The Rock

Training and Rocky Maivia (1996)
Along with his father and grandfather, several members of Johnson's family are current and former professional wrestlers, including his uncles, the Wild Samoans (Afa and Sika Anoa'i) and cousins, such as Manu, Yokozuna, Rikishi, Rosey, and Umaga. When he declared his intention to join the family business, his father resisted, but agreed to train his son himself, warning him that he would not go easy on him. With help from veteran wrestler Pat Patterson, Johnson had several tryout matches with WWE in 1996; he defeated The Brooklyn Brawler at a house show under his real name, Dwayne Johnson, and lost the others to Chris Candido and Owen Hart.[8] Impressed by his talent and charisma, Johnson was signed to a contract after wrestling at Jerry Lawler's United States Wrestling Association, where he wrestled under the ring name "Flex Kavana". While there, he won the USWA World Tag Team Championship twice with Bart Sawyer in the summer of 1996.

Johnson made his WWF debut as Rocky Maivia, which combined his father and grandfather's ring names; Johnson was initially reluctant to the idea, but was persuaded to go ahead with the name by Vince McMahon and Jim Ross. In addition to taking on the nickname "The Blue Chipper," the WWF played up his connection to his father and grandfather, calling him the company's first third-generation wrestler.[3

Johnson, who was first portrayed as a clean-cut face character (fan favorite), was pushed heavily from the start despite his lack of in-ring experience. He debuted at Survivor Series in November 1996 and was the sole survivor,[16] and he won the WWF Intercontinental Championship from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on Raw on February 13, 1997, after only three months in the company.[17] [18] Fans, however, quickly grew sick of the one-dimensional good guy character, thanks in part to the increasing popularity of Stone Cold Steve Austin.[11] As a result, a regular occurrence during Johnson's matches was the fans' angry chants of "Die Rocky Die!" and "Rocky Sucks!"[

Nation of Domination and feuding with DX (1997–1998)
Main article: Nation of Domination

After losing the Intercontinental Championship to Owen Hart on the April 28, 1997 edition of Raw is War,[19] and returning from an injury, Johnson turned into a heel character (villain). He joined the Nation of Domination with Faarooq, D'Lo Brown, and Kama, using the ring name "The Rock" Rocky Maivia, which was quickly shortened to simply "The Rock".[20] During that time, Johnson attacked and insulted the fans in his promos. In sharp contrast to the overly positive persona of Rocky Maivia, The Rock was a charismatic bully, eventually driving out the group leader, Faarooq in March 1998.[20] The Rock also referred to himself in the third person, starting many sentences with "The Rock says..."[20]

Johnson was soon recognized for cutting arguably the best promos in the industry. In his 2000 autobiography, Johnson attributed this skill to his exceptional performance in speech communications classes at Miami, in which he earned "A" grades. At In Your House: D-Generation X, Austin defeated The Rock in less than six minutes to retain the Intercontinental Championship.[21] The following night on Raw is War, Austin was ordered by Mr. McMahon to defend the Intercontinental Championship in a rematch, but Austin decided to forfeit it instead, and handed the championship over to The Rock before performing the Stone Cold Stunner on him.[22] [23] Rock spent the end of 1997 and the beginning of 1998 feuding with both Austin and Ken Shamrock.[24] [25]

The Rock next feuded with Faarooq, who was angry at the Rock for usurping his position. The two had a title match at Over the Edge, where Rock retained the Intercontinental Championship.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25">[26] The Rock then moved into a feud with Triple H and D-Generation X. Nation members fought DX while The Rock fought Triple H over the Intercontinental Championship. They first had a two out of three falls match at Fully Loaded for Rock's title, where the Rock retained the title in controversial fashion.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26">[27] This led to a ladder match at SummerSlam where Rock lost the belt.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-27">[28] At Breakdown, the Rock defeated Ken Shamrock and Mankind in a triple threat steel cage match to become the number one contender to the WWF Championship before feuding with fellow Nation member Mark Henry, effectively disbanding the Nation.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-28">[29] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-29">[30]

The Corporation (1998–1999)
Main article: The Corporation

Johnson's popularity as The Rock propelled him to the WWF Championship. The Rock began to conduct many entertaining interviews, and thus he got over with the fans. Fan reaction effectively turned him into a face character, and he began to feud with Mr. McMahon, who said he has a "problem with the people" and thus he should target the "People's Champion" (as The Rock claimed himself to be). A double turn occurred at Survivor Series 1998, when The Rock defeated the then-villain Mankind in the finals of the "Deadly Game" tournament<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-rock1wwe_30-0">[31] for the vacant WWF Championship,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Survivor_Series_-_Rock_vs_Mankind_31-0">[32] to become the first world heavyweight champion of African American descent in WWF history and the youngest WWF Champion at the time. At the end of the match, The Rock applied a Sharpshooter on Mankind. As he did this, McMahon called for the bell to be rung and then ordered for The Rock to be declared the winner.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-rock1wwe_30-1">[31] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Survivor_Series_-_Rock_vs_Mankind_31-1">[32] This was a parody of the Montreal Screwjob, which happened one year earlier at Survivor Series.

With the plan coming to fruition, The Rock turned into a villain again and sided with Vince and Shane McMahon as the crown jewel of The Corporation stable.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-rock1wwe_30-2">[31] This was also a start of a double turn, as Mankind was kicked out of The Corporation and became a fan favorite.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-corporation_32-0">[33] Later, The Rock had his own pay-per view, Rock Bottom: In Your House, where he had a rematch against Mankind for the WWF Championship. Mankind won the match by knocking the Rock out with Mr. Socko and the mandible claw, but Mr. McMahon said that The Rock did not tap out and therefore The Rock would retain his title.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-corporation_32-1">[33] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-33">[34] The Rock began a feud with Mankind over the WWF Championship, during which the title changed hands back and forth between the two, first during the main event of the January 4, 1999 edition of Raw is War, when Mankind defeated The Rock with the help of Stone Cold Steve Austin.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-34">[35] The Rock captured his second WWF Championship in an "I Quit" match at Royal Rumble in early 1999,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-35">[36] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-36">[37] when a pre-recorded sample of Mankind saying "I quit" from an interview segment was played over the sound system. This latest reign did not last long, however. In a match that counter-programmed the Super Bowl halftime show on January 31, 1999, Mankind pinned The Rock using a forklift truck in an Empty Arena Match where the competitors used everything from bags of popcorn to garbage to punish each other.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-37">[38] This feud lasted until February 15 edition of Raw is War, where The Rock won his third WWF Championship in a ladder match after The Big Show chokeslammed Mankind off a ladder.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-38">[39] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-39">[40]

With Mankind out of the way, The Rock had to defend his WWF Championship at WrestleMania XV, but lost the belt to Austin.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-40">[41] Rock lost the title rematch to Austin at Backlash: In Your House.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-41">[42] WWF fans began to cheer The Rock despite him being a villain, due to his comedic interviews, promos and segments which mocked wrestlers and announcers and made him popular to the fans. Rock eventually transitioned into a face character again after being betrayed by Shane McMahon and established a feud with The Undertaker, Triple H and the Corporate Ministry. During this feud, he sometimes found himself fighting alongside Steve Austin. Rock defeated Triple H at Over the Edge before losing to WWF Champion The Undertaker at King of the Ring.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-42">[43] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-43">[44] He continued his rivalry with Triple H, after losing to him in a number one contender's match at Fully Loaded.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-44">[45]

The Rock 'n' Sock Connection (1999)
Main article: Rock 'n' Sock Connection

Later on, besides feuding with Triple H, The Rock also feuded with Mr. Ass throughout the summer of 1999, including a "Kiss My Ass" match at SummerSlam.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-45">[46] In the fall of the same year, The Rock found himself in several singles and tag team championship opportunities. He teamed with former enemy Mankind to create the Rock 'n' Sock Connection, after The Rock challenged the team of The Undertaker and The Big Show, which led to Mankind offering his help.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Aug40-99_46-0">[47] The Rock accepted, and they went on to win the WWF Tag Team Championship three times.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-rocknsock_47-0">[48] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-48">[49] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-49">[50] Aside from the championships, the team was regarded as one of the most entertaining teams in history, as Mankind imitated The Rock, who ignored Mankind, with both wrestlers having support from the crowd. The team was also involved in a segment which occurred on Raw is War called "This Is Your Life", in which Mankind brought out people from The Rock's past, such as his high school girlfriend and gym teacher. The segment earned an 8.4 Nielsen rating and is, to this day, one of the single highest rated segments in terms of viewership in Raw history.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-rocknsock_47-1">[48] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-50">[51]

Feuds for the WWF Championship (2000–2001)
Over the next couple of months The Rock feuded with Triple H over the WWF Championship. A month after the match at

WrestleMania 2000, The Rock had a rematch with Triple H at Backlash in which The Rock won his fourth WWF Championship, after Stone Cold Steve Austin made a brief return and intervened on The Rock's behalf.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-backlash00_57-0">[58] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-owwpro_58-0">[59] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-59">[60] Later, at Judgment Day, the two had an Iron Man match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee, that saw The Undertaker return.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-judgmentday00main_60-0">[61] The Rock got disqualified and lost the title, as a result of The Undertaker attacking Triple H.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-judgmentday00main_60-1">[61] The following night on Raw is War, The Rock got his revenge, taking out the entire McMahon-Helmsley Faction with the help of The Undertaker.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-rawmay2000_61-0">[62] He later won his fifth WWF Championship at King of the Ring in a tag team match, which saw him team up with Kane and The Undertaker to fight Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and Triple H.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-kingofthering00_62-0">[63] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-63">[64] He successfully defended the championship against superstars such as Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, Triple H, Kane, The Undertaker, and Shane McMahon.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-owwpro_58-1">[59] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-fullyloaded00_64-0">[65] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-summerslam00_65-0">[66]

The Rock later lost the WWF Championship to Angle at No Mercy in October.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-owwpro_58-2">[59] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-nomercy00_66-0">[67] During this time, he feuded with Rikishi and defeated him at Survivor Series.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-owwpro_58-3">[59] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-survivorseries00_67-0">[68] He also participated in a six-man Hell in a Cell match at Armageddon for the WWF Championship, in which Kurt Angle retained the title.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-owwpro_58-4">[59] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-armageddon00_68-0">[69] Around that same time, Rock held the WWF Tag Team Championship with The Undertaker and the duo exchanged the titles with Edge and Christian.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-owwpro_58-5">[59] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-nowayout03_69-0">[70]

In 2001, The Rock continued his feud with Angle over the WWF Championship, which they eventually settled at No Way Out. After a battle that saw both wrestlers kick out of each other's finishers, The Rock finally came out on top and won the WWF Championship for the sixth time.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-owwpro_58-6">[59] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-nowayout01_70-0">[71] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-71">[72] Afterwards, he feuded with the Royal Rumble winner, Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock went into WrestleMania X-Seven as the WWF Champion, but he was defeated after Austin used Mr. McMahon to win the title.