, an office, the arena corridors and finally a basement loading area, Mankind
pinned the Rock using a forklift truck to win the WWF title.[89] This match was referred to as "Halftime
Heat" as it was televised during halftime of that year's Super Bowl.[90] The two faced off again, at St.
Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House, in a Last Man Standing match which ended in a draw,
meaning Mankind retained the title. Their feud ended on the February 15 Raw Is War, when the Rock
won his third WWF Championship in a Ladder Match after a debuting Big Show interfered on his behalf.
[91][92]
 The Rock then lost the WWF Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XV.[93]
The Rock's popularity continued to grow and audiences still cheered for him even though he was a heel.
He then lost the title rematch against Stone Cold Steve Austin at Backlash: In Your House.[94] The next
night on Raw is War he was fired from the Corporation after he was betrayed by Shane McMahon,
turning him face again and starting a feud with Triple H, The Undertaker and The Corporate Ministry. On
April 29, 1999, WWF aired the pilot episode of SmackDown!, a term derived from one of the Rock's
catchphrases. In the episode, the Rock continued his feud with The Corporate Ministry. This led to a
match with Triple H, at Over the Edge, which the Rock won,[95] and a match for the WWF Championship
against The Undertaker, at King of the Ring, which the Rock lost.[96] The Rock then lost a number one
contender's match to Triple H, at Fully Loaded, after interference from "Mr. Ass" Billy Gunn.[97] The Rock
then defeated Gunn in a Kiss My Ass match at SummerSlam. The Rock was also given the privilege of
having his own signature match, like The Undertaker with the Buried Alive match, Kane with the Inferno
Match and Mankind with the Boiler Room Brawl: the Brahma Bullrope match, a variant of a strap
match was a normal singles match where the components are tied together with a rope used for cattle
farming, and the rope and its attached cowbell could both be used as weapons. The Rock contested this
match twice, both times in Texas (vs Triple H in Dallas, and vs Al Snow in Houston).[98]

The Rock's popularity was fueled by his charisma and speaking abilities, which led to many catchphrases and
merchandising opportunities

Shortly after SummerSlam, the Rock began teaming with former opponent Mankind and the two became
known as the Rock 'n' Sock Connection.[99] They became WWF Tag Team Champions for the first time
after defeating The Undertaker and Big Show for the titles on the August 30, 1999 episode of Raw is
War.[100][101] The two performed a number of critically acclaimed comedic skits together, including one
called "This Is Your Life", which saw Mankind bring parody versions of people from the Rock's past on
television, such as his high school girlfriend and his high school football coach, only to have the Rock
insult them. The segment earned an 8.4 Nielsen rating, one of the highest ratings ever for
a Raw segment.[102] The two lost the titles back to Undertaker and Big Show on the September 9, 1999
episode of SmackDown! and won them back from them on the September 20, 1999 episode of Raw is
War.[103][104] Rock and Mankind then lost the titles to The New Age Outlaws on the very next episode
of SmackDown!.[105] Rock and Mankind would win the tag titles for the third and final time after beating the
New Age Outlaws on the October 14, 1999 episode of SmackDown! before losing the titles to The Holly
Cousins on the October 18, 1999 episode of Raw is War.[106][107]
At Royal Rumble, on January 23, 2000, the Rock entered the Royal Rumble match and was one of the
final two remaining, along with Big Show. In an attempt at a "false finish", Big Show intended to throw the
Rock over the top rope in a running powerslam-like position, before the Rock countered the move on the
ring apron, sending Big Show to the floor before re-entering the ring as the winner.[108] However, the
Rock's feet accidentally hit the floor during the reversal attempt although those watching the event on
television did not see that. This was played up in the storyline as Big Show provided additional video
footage showing this fact, and claimed to be the rightful winner. The Rock's number one contendership
for the WWF Championship was then put on the line against Big Show at No Way Out, which Big Show
won after Shane McMahon interfered.[109] The Rock then defeated Big Show, on the March 13 episode
of Raw Is War, to regain the right to face the WWF Champion, Triple H, at WrestleMania 2000 in a Fatal
Four-way elimination match, also including Big Show and Mick Foley.[110][111] Each wrestler had a
McMahon in his corner: Triple H had his wife Stephanie, Foley had Linda, the Rock had Vince and Big
Show had Shane.[111][112] The Rock lasted until the final two but was eliminated by then-reigning champion
Triple H after Vince betrayed him by hitting him with a chair.[112][113]
Record-breaking world champion (2000–2002)

The Rock as the WWF Champion in 2000

In the following weeks, the Rock continued his feud with Triple H and eventually won his fourth WWF
Championship, which he won on April 30, at Backlash, after Stone Cold Steve Austin intervened on his
behalf.[114][115] The following night on Raw, he successfully defended his title against Shane McMahon in a
Steel Cage match. On May 21, at Judgment Day, the Rock faced Triple H in an Iron Man
match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee.[116] With the score tied at five falls each, and
with seconds left on the time limit, the Rock was disqualified when The Undertaker attacked Triple H,
thus giving Triple H the 6–5 win and the title.[116][117] The Rock won the WWF Championship for a fifth time
at King of the Ring on June 25 by scoring the winning pin in a six-man tag team match, teaming
with Kane and The Undertaker against Shane McMahon, Triple H and Vince McMahon, whom he
pinned.[118][119] The Rock successfully defended the championship against Chris Benoit, on July 23, at Fully
Loaded. The next month, he successfully defended his title against Kurt Angle and Triple H
at SummerSlam. The Rock had another successful title defense against Benoit, Kane and The
Undertaker, on September 24, at Unforgiven.[120]
The Rock then lost the WWF Championship to Kurt Angle, at No Mercy, in October.[121] The next month,
the Rock feuded with Rikishi and defeated him at Survivor Series.[122] The Rock wrestled a six-man Hell in
a Cell match for the WWF Championship, at Armageddon, which Angle won to retain the title.[123] On the
December 18 episode of Raw, the Rock won the WWF Tag Team Championship with The Undertaker,
defeating Edge and Christian, before losing it back to them the next night at a SmackDown! taping.[124] In
2001, the Rock continued to feud with Angle over the WWF Championship, culminating at No Way
Out in February, where he pinned Angle to win the WWF Championship for a sixth time.[125][126] The Rock
then feuded with the Royal Rumble winner, Stone Cold Steve Austin, whom he lost the title to
at WrestleMania X-Seven after Austin allied with Vince McMahon, who interfered on his behalf.[127] On the
next night's Raw Is War, during a steel cage title rematch, Triple H attacked the Rock, allying with
McMahon and Austin and helping Austin retain the championship.[128] Austin and Triple H then formed a
tag team called The Power Trip,[129] while the Rock was indefinitely suspended in storyline. Johnson used
this time off to act in The Scorpion King.

The Rock taunting an opponent at ringside

The Rock returned in late July 2001 when the WWF was feuding with rival promotions World
Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) during what's known
as The Invasion storyline. In reality, WCW was purchased by Vince McMahon and the WWF, and ECW
had gone out of business in early 2001. Many former WCW and ECW wrestlers were then brought onto
WWF television and formed The Alliance to compete with WWF in storyline. The Alliance and Vince
McMahon then both attempted to persuade the Rock to join their team. The Rock then aligned with
McMahon and the WWF. The next month, the Rock defeated Booker T, at SummerSlam, to win
the WCW Championship for the first time.[130][131] He later lost the title to Chris Jericho at No Mercy.[132]
[133]
 The next night on Raw, he teamed with Jericho to win the WWF Tag Team Championship from The
Dudley Boyz. The two then lost the tag titles to Booker T and Test on the November 1, 2001 episode
of SmackDown!.[134] The Rock defeated Jericho on the November 5 episode of Raw for his second WCW
Championship.[135]
As part of the WWF's battle against The Alliance, the Rock wrestled in a "winner takes all" five-on-five
elimination tag team match at Survivor Series where the losing team's company would be dissolved in
storyline. He was a member of Team WWF along with Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kane, and Big
Show. The Alliance's team consisted of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Rob Van Dam,
and Shane McMahon. In the end, it came down to a one-on-one between the Rock and Stone Cold
Steve Austin. The Rock seemed to have the upper hand, until his teammate Jericho entered the ring and
attacked the Rock. Austin tried to capitalize on this by pinning the Rock, but Kurt Angle revealed his true
allegiance by attacking Austin. The Rock then pinned Austin, giving Team WWF the victory and forcing
The Alliance to disband. The Rock's WCW Championship was renamed the unb