There's no denying that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is one of the most successful men in existence.
Aside from being a ten-time world wrestling champion, he has also managed to forge an extremely successful career for himself in show business. Having starred in huge blockbusters such as Moana and The Fast and the Furious franchise, Johnson is one of the highest-paid actors on the planet.
But his illustrious movie career aside, the 47-year-old will soon be going back to his roots. Yes, Johnson has announced he will be returning to WWE this Friday.
VT met The Rock when he was promoting Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, and naturally, hilarity ensued:
Despite announcing back in August that he had "quietly retired from wrestling", The Rock will be making what will inevitably be a much-hyped appearance on WWE Smackdown.
"FINALLY...I come back home to my @WWE universe," The Rock wrote on social media. "This FRIDAY NIGHT, I'll return for our debut of SMACKDOWN! There's no greater title than #thepeopleschamp. And there's no place like home. Tequila on me after the show."
Needless to say, fans couldn't wait to share their excitement at the news:
"You and Stone cold are coming to smackdown???" wrote one fan. "Holy sh*t it’s becoming like 2002 the childhood memories."
"Ok, now I'm deffo going to be watching it. Ratings should be huge for Smackdown," added another.
"If you smell what the rock is cooking, lol that's awesome news for smackdown on fox this Friday. Oh hell yea it's team bring it bayybee! I can't wait to see the people's champ on smackdown. #WWE #WWELegend @TheRock Are You Ready?" wrote a third.
Check out this adorable video of The Rock 'chatting' with his newborn:
Anyway, fans will also be pleased to know that others greats of the athletic performance art will be returning as well. These include Kurt Angle, Lita, Mick Foley, Booker T, Hulk Hogan, Trish Stratus, Goldberg, Jerry Lawler, Mark Henry, Ric Flair and Sting.
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson may have made his name in the WWE ring, but his latest return has left many fans unimpressed.
It has been a huge 30 days for the former WWE Champion. As well as recently being granted full ownership of 'The Rock' name and being appointed to the board of the TKO Group - the company that owns both the WWE and UFC - the man known as 'The People's Champ' has also returned to the wrestling ring.
Last month, The Rock made a surprise return to Monday Night Raw to confront former WWE champion Jinder Mahal.
Although the 51-year-old's appearance looked to be just a fun one-off to potentially boost ratings and delight the fans, eyebrows were raised when Johnson ended the segment by calling out 'The Head of the Table' Roman Reigns.
Credit: Michelle Farsi / Getty
For those who don't follow the WWE, Roman Reigns (real name Joe Anoaʻi), is the current Undisputed WWE Universal Champion... and The Rock's real-life cousin.
Part of Reigns' ongoing storyline has been that he is the 'Head of the Table' for his famous wrestling family, and he has reigned with the world championship for over 1300 days to prove it.
With WrestleMania XL - WWE's biggest annual event - a little over two months away, it looked like the main event was set in stone: It would be Roman Reigns versus current fan favorite Cody Rhodes for the title in a rematch from last year's main event. This would allow Rhodes - son of WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes - to finally "finish the story" and become the first person in his family to win the WWE Championship.
However, despite winning the company's Royal Rumble match (which guarantees the winner a title shot of their choice at WrestleMania), it appears that the story is changing direction.
On last night's Friday Night SmackDown, Cody told Roman that he would be coming for him... but not at WrestleMania. That's when The Rock came down to the ring and faced off with his cousin - seemingly setting their WrestleMania match in stone.
For many fans, it's the right match, at the right event... at the wrong time. Yes, despite The Rock being one of the biggest names in the history of professional wrestling - and a main event (and money) draw - many fans see this as the legend denying the full-time Rhodes of a place he deserves, and ruining what would be a perfect end to a fantastic title run.
Over on WWE's YouTube channel, the comments speak for themselves.
The Rock came face-to-face with Roman. Credit: WWE/YouTube
"A slap in the face of every fan who invested time, money and energy into the damn 'story'", one person wrote.
"That’s so stupid that my mind can’t simply comprehend how someone could make that call and screw everything," another viewer added. And over on X (formerly Twitter), comments were just as critical.
"Awful. Just terrible. Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns should be happening. Not this," one X user tweeted.
Another fan wrote: "WHYYYYY are we actually getting Rock vs Roman? I literally could not care less. Cody was THE choice. Just like he was last year. This actually sucks so much."
As of this writing, dislikes on the video stand at a whopping 179,000 - which is 77% of the Like-to-Dislike ratio, according to Jabrek.net.
Credit: jabrek.net/Screenshot
In a recent interview with Fox News, Johnson expressed that he and the WWE were "figuring out" a way to make his dream match against Reigns a reality.
"We’re talking about that right now," Johnson said. "I like to consider myself a long-gamer and a builder. The idea of going up against Roman Reigns and creating, if we were to do something like that, quite possibly and I mean this respectfully of all the WrestleManias before… with all the success and build-up of all the WrestleManias in the past, if we were to do something like that, we could possibly put on the biggest WrestleMania of all-time.
"Short answer and long answer is we’re figuring it out."
With several of WWE's top stars currently out of WrestleMania (such as CM Punk and Brock Lesnar), you can't blame WWE for feeling like they had to bring in the star power.
I guess we'll just have to see where this one goes on the road to WrestleMania.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a bona fide Hollywood legend. After beginning his career as a college football player before injury forced him into the ring, and, by chance, onto the big screen, he is now the world's highest-paid actor. And to celebrate the 47-year-old's nuptials, we've compiled a list of what you need to know about Hollywood's top guy!
[post_page_title]The Early Years[/post_page_title]
Dwayne Johnson was born in May 1972 in Hayward, California. However, by the time he was old enough to attend elementary school, Johnson spent the majority of his formative years living in Honolulu, Hawaii. Where he would marry the love of his life years decades later...
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[post_page_title]Dwayne's Father[/post_page_title]
Rock came from greatness. Dwayne's father is Rocky "Soul Man" Johnson, who earned legendary status in the ring because he was one-half of the first African-American tag-team champions. His grandfather, Peter Maivia, also found success as a wrestler, and he was one of the first Samoan wrestlers. But contrary to what was in his blood, at first, Dwayne chose a different sporting path.
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[post_page_title]Before Wrestling There Was Football[/post_page_title]
By the time Dwayne had graduated from high school, he knew that he wanted to take sports more seriously and while at college, he played for the Miami Hurricanes. This eventually culminated in him becoming a part of the 1991 national championship team, giving him a collective 39 games and 77 tackles to his name.
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[post_page_title]His First Wife[/post_page_title]
But playing football wasn't the only significant life event to happen to Dwayne at college, it's also where he met his first wife and mother of his oldest child, Dany Garcia. They were together for a decade, and despite their split, remain on good terms. "Since our divorce, we've become pretty good at working together, and we are also raising our beautiful daughter, Simone," Johnson said.
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[post_page_title]The End Of Dwayne's First Dream[/post_page_title]
Although Dwayne had a promising start as a footballer and could have very well gone on to become an NFL start, he was forced to quit the sport after a number of injuries. "The dreams I had, they're dashed," he recalled. "There is no more football. My relationship was crushed. That was my absolute worst time."
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[post_page_title]Rocky Maivia[/post_page_title]
Then, fate stepped in, and Dwayne's attention finally turned to the family sport - wrestling. He began his career, like many, in WWE's minor leagues. Once he'd honed his craft, he made his on-screen debut at the 1996 Survivor Series. He combined his father and grandfather's names to initially fight under the name "Rocky Miavia."
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[post_page_title]The Greatest Ever?[/post_page_title]
The Rock wasn't just an incredibly talented wrestler, he also made history just by entering the ring in the first place. Dwayne was the first third-generation wrestler in WWE's history, and even though he's now retired, many still consider him to be the greatest wrestler to ever enter the ring.
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[post_page_title]His Signature Moves[/post_page_title]
Dwayne made his mark on the ring in more ways than one and actually came up with moves of his own including the 'The People's Elbow' and 'The Rock Bottom.' All of which ultimately resulted in the Rock winning the WWE heavyweight title eight times and the tag team titles six times.
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[post_page_title]He Proved Himself On SNL[/post_page_title]
By this point, the Rock was a hit in the ring, and it wasn't just the sporting world who took notice, Hollywood did too and invited him for a stint on SNL. He smashed it too, and the ratings went through the roof. Dwayne had shown the world that he wasn't just a talented wrestler, he was a talented actor too.
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[post_page_title]The Mummy Returns[/post_page_title]
This resulted in Dwayne bagging his first professional acting gig in the 2001 movie The Mummy Returns, where he played the villainous ruler, the Scorpion King. Dwayne was paid $5.5 million for the role, which was the most any actor had ever been paid for a debut, and he went onto reprise his role as the Scorpion King in a sequel of the same name.
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[post_page_title]His Big Break[/post_page_title]
However, even though Dwayne's role as the Scorpion King came with a big paycheque, it wasn't for another two years that people, generally speaking, accepted him as an actor. This happened with 2003's The Rundown. "The Rock has a flair for action and comedy," Rolling Stone wrote. "He's a real movie star."
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[post_page_title]The New Schwarzenegger?![/post_page_title]
Prior to Dwayne's early foray into the world of acting, the world's best-known action hero was arguably Arnold Schwarzenegger, and even then, people thought he might just rival Arny."Whether The Rock will rival Schwarzenegger's long run as an action hero is hard to say," Ebert wrote. "But on the basis of 'The Rundown,' he has a good chance."
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[post_page_title]The Rock No More[/post_page_title]
When Dwayne's acting career took off, he realized that he was going to have to be known by his given name and not The Rock. "'The Rock' was a name, a character I created in TV," he said. "When I made the transition into film, I knew eventually I was going to be billed as my given name."
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[post_page_title]His Acting Range[/post_page_title]
As Dwayne appeared in more movies, he showed the world that he had real range as an actor, such as when he starred in comedies like The Other Guys. "I felt there were bigger and better opportunities," Johnson said. "I also felt there was franchise potential, hopefully multiple franchises in every genre - whether drama or comedy or action-comedy."
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[post_page_title]But It Wasn't All Sunshine And Roses[/post_page_title]
At the MTV Movie & TV Awards, the wrestler-turned-movie star was honored with the Generation Award. The 47-year-old stunned the crowd as he recounted his rather demoralizing experience during his early days in Hollywood. When Johnson started out, he says was repeatedly told he would have to change certain aspects about himself if he wanted to make it.
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[post_page_title]They Didn't Know What To Do With Him[/post_page_title]
"When I first got to Hollywood, Hollywood - they didn’t know what the hell to do with me," he told the audience. "I was this half-black, half-Samoan, 6 foot 4, 275-pound wrestler. I was told at that time, you’ve gotta be a certain way," he revealed. "You've gotta drop some weight, you've gotta be somebody different."
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[post_page_title]Hollywood's Terrible Suggestions[/post_page_title]
"You've gotta stop working out, stop doing the things that I love, you've gotta stop calling yourself 'The Rock'. For years, I actually bought into it because you think, ‘Oh, that’s what I’m supposed to do.' And I was miserable doing that, so I made a choice. The choice was, I wasn't going to conform to Hollywood; Hollywood was going to conform to me."
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[post_page_title]He Is A First Class Dad Too[/post_page_title]
As we all know, this worked out and now Dwayne enjoys not only the spoils of being one of the world's most successful actors but fatherhood. After comfortably making the transition from greatest wrestler in the world (don't @ me) to the most bankable movie star in the world, it turns out that The Rock is a better dad than you too.
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[post_page_title]The Baby Rock[/post_page_title]
He already has a 17-year-old daughter with ex-wife Dany Garcia, but since shackin' up with Lauren Hashian, he's come up with two more Baby Rocks for us to coo over. Baby Tiana Gia was only born in 2018, but she's already getting on handsomely with her daddy, and this conversation they had is a pretty good example of that.
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[post_page_title]Morning Convos[/post_page_title]
"Morning convos!" Hashian captioned a post on social media, which shows The Rock and Tiana chitter-chattering away, with the tot getting to know her daddy in a deep, intellectual way.
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[post_page_title]The Highest-Paid Actor[/post_page_title]
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson continues to come across as one of the nicest stars in Hollywood. After making the transition from WWE legend to a star of the silver screen, he's now the highest-paid actor in the world, according to Forbes.
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But unlike many people who make it big, the 46-year-old has not forgotten his roots, and he has shared his many millions with his nearest and dearest. Dwayne then revealed that a few weeks ago, he'd offered to buy his dad a new home anywhere he wanted to live - an offer which he says left the 74-year-old "speechless".
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[post_page_title]A Present For His Dad[/post_page_title]
And now that the WWE Hall of Famer is about to start looking at properties, he said to his son, "I'm so excited and I'm so nervous," Dwayne revealed. He explained that his father was "an old school tough guy" and that he'd never heard him talk in such an emotional way before.
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[post_page_title]Rocky Beat His A*s[/post_page_title]
He captioned the emotional clip with the following message: "He's a weathered soul and like all weathered souls, there's often a harsh storied path that got them there. Well for my pops that path started at 13yrs old when his mom kicked him out of his house on Christmas day and forced him to live on the streets (very true and f***ed up story) so his reality of compassion and love was forged thru pain and toughness."
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[post_page_title]How The Rock Was Raised[/post_page_title]
"He raised me with that tough physical love and used to beat my ass in the gyms and on wrestling mats. I hated it then as a little boy, but grateful for it today as a man. It's shaped my DNA and helped inform how I raise my own babies (minus the ass kickings;) but always instilling the value of hard work and discipline."
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[post_page_title]The Rock's Second Marriage[/post_page_title]
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson tied the knot with his longtime partner, Lauren Hashian, on August 18, 2019. The 47-year-old actor took to Instagram to share the news, and also posted several pictures from the special day. "We do. August 18th, 2019. Hawaii."
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[post_page_title]The Well Wishes[/post_page_title]
The pair, who have been together since 2007, have two daughters together; three-year-old Jasmine, and 15-month-old Tiana. The comments section was inundated with well-wishes from The Rock's fans. "Congratulations, you two!!! ❤️ I’m so happy for you!" wrote one social media user, while another added, "The rock gave her a rock."
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[post_page_title]The Wedding Was Postponed[/post_page_title]
Johnson and Hashian were due to marry in the spring of 2018, but postponed the event when Hashian fell pregnant with their second child. Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine at the time, the retired professional wrestler said that his partner didn't want to have a "big belly" in her wedding photographs.
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[post_page_title]Mama Wanna Look Good[/post_page_title]
"Then we got pregnant. And Mama don't wanna take wedding pictures with a big belly – Mama wanna look good," he joked to the publication. Johnson said that they weren't "exactly" trying to conceive again, but had been "talking about it" prior to the fact.
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[post_page_title]Another Strong Girl[/post_page_title]
Speaking about the birth of his youngest child, Tiana, (he also has an 18-year-old daughter from his previous marriage to Dany Garcia) The Rock said he was "blessed and proud to bring another strong girl into this world."
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"I was raised and surrounded by strong, loving women all my life, but after participating in baby Tia’s delivery, it’s hard to express the new level of love, respect and admiration I have for and all mamas and women out there," he continued.
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is allegedly set for an epic return to WWE at WrestleMania 39.
Per The Sun, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the 49-year-old Jumanji star will take on his cousin, 36-year-old Smackdown star Roman Reigns, in January of 2023.
The Rock recent shared this footage of a brutal injury he sustained while training:
WWE plans on making November's Survivor Series their biggest show of the year, Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports.
Writer Dave Meltzer claims WWE Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon wants The Rock to make his long-awaited return and confront Reigns at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Meltzer writes: "The hope is for Dwayne Johnson to make an appearance at that show but that isn’t locked in. The hope is for around that time.
"If he's involved that would make it a huge show and it would lead credence to Reigns vs Johnson for WrestleMania."
The so-called "Head of the Table" previously spoke about his own wish to face off against his cousin in a January interview with Ryan Satin of Fox Sports, stating:
"I think it just makes sense. He;s the biggest movie star in the world. He's the biggest box office attraction for the big screen out there.
"To be able to take that and match it up with the biggest box office attraction in sports entertainment, within the wrestling ring, I think some magic would be made."
He continued: "But none of this would be possible if Dwayne wasn't in great shape, you know what I mean? If he was just out there playing dad roles and was fat and did not take it. But he busts his ass every single day."
This comes not long after fellow wrestler-turned-movie-star John Cena touched on the possibility of facing off against Reigns after announcing his own return to WWE.
Take a look at the full interview with Cena here:
Per Comicbook.com, Cena discussed wrestling Reigns in a June 15 interview with Chris Van Vliet, stating:
"Certainly [with] Roman being a very, very marketable and definitive star. I think the reason for me not to explore that side is because WWE didn't feel confident they had any alternative.
"And I respect that business choice, I really do. But now with them really laying their foundation for the future, even for life in the next decade or so, maybe... maybe. I don't know."
It has been quite the week for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Just three days ago, "The Great One" announced to the world that he had married Lauren Hashian, his partner of 12 years and mother to two of his children.
Taking to Instagram to share beautiful pictures from the ceremony, Johnson captured the post: "We do. August 18th, 2019. Hawaii. Pōmaikaʻi (blessed)".
However, now I'm sure The Rock is opening yet another bottle tequila in celebration of the news that he has topped Forbes' list for the highest-paid actors of 2019.
Thanks to huge blockbusters like Fighting With My Family (for which Johnson also served as an executive producer), and the Fast & Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, the former WWE champion has topped the prestigious list after banking an eye-watering $89.4 million between June 1, 2018, and June 1, 2019.
Check out the time VT sat down with the stars of Hobbs & Shaw for a game of 'Relative Rumble':
Back in 2018, Johnson revealed to Forbes what he believed the secret was to making a successful movie: "It has to be audience first. What does the audience want, and what is the best scenario that we can create that will send them home happy?"
The retired wrestler also opened up about the power of social media: "The star power that matters right now is the power of social media. Social media has become the most critical element of marketing a movie for me."
If you follow The Rock on social media, you'll be treated to wonderful videos, like the one below. He's such a decent guy:
This is clearly evident based on the amount of promotion Johnson dedicated to Hobbs & Shaw on his personal Instagram account. Johnson made a habit of sharing pictures of videos from the set and promotional events of the movie with his 154 million followers:
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson truly is a legend. If you just look at the arc of his career you can see how he's gone from strength to strength. He began as a WWF wrestler going by the name "Rocky Maivia" - capitalising on the success of his father Rocky Johnson. He later became the heel we all loved to hate, with an arrogant persona to match, and then shifted gears again to transform himself into a fan favourite face.
Not only that, but his good looks and natural charisma made it easy for him to turn to acting as well, and nowadays he's become a massive box office draw in his own right. He's had a busy year this year, starring in no less than three major blockbusters: Rampage, the Jumanji reboot, and Skyscraper.
However, just because he's the idol of millions, doesn't mean that he doesn't have a goofier side. In fact The Rock is actually quite a self-deprecating dude, and is just as a quick to roast himself as any of his detractors, particularly when it comes to the subject of some of his younger self's more ... questionable fashion choices.
Yesterday The Rock decided to indulge in a ‘Throwback Thursday’ picture, which proves that he actually used to look pretty dorky. The snap was apparently from his days playing college football. Soon his 108 million followers noticed one thing in particular: namely, his lack of facial hair.
Johnson captioned the picture thusly: "Found this gem ? Check out 22yrs old and 280lbs of Smirky Beefy McBeef here posing for our Miami Hurricanes media day. Fun fact: in college, my goal was to eventually work for the CIA. Until my criminal justice professor and advisor (Dr. Paul Cromwell) convinced me that the best operative I could become for the agency is one that also had a law degree. I thought that’s a great idea until I realised no respectable law school would ever let me in with my pile of steaming sh*t grades. End of story. [sic]"
Yes, it seems like back in the day Johnson thought it would be cool to sport a pencil-thin, barely-visible moustache, which looks a bit like someone used a ruler and mascara to draw a perfectly straight line along his top lip. Who did he think he was? Errol Flynn? No surprises: the comments were pretty savage. One Instagram user wrote: "Is that shadow on your lip supposed to be a moustache?" while another chimed in "you look like a porn star from the 70s." Wow; do you think they'd say that to his face? Somehow I doubt it.
This isn't the first time that The Rock has been mocked on the internet for his past self's appearance. Last year, a photograph dated 1994 circulated of him wearing a black turtleneck, a gold chain and a fannypack. Ouch. He even went so far as to recreate the embarrassing look while hosting Saturday Night Live. Still, considering the fact that his net worth currently stands at $190 million, I think it's safe to say that he can take it.
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