The Rock

A third-generation wrestler

Dwayne Johnson was born in Hayward, California, on May 2, 1972, the son of wrestler Rocky Johnson. His mother is the adopted daughter of another wrestler, Peter Maivia. Johnson first chased football, playing defensive tackle at the University of Miami, where he was a member of the 1991 national championship team, mostly as a backup. He signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League but was cut two months into the 1995 season.

In 1996 he turned to wrestling. The WWF introduced him as Rocky Maivia, a mix of his father's and grandfather's ring names, and billed him as its first third-generation wrestler. At Survivor Series on November 17, 1996, he was the sole survivor of his team.

Finding The Rock

Fans soon turned on the smiling, clean-cut newcomer. In 1997 he lashed out at the boos, joined the Nation of Domination and began calling himself "the Rock" in the third person. The cocky, eyebrow-raising character clicked. He took over leadership of the Nation, and on November 15, 1998, he beat Mankind to win his first WWF Championship as part of Vince McMahon's Corporation.

His feuds with Mankind and Stone Cold Steve Austin helped carry the WWF to the top of the ratings during the Monday Night Wars.

Icon vs. icon

Hollywood came calling. Johnson made his film debut in The Mummy Returns in 2001 and played his first lead role in The Scorpion King the next year. At WrestleMania X8 on March 17, 2002, he pinned Hulk Hogan in a match billed as icon versus icon, then gradually stepped away to act full time.

Once more, as the Final Boss

He kept coming back for big moments. The Rock beat John Cena at WrestleMania XXVIII on April 1, 2012, then lost the WWE Championship to Cena at WrestleMania 29 a year later. On January 23, 2024, he joined the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings, WWE's parent company. Months later, as the arrogant "Final Boss," he teamed with Roman Reigns to beat Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins in the Night 1 main event of WrestleMania XL.

Across his career he won ten world championships and the 2000 Royal Rumble, and he was the company's first world champion of African descent.

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