The Rock is one of the extremely rare stars who is successful in both wrestling and acting. The superstar who once dominated WWE has always had to work hard every day to maintain his figure and do charity activities. Below are 12 unbelievable things in The Rock’s life that very few audiences know.
1. The Rock started his career with the Star Trek series
The Rock as The Pendari Champion
He entered his film career with the role of The Pendari Champion in Star Trek: Voyager, a wrestling champion who appeared in the episode Tsunkatse. The Pendari Champion encountered the USS Voyager in the Delta Quadrant and defeated countless other opponents. This was also the peak period of The Rock’s wrestling career. His appearance in Star Trek made many film distributors pay attention and continue to invite him as a guest for many films. other than The Mummy Returns.
2. One of his quotes has been added to the American dictionary
Smackdown is one of the phrases created by The Rock
During his days in the ring, The Rock was admired by the audience with many different interesting points, among which were extremely creative slogans composed by himself. The phrase “smackdown” used when defeating an opponent has become familiar to many young people whose childhood is associated with the wrestling sport invented by The Rock himself. “Smackdown” was first used by him in 1997 and 10 years later, it officially appeared in the English dictionary along with many crossword games.
3. He once played his biological father on television
Image of Rocky Johnson played by his own son
The Rock not only plays many characters with strong bodies and professional wrestling moves, but also appears in the image of another wrestler, his own father. In a 1999 episode of That Wrestling Show in the 70s, The Rock’s father Rocky Johnson was featured on television starring as his son. After the episode, he was considered “the most inspiring man in the sports entertainment industry”, a foreshadowing of the long-term success of his later acting career.
4. The family has a tradition of professional wrestling
A rare three-generation wrestler in WWE history
Dwayne Johnson is the first person in wrestling history to have both his father, Rocky Johnson, and grandfather, Peter Maivia, both professional wrestlers. Even his grandmother Lia Maivia is one of the few people who specializes in organizing women’s wrestling. The Rock’s cousins and uncles also often meet each other at tournaments. The Maivia family is one of the most successful families in WWE history, five members of the family are in the prestigious Hall of Fame list. The Maivia family also owns a private wrestling school, where WWE champion Bastista is trained.
5. His books were once ranked No. 1 on the New York Times best seller list
The cover of the autobiography he wrote
The Rock published a memoir about his life in 2000 about events that took place long before he participated in his acting career. The book became a best seller voted by the New York Times magazine. for several weeks in a row. He is also starting to write his second memoir after participating in more than 30 different large and small films.
6. His character in the Fast and Furios series was created by fan suggestions
Luke Hobbs is a character suggested by fans
The character Luke Hobbs was originally intended to be given to actor Tommy Lee Jones with the appearance of a gruff old man. But when Vin Diesel saw some fans on Facebook suggested that he and The Rock could appear together in a few movie scenes. Vin immediately came up with a new idea and convinced director Justin Lin to recruit The Rock and create a completely new character for this racing movie series.
7. His first leading role had the highest salary in history
The Rock in “The Scorpion King”
In 2002, the movie The Scorpion King directed by Chuck Russell paid $5.5 million to invite The Rock to play the hero Mathayus. This is the highest salary of an actor being invited to play the main role in a movie for the first time ever recorded in history. Last week, at the premiere of his disaster movie San Andreas, The Rock set a new Guinness world record for selfies after taking 105 photos in just 3 minutes.
8. He used to be a TV host
He used to have fun on Saturday Night Live
The famous American TV show Saturday Night Live once invited The Rock to participate as an MC during a broadcast. He conquered the audience and was praised by many as one of the extremely interesting figures in the sports industry in 2000.
9. The Rock was almost a real life version of Johnny
Cartoon Network character Johnny Bravo
After officially entering the acting world, there were many rumors that he would participate in the live-action version of the character Johnny Bravo because his appearance and personality are quite similar to this character. But in 2002, Warner Bros. bought the rights to the character Johnny from Cartoon Network and from then on there has been no information about Johnny Bravo’s solo movie.
10. He was in a gang during his youth
His childhood also encountered countless challenges
After being kicked out of his apartment at the age of 14 in Hawaii, teenager Dwayne Johnson joined a gang of robbers that targeted tourists and he had been to prison at least eight times by the time he was 17. . Fortunately, he became interested in bodybuilding and it helped him pay for his life as well as create a foundation for a successful career later.
11. He once dreamed of becoming a professional rugby player
Comedy “The Game Plan”
After his student days, The Rock was recruited by many different rugby teams, but he decided to continue his studies at Miami University. He then joined the national team in 1991 as a defenseman, but his talent still could not reach star level and was easily replaced by famous player Warren Sapp. However, thanks to those playing experiences, he acted very well in the comedy The Game Plan about the rugby team and his unexpected child and the upcoming HBO series Baller about the life of a group of former rugby players.
12. The Rock was the youngest WWF champion
One of the youngest wrestlers to ever win a world championship
The Rock won his first WWF Championship in 1998 at just 26 years old, and won it six times in a row before turning 30 until Brock Lesnar won the title in 2002 at the age of 25.
