A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler , mixed martial artist , or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting the wrong image. Since the advent of the Internet , it is relatively easy to discover a fighter's real name.
108-465: Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock , is an American actor, professional wrestler , and businessman. He is signed to WWE , where he performs on a part-time basis. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Johnson was integral to the development and success of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) during
216-454: A Rock Bottom to Damien Sandow and a People's Elbow to Cody Rhodes . The Rock closed out the 20th-anniversary episode of Raw , on January 14, with one of his "Rock Concerts", leading to a brawl with CM Punk. The following week on Raw , The Rock was attacked by The Shield . Vince McMahon then asserted that if The Shield attacked the Rock in his title match with CM Punk, Punk would be stripped of
324-453: A gimmick he employed as a charismatic trash talker . Johnson left the WWE in 2004; he returned in 2011 as a part-time performer until 2013 and made sporadic appearances from thereon until his retirement in 2019; in 2023, he returned once again on a part-time basis. A 10-time world champion —including the promotion's first of African-American descent—he is also a two-time Intercontinental Champion ,
432-523: A ladder match at SummerSlam on August 30, where The Rock lost the title to Triple H. In the latter half of 1998, The Rock saw a big uptick in fan support. He also started consolidating his famous persona during this time, which would last until 2000. His popularity caused him to be booked in a feud with fellow Nation members Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown, turning babyface in the process. Henry defeated The Rock at Judgment Day: In Your House on October 18 after interference from Brown, effectively breaking up
540-596: A "This Is Your Life"-style segment for Cena, and later both members of Awesome Truth. The Rock and Cena defeated Awesome Truth on November 20 at Survivor Series, when The Rock pinned The Miz. After the match, The Rock gave Cena a Rock Bottom . Leading up to WrestleMania, The Rock and Cena had several verbal confrontations on Raw SuperShow . On the March 12, 2012, episode of Raw SuperShow , The Rock hosted his first "Rock Concert" segment since 2004, mocking Cena in his songs. On April 1, at WrestleMania XXVIII, The Rock defeated Cena in
648-631: A Kiss My Ass match at SummerSlam on August 22. 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
756-555: 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. The Rock then lost the WWF Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XV on March 28. The Rock's popularity continued to grow and audiences still cheered for him even though he
864-578: A McMahon in his corner: Triple H had his wife Stephanie , Foley had Linda , The Rock had Vince and Big Show had Shane. The Rock lasted until the final two but was eliminated by Triple H after Vince betrayed him by hitting him with a chair. Due to his image at the time, a Magic: The Gathering deck archetype was named after him. 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. The following night on Raw
972-402: A bar. Stone reveals himself to be Weirdicht, who has transformed into a muscular, fit, confident man with advanced hand-to-hand combat skills. After a bar fight and tour of the school, Stone asks Joyner to review some online transactions, and he discovers a multimillion-dollar auction with bidders from radical countries, with the final bids set to conclude the following day. The next morning,
1080-505: A cameo in his hometown of Miami, where he confronted Randy Orton . On the August 23 episode of Raw , he hosted a pie-eating contest, as part of the WWE Diva Search , and ended the segment by giving Coachman a People's Elbow . The Rock's contract with WWE then ended and he started his full-time acting career. On March 12, 2007, the Rock appeared on a WWE show after nearly three years, via
1188-462: A few others, their real name. One notable exception was made for David Otunga because of his real marriage to singer Jennifer Hudson at the time, which gave WWE some mainstream exposure. Low Ki used the alias "Senshi" during his second TNA stint to reserve his primary ring name for other use. A similar example is the team known as The Dudley Boyz in ECW and WWE and Team 3D elsewhere. WWE trademarked
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#17330862153551296-472: A five-time Tag Team Champion , the 2000 Royal Rumble winner, and WWE's sixth Triple Crown champion. Johnson headlined multiple pay-per-view events, including WWE's flagship event WrestleMania six times ( 15 , 16 , 17 , 28 , 29 and 40 ) which includes the most-bought professional wrestling pay-per-view (WrestleMania 28) and main evented the most watched episodes of WWE's flagship television series ( Raw and SmackDown ). Johnson's first film role
1404-404: A group of bullies led by Trevor Olson throws the morbidly obese nerd Robbie Weirdicht (who was taking a shower and dancing happily to " My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) " on a radio in the boys’ locker room) naked into the gymnasium in the middle of an assembly . Everyone starts laughing except for Joyner and his girlfriend, Maggie Johnson, who are the only ones sympathetic towards Weirdicht;
1512-484: A lengthy promo, he addressed the fans and started a feud with John Cena . After numerous appearances via satellite, The Rock appeared live on the Raw before WrestleMania XXVII to confront Cena. After he and Cena exchanged insults, The Miz and Alex Riley appeared and attacked The Rock; he fended off Miz and Riley, only for Cena to blindside him with an Attitude Adjustment . On April 3, at WrestleMania XXVII, The Rock opened
1620-457: 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 Championship. The two faced off again, at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House on February 14, in
1728-401: A moment's notice, with no in-between mode." Keith Phipps of Uproxx gave the film a positive review, saying, "It all adds up to the sort of breezy, undemanding comedy that fits nicely into the summer months, and plays beautifully in endless cable repeats." In November 2021, writer/director Rawson Marshall Thurber stated that a sequel had been in development, before being delayed in favor of
1836-540: A mysterious criminal called the "Black Badger" from selling the codes but needs Joyner's skills to locate the meeting place. After an attack by a bounty hunter, Joyner flees and calls Maggie, telling her to meet him at the marriage counselor 's office. Harris intercepts him, telling him that Stone is the Black Badger. She warns him to not tell Maggie and gives him a device to alert them to Stone's location. Joyner meets Maggie for their marriage counseling session, where Stone
1944-572: A pre-taped promo shown during Raw . He correctly predicted that Bobby Lashley would defeat Umaga at WrestleMania 23 in Donald Trump 's and Vince McMahon's "Battle of the Billionaires" Hair vs. Hair match. On March 29, 2008, Johnson inducted his father Rocky Johnson and grandfather Peter Maivia into the WWE Hall of Fame . His next appearance was through a pre-taped promo on October 2, 2009, during
2052-725: A real injury sustained during his match with Cena, in which his abdominal and adductor tendons tore from his pelvis . Johnson underwent surgery on April 23 to reattach the torn tendons. Post surgery, it made his abdomen look far less muscular than the rest of his body, notably his arms. Ring name Ring names are much more common in professional wrestling than any other sport; famous examples include Terry Bollea becoming Hulk Hogan , Michael Shawn Hickenbottom becoming Shawn Michaels , Roderick Toombs becoming Roddy Piper , Dwayne Johnson becoming The Rock , Christopher Irvine becoming Chris Jericho , and Phillip Jack Brooks becoming CM Punk . A number of wrestlers adopted their real name or
2160-481: A rematch of the previous WrestleMania match between the two at WrestleMania 29 , only this time with the WWE Championship on the line. On April 7, at WrestleMania 29, The Rock lost the WWE Championship to Cena, ending his reign at 70 days. Despite being advertised for Raw after WrestleMania, where it was stated that The Rock was still entitled a rematch for the WWE Championship, The Rock did not appear because of
2268-400: A team of CIA agents led by Pamela Harris arrives at Joyner's in search of Stone, who shockingly vanished after sleeping on Joyner’s couch. Harris tells Joyner that he is a dangerous rogue agent who murdered his former partner, Phil Stanton. Harris tells Joyner that Stone intends to sell satellite codes to the highest bidder. Soon after Stone abducts him, explaining that he is trying to stop
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#17330862153552376-569: A traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series tag team match, teaming with Cena at Survivor Series in November. But on the October 24 episode of Raw SuperShow , Cena instead suggested The Rock be his partner in a standard tag team match against The Miz and R-Truth , a team called Awesome Truth , which Rock agreed to the next week. On November 14, during the special Raw Gets Rocked , The Rock appeared live, delivering Rock Bottom s to Mick Foley, who had been hosting
2484-751: A variation of it, sometimes modifying the spelling to better fit their gimmick , such as Dave Bautista becoming Batista (later reverting to his real name for his Hollywood acting career), Patricia Stratigeas becoming Trish Stratus , Jonathan Good becoming Jon Moxley , Bryan Danielson becoming Daniel Bryan (when he wrestled in WWE), Richard Fliehr becoming Ric Flair and Randall Poffo becoming Randy Savage . Others simply use part of their name, such as Bill Goldberg using Goldberg , Nicole Garcia-Colace using Nikki Bella , Mike Mizanin using The Miz , Cody Runnels using Cody Rhodes , and Michael Wardlow using Wardlow . Many female wrestlers go solely by their first name such as. It
2592-572: A worldwide total of $ 216.9 million, against a budget of $ 60 million. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $ 122 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film. Central Intelligence opened on June 17, 2016, alongside Finding Dory and was projected to gross around $ 30 million from 3,508 theaters in its opening weekend. The film grossed $ 1.8 million from its Thursday previews and $ 13 million on its first day. The film went on to gross $ 35.5 million, finishing second at
2700-539: Is Samoan . His father and Tony Atlas were the first black tag team champions in WWE history, in 1983. Johnson's uncle Ricky was also a wrestler. His mother is the adopted daughter of Peter Maivia , who was also a professional wrestler. Johnson's maternal grandmother Lia was one of the first female pro wrestling promoters , taking over Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling after her husband's death in 1982 and managing it until 1988. Through his maternal grandfather Maivia, Johnson
2808-406: Is War , The Rock 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. 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
2916-502: Is Weirdicht, cites the importance of overcoming obstacles, and praises Joyner as his best friend. He then relives his most embarrassing incident on his terms by stripping. Stone then encounters his high school crush Darla McGuchian, whom he proceeds to share a kiss and dance with. Sometime later, Maggie is now pregnant, and Joyner has joined Stone in the CIA. As a gift for his first day on the job, Stone returns Joyner's varsity jacket. The script
3024-556: Is a 2016 American buddy action comedy film directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber and written by Thurber, Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen. The film stars Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart as two old high school classmates who go on the run after one of them joins the CIA to save the world from a terrorist who intends to sell satellite codes. The film premiered in Los Angeles on June 10, 2016, and
3132-637: Is a highly respected tradition in Mexican lucha libre for performers to hide their true identities, usually wrestling under masks, and revealing a luchador's identity without their permission is considered a serious offence with real-life consequences. Professional wrestlers are often referred to by their contemporaries by their ring name. In interviews, Bret Hart regularly referred to Mark Calaway, Curt Hennig, and Kevin Nash by their ring names ( The Undertaker , Mr. Perfect , and Diesel ). Ring names are often trademarked by
3240-829: Is a non-blood relative of the Anoaʻi wrestling family . In 2008, he inducted his father and grandfather into the WWE Hall of Fame . Johnson attended Montclaire Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina , and then moved to Hamden, Connecticut , where he attended Shepherd Glen Elementary School and then Hamden Middle School. He attended President William McKinley High School in Honolulu and then Glencliff High School and McGavock High School , both in Nashville, Tennessee , and then Freedom High School in Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania , in
3348-448: Is also common for wrestlers of all genders to use a nickname in addition to their real name for marketability and other reasons. Ricky Steamboat is an atypical instance of a wrestler adopting a ring name to sound less intimidating, as his legal name of Richard Blood was considered unfitting for his babyface persona. Some (mostly independent ) wrestlers still go to great lengths to ensure that their real names are not publicly known. It
Dwayne Johnson - Misplaced Pages Continue
3456-545: Is posing as the counselor. Stone convinces Joyner to help him, so he sets up a meeting with Olson, who can track the offshore account for the auction to get the deal's location. Olson feigns an apology for bullying Stone before once again antagonizing him. Harris calls Joyner and threatens to arrest Maggie if he fails to help them detain Stone. Joyner reluctantly betrays him, and the CIA arrests him. As Harris tortures Stone to get his confession, Joyner helps him escape, and discovers
3564-458: The Decade of SmackDown . On September 30, 2009, the Rock appeared at a World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) show to support the professional wrestling debut of Sarona Snuka , the daughter of his longtime friend and mentor Jimmy Snuka . On February 14, 2011, The Rock was announced as the host of WrestleMania XXVII on April 3, 2011, appearing live on Raw for the first time in almost seven years. During
3672-751: The Attitude Era . He wrestled for the WWF full-time for eight years before pursuing an acting career. His films have grossed over $ 3.5 billion in North America and over $ 12.5 billion worldwide, making him one of the world's highest-grossing and highest-paid actors . He is a co-owner of the United Football League , a member of the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings —the parent company of UFC and WWE—and co-founder of Seven Bucks Productions . After accepting an athletic scholarship to play football at
3780-580: The Disney animated film Moana (2016). Johnson produced and starred in the HBO comedy-drama series Ballers (2015–2019) and the autobiographical sitcom Young Rock (2021–2023). His autobiography, The Rock Says , was released in 2000 and was a New York Times bestseller . In 2016 and 2019, Time named him as one of the world's most influential people . Johnson was born in Hayward, California , on May 2, 1972,
3888-628: The Lehigh Valley region of the state, where he graduated in 1990. At Freedom High School, Johnson initially struggled and was drawn into a culture of conflict and petty crime. By age 17, he had been arrested several times for fighting, theft, and check fraud, and was suspended two weeks for fighting. An article in the local newspaper labeled him "a troubled teenager with a history of run-ins with police." But Freedom High School football coach Jody Cwik saw athletic potential in Johnson, and recruited him to join
3996-786: The Miami-area community, frequently delivering positive messages about his own struggles and encouraging students to remain in school and avoid the dangers of drug use. After graduating, Johnson was signed by the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League . Calgary moved him from defensive tackle to linebacker . He was assigned to Calgary's practice roster, but was cut two months into Calgary's 1995 season. Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s After being cut by Calgary, Johnson began his professional wrestling career
4104-788: The Raw brand. There, he had various small feuds, including one with The Hurricane . He also began performing "Rock Concerts", segments in which he played the guitar and mocked WWE performers and fans in song. After failing to win a number one contendership for the World Heavyweight Championship , The Rock went into another program with Stone Cold Steve Austin. This led to a match at WrestleMania XIX on March 30, 2003, which called back to their previous two WrestleMania encounters, both of which Austin had won. The Rock won after delivering three consecutive Rock Bottoms , ending their long-running rivalry in what turned out to be Austin's final match, until WrestleMania 38 . The next night, Raw
4212-480: The USWA tag team championship twice with his partner Bart Sawyer in the summer of 1996, Johnson was signed to a WWF contract. He received additional training from Tom Prichard , alongside Achim Albrecht and Mark Henry . Johnson made his WWF debut as Rocky Maivia, a combination of his father and grandfather's ring names, although announcers acknowledged his real name. He was initially reluctant to take this ring name but
4320-479: The University of Miami , Johnson was a member of the 1991 national championship team but was largely a backup player. Despite aspirations to professional football, he went undrafted in the 1995 NFL draft , and briefly signed with the Calgary Stampeders before being cut in his first season. In 1996, his father assisted in helping him secure a contract with the WWF. Johnson quickly rose to global prominence, aided by
4428-437: The promotion that creates a character or gimmick for a performer. It is common to see one performer use a variety of ring names throughout their career, even if their overall persona remains similar. This is especially true in WWE , which has largely forced most wrestlers that have debuted since 2006 to use a WWE-owned ring name instead of a ring name that they used on the independent circuit or, such as with Daniel Bryan and
Dwayne Johnson - Misplaced Pages Continue
4536-728: The "Dudley Boyz" name, leading them to have to change their name when they went to TNA. The members' individual names were also trademarked by WWE, forcing them to have to change their names. WWE partially repealed the policy in 2015, allowing wrestlers who were well known in other promotions such as Samoa Joe , A.J. Styles , Shinsuke Nakamura , Austin Aries , Bobby Roode , and Eric Young to use their long-standing ring names (or, in Nakamura's and Roode's cases, their real names) as well as wrestlers who sign "Tier 2" NXT brand contracts such as Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa , who wrestle both on NXT and
4644-648: 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. After losing the Intercontinental Championship to Owen Hart on the April 28 episode of Raw Is War , Maivia suffered a legitimate knee injury in a match against Mankind in June and spent several months recovering. Upon returning in August, Maivia turned heel for
4752-538: The Attitude Era involving steel chairs had at most 2 or 3 shots to the head). After the fifth shot, Mankind was still ringside instead of two-thirds up the entrance ramp where he was supposed to be, and after the eleventh shot, which knocked Mankind out, a recording of Mankind saying "I Quit" from an earlier interview was played over the public address system. On January 31, during an episode of Sunday Night Heat , The Rock and Mankind participated in an Empty Arena match ,
4860-567: The Black Badger. A fight breaks out, and Stanton reveals his plan to frame Stone for the crime. Stone kills him by ripping his throat out. Joyner and he make it to their 20th high school reunion. Upon arriving, Joyner reconciles with Maggie and promises to improve their marriage. The new prom king is announced to be Stone; Joyner reveals to Maggie that he hacked the school's voting system to make it happen. Olson shows up to bully Stone again, but he finally stands up for himself and punches him unconscious. In Stone's acceptance speech, he reveals that he
4968-624: The December 8 episode of Raw to help Mick Foley against La Résistance . In 2004, The Rock aided Mick Foley in his feud against Evolution , leading to a reunion of the Rock 'n' Sock Connection. They lost against Ric Flair , Randy Orton , and Batista in a handicap match at WrestleMania XX on March 14, 2004, when Orton pinned Foley after an RKO . This was Johnson's final wrestling match until November 2011. The Rock appeared in WWE sporadically following WrestleMania XX. He made returns to provide support for Eugene against Jonathan Coachman and made
5076-474: The Intercontinental Championship. 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
5184-561: The Intercontinental Championship. 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 . The Rock feuded with Austin and Ken Shamrock through the end of 1997 and beginning of 1998. On January 19, 1998, at the Royal Rumble , The Rock defeated Shamrock by disqualification to retain
5292-462: The January 30, 2003, episode of SmackDown! to set up another match with Hulk Hogan at No Way Out . Because of negative fan reaction during previous matches as a result of his budding acting career, The Rock turned heel for the first time since 1999. He also started a new persona that has been called Hollywood Rock , with a new look and a shaved head. The Rock defeated Hogan at No Way Out before moving to
5400-562: The McMahons betrayed Mankind. On December 13, 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. In the main event of the January 4, 1999, episode of Raw Is War , Mankind defeated The Rock for
5508-526: The Nation of Domination to spark a feud between the two. He then successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Faarooq at Over the Edge: In Your House on May 31. The stable would then refer to themselves as simply "The Nation". The Rock and the Nation then feuded with Triple H and D-Generation X (DX), with the two stable leaders first meeting in the quarter-final of the 1998 King of
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#17330862153555616-513: The New Age Outlaws on the October 14 episode of SmackDown! before losing the titles to The Holly Cousins on the October 18 episode of Raw is War . At the 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
5724-461: The Ring tournament , which The Rock won. At King of the Ring on June 28, 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 on July 26 for the Intercontinental Championship, which The Rock retained in controversial fashion. This led to
5832-525: 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 on August 19 to win the WCW Championship for the first time. He later lost the title to Chris Jericho at No Mercy on October 21. The next night on Raw , he teamed with Jericho to win the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Dudley Boyz . The two then lost
5940-604: 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 unbranded "World Championship" following the Alliance's loss. At the next pay-per-view, Vengeance on December 9, The Rock lost the World Championship to Jericho, who would then unify the WWF and World titles later that night. The Rock then unsuccessfully challenged Jericho for
6048-550: The WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. During the show, he encountered then-reigning WWE Champion CM Punk , Daniel Bryan , and John Cena, all of whom expressed a desire to face him. The Rock later saved Cena from an assault by Big Show , only to be laid out by CM Punk. On the January 7, 2013, episode of Raw , The Rock returned to confront his Royal Rumble opponent CM Punk. On January 11, he made his first SmackDown appearance in ten years, getting into an altercation with Team Rhodes Scholars, resulting in him delivering
6156-532: The WWE Championship. On January 27, at the Royal Rumble , CM Punk would seemingly defeat The Rock after the arena lights went out and someone attacked The Rock. Vince McMahon then came out and was about to strip Punk of the championship, however, at The Rock's request, he instead restarted the match. This culminated in The Rock defeating Punk to win his eighth WWE Championship. Punk received a title rematch with The Rock, at Elimination Chamber on February 17, 2013, with
6264-510: The WWE Undisputed Championship to Lesnar along with the record for the youngest WWE Champion, which he had set in 1998. In 2018, writing for ESPN.com , Sean Coyle noted in a retrospective review of the event, that following his victory over Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8, The Rock "started to see a dip in fan support" and "that dip turned into a plunge" by the time The Rock had his match with Lesnar at SummerSlam because fans knew he
6372-469: The WWF Championship to Kurt Angle at No Mercy on October 22, 2000. The next month, The Rock feuded with Rikishi and defeated him at Survivor Series on November 19. The Rock wrestled a six-man Hell in a Cell match for the WWF Championship at Armageddon on December 10, which Angle won to retain the title. On the December 18 episode of Raw is War , The Rock won the WWF Tag Team Championship with The Undertaker, defeating Edge and Christian , before losing
6480-463: The WWF Championship was then put on the line against Big Show at No Way Out on February 27, which Big Show won after Shane McMahon interfered. 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 on April 2, in a Fatal Four-way elimination match , also including Big Show and Mick Foley. Each wrestler had
6588-580: The action comedy films Get Smart (2008), Central Intelligence (2016), Baywatch (2017), and Red Notice (2021). His role as Luke Hobbs in the Fast & Furious films, beginning with Fast Five (2011), helped the franchise become one of the highest grossing in film . He joined the DC Extended Universe by playing the title role in Black Adam (2022). He is also known for voicing Maui in
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#17330862153556696-502: The added stipulation that if The Rock was disqualified or counted out, he would still lose the WWE Championship. The Rock would pin Punk to defeat him and retain the championship. The following night on Raw , The Rock unveiled a new WWE Championship design, with a different center plate and removable customizable side-plates which had his "Brahma Bull" logo. The Rock then resumed his rivalry with John Cena, who won that year's Royal Rumble to set up
6804-426: The box office behind fellow newcomer Finding Dory ($ 135.1 million). On Rotten Tomatoes , Central Intelligence has an approval rating of 71% based on 184 reviews with an average rating of 5.76/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson make for well-matched comic foils, helping Central Intelligence overcome a script that coasts on their considerable chemistry." On Metacritic ,
6912-465: The championship after interference from Stone Cold Steve Austin. Then at the Royal Rumble on January 24, The Rock regained the title in an "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 streak in The Rock's character, The Rock hit Mankind in the head with a steel chair 11 times instead of the scripted five, five shots already being risky (most wrestling matches in
7020-432: The deal is happening in a Boston underground parking garage and helps Stone steal a plane. Stone enters alone, while Joyner watches Harris entering a short while later. Assuming that she is the Black Badger, he runs after her, only to find Stone meeting with the buyer and claiming to be the Black Badger. Stone shoots Joyner, grazing his neck, to keep him safe. Stanton arrives, having faked his death, and reveals himself to be
7128-428: The depth chart, including future NFL star and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Warren Sapp , and appeared mostly in backup roles. In his time at Miami, Johnson played in 39 games with one start. He recorded 4.5 sacks and 77 tackles. In 1995, Johnson graduated with a Bachelor of General Studies and a dual major in criminology and physiology . He was also one of the university's most prolific student speakers in
7236-489: The episode, The Rock continued his feud with The Corporate Ministry. This led to a match with Triple H, at Over the Edge on May 23, which The Rock won, and a match for the WWF Championship against The Undertaker, at King of the Ring on June 27, which The Rock lost. The Rock then lost a number one contender's match to Triple H, at Fully Loaded on July 25, after interference from "Mr. Ass" Billy Gunn . The Rock then defeated Gunn in
7344-421: The film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 75% overall positive score and a 55% "definite recommend". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film two out of four stars, writing, "If you're expecting
7452-740: The film, Johnson and Hart had an Instagram war against each other on set. The film premiered at the Regency Village Theater on June 10, 2016. Warner Bros. handled distribution in the United States, where the film opened on June 17, 2016, while Universal covered global distribution, as the film was released between June and July 2016. Central Intelligence was released on Digital HD on September 13, 2016, before being released on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD on September 27, 2016. Central Intelligence grossed $ 127.4 million in North America and $ 89.5 million in other territories for
7560-691: 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 . 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 . At D-Generation X: In Your House on December 7, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated The Rock in under six minutes to retain
7668-461: The fly based on the crowd's response. After the introduction of the first-ever brand extension , the WWF held a " draft lottery " on the March 25, 2002, episode of Raw . The Rock was the number one overall pick, going to the SmackDown! brand before taking a sabbatical from wrestling. The Rock made a surprise return on a June episode of Raw before going to his assigned brand of SmackDown!. There, he
7776-468: The former even going as far as to quickly cover him with his varsity jacket in a moment of compassion. He thanks Joyner and flees in humiliation and embarrassment. Twenty years later, Joyner is married to Maggie and works as a forensic accountant , but is dissatisfied with his career. She suggests they see a therapist to salvage their deteriorating marriage. At work, Joyner receives a friend request on Facebook from "Bob Stone", who invites him to meet at
7884-467: The highest ratings ever for a Raw segment. The two lost the titles back to Undertaker and Big Show on the September 9 episode of SmackDown! and won them back from them on the September 20 episode of Raw is War . The Rock and Mankind then lost the titles to The New Age Outlaws on the very next episode of SmackDown! . The Rock and Mankind would win the tag titles for the third and final time after beating
7992-477: The independent circuit to keep their ring names (or, in Gargano's case, his real name). Gargano and Ciampa have since signed exclusive WWE contracts. "In-house" WWE wrestlers still use WWE-owned ring names. In rare cases, the rights to a wrestler's ring name may be owned by a company with little or no connection to professional wrestling, such as Marvel Comics ' ownership of the name Hulk Hogan until early 2003, which
8100-407: The main event after countering Cena's attempt at a People's Elbow into a Rock Bottom and pinning Cena. This event broke the record for biggest professional wrestling pay-per-view buyrate. The following night on Raw SuperShow , The Rock praised Cena, calling their match "an honor". He then vowed to once again become WWE Champion. On July 23, at Raw 1000 , The Rock announced he would wrestle for
8208-590: The match, The Rock attacked The Miz and hit him with the People's Elbow . The next night on Raw , The Rock and Cena agreed to a match at WrestleMania XXVIII the next year. They then worked together to fend off an attack by The Corre , which at the time consisted of Wade Barrett , Heath Slater , Justin Gabriel , and Ezekiel Jackson . The Rock appeared live on Raw in his hometown of Miami to celebrate his 39th birthday. On September 16, WWE announced The Rock would wrestle in
8316-411: The move on the ring apron, sending Big Show to the floor before reentering the ring as the winner. But The Rock's feet accidentally hit the floor during the reversal attempt, though 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 it and claimed to be the rightful winner. The Rock's number one contendership for
8424-457: 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. Austin and Triple H then formed a tag team called The Power Trip , while The Rock was indefinitely suspended in storyline. Johnson used this time off to act in The Scorpion King . The Rock returned in late July when the WWF
8532-428: The next year, in 1996. Veteran wrestler Pat Patterson secured several tryout matches for Johnson with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1996. Wrestling at first under his real name, Johnson defeated The Brooklyn Brawler at a house show on March 10 and lost matches to Chris Candido and Owen Hart . After wrestling at Jerry Lawler 's United States Wrestling Association under the name Flex Kavana and winning
8640-455: The now Undisputed WWF Championship at Royal Rumble on January 20, 2002. At the next pay-per-view, No Way Out on February 17, The Rock defeated The Undertaker in a singles match. The event also saw the WWF debut of the famed WCW faction New World Order (nWo), which at the time consisted of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan , Kevin Nash , and Scott Hall . This later led to a match between The Rock and Hogan at WrestleMania X8 on March 17. The match
8748-579: The prefix "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Numerous boxers have used ring names or nicknames as their mode of identification during their professional boxing careers, particularly during the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The ring name "Kid" was particularly popular, indicating the boxer's comparative youth. Since the mid 20th century, ring names for boxers have typically been less common, although nicknames have become more popular in recent years. Famous examples of boxers who used ring names include: Central Intelligence Central Intelligence
8856-566: 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). Shortly after SummerSlam, The Rock began teaming with former opponent Mankind and the two became known as the Rock 'n' Sock Connection . They became WWF Tag Team Champions for the first time after defeating The Undertaker and Big Show for
8964-542: The school's football team, where he played defensive tackle , an experience that proved to be a significant personal transformation for Johnson. "My thought process started to change. That's when I started thinking about goals and what I wanted to accomplish", he has since said about his high school football experience. In addition to playing football, Johnson also was a member of Freedom High School's track and field and wrestling teams. By his senior year at Freedom High School, Johnson had played only two years of football, but
9072-526: The show by cutting a promo. After appearing in numerous backstage segments, The Rock came to ringside to restart the main event between Cena and The Miz as a No Disqualification match, after it had ended in a double countout. As revenge for the Attitude Adjustment Cena had given him on Raw , The Rock hit Cena with the Rock Bottom , allowing The Miz to pin him and retain the WWE Championship. After
9180-533: The son of Mataniufeagaimaleata "Ata" Fitisemanu (née Maivia) and former professional wrestler Rocky Johnson (born Wayde Douglas Bowles). Growing up, he briefly lived in Grey Lynn in Auckland , New Zealand, with his mother's family, where he played rugby and attended Richmond Road Primary School before returning to the U.S. Johnson's father was a Black Nova Scotian with a small amount of Irish ancestry and his mother
9288-424: The stable. The Rock was then entered into the "Deadly Game" tournament for the vacant WWF Championship. The finals occurred at Survivor Series on November 15, where The Rock defeated Vince McMahon's associate, Mankind , to win his first WWF Championship. 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
9396-596: The story threads to cohere, you're in the wrong multiplex. Central Intelligence always takes the lazy way out. You go along for the ride because Hart and Johnson promise something they can't deliver: a movie as funny as they are." Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club criticized the film as a "shambolic high-concept farce that doubles as a cautionary tale of where studio comedies go wrong," writing, "In spots as indifferent and self-indulgent as any latter-day Adam Sandler production ... , [ Intelligence ] switches back and forth from snail-paced to incoherently over-stuffed on
9504-417: The tag titles to Booker T and Test on the November 1, 2001, episode of SmackDown! . The Rock defeated Jericho on the November 5 episode of Raw for his second WCW Championship. 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 on November 18 where the losing team's company would be dissolved in storyline. He
9612-612: The title. 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. 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 on August 27. The Rock had another successful title defense against Benoit, Kane and The Undertaker on September 24 at Unforgiven . The Rock then lost
9720-477: The titles back to Edge and Christian the next night at a SmackDown! taping. The Rock continued to feud with Angle over the WWF Championship, culminating at No Way Out on February 25, 2001, where he pinned Angle to win the WWF Championship for a sixth time. The Rock then feuded with the Royal Rumble winner, Stone Cold Steve Austin, whom he lost the title to at WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1 after Austin allied with Vince McMahon, who interfered on his behalf. On
9828-412: The titles on the August 30 episode of Raw is War . 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
9936-409: The wrestler's gimmick changes, either subtly or dramatically. After debuting in WWE as the " Connecticut Blueblood " Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Paul Levesque's character later morphed into Triple H . A more drastic change sometimes occurs when a wrestler turns heroic or villainous , such as when Hulk Hogan joined the villainous nWo (New World Order) and became "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. His new attitude
10044-453: Was a heel. He then lost the title rematch against Stone Cold Steve Austin at Backlash: In Your House on April 25. The next night on Raw is War The Rock 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
10152-440: 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
10260-486: Was billed as "The Rock Appreciation Night", in honor of his victory over Austin. That night, he was attacked by a debuting Goldberg . At Backlash on April 27, 2003, Goldberg defeated The Rock, who then briefly left WWE to film Walking Tall . On the June 2 episode of Raw , The Rock joined the Highlight Reel and attacked Christian and Chris Jericho with Booker T , turning face once again. He would later return on
10368-457: Was billed as "icon versus icon", with both men representing the top tier of two generations of wrestling; ultimately The Rock pinned Hogan at WrestleMania X8 to win the match. Despite The Rock portraying a heroic character and Hogan a villain, a portion of the crowd attending the SkyDome was rooting heavily for Hogan. In an interview in 2013, Hogan said he and The Rock changed the style of the match on
10476-596: Was due to Hogan being advertised as " The Incredible Hulk Hogan" early in his career, while Marvel owned the trademark for their comic book character. Sometimes, a wrestler will buy the rights to their own ring name; for example, Steve Borden owns the rights to the name Sting and licenses it to the musician of the same name . The wrestler formerly known as Test took this one step further and legally changed his name to "Andrew Test Martin". Jim Hellwig, known as The Ultimate Warrior , had his name legally changed to simply "Warrior". In many cases, ring names evolve over time as
10584-549: Was enhanced by changing his costume color scheme from his famous red and yellow to nWo's black and white. Steve Williams adopted the ring name Steve Austin to avoid confusion with the then-more established performer "Dr. Death" Steve Williams . Austin would wrestle under that name for several years before signing with the WWF and being given the name "the Ringmaster". This gimmick failed to catch on, and Austin reverted to his established name, reaching his greatest level of success with
10692-470: Was feuding with rival promotions World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) during what is 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 the WWF in storyline. The Alliance and Vince McMahon then both attempted to persuade
10800-777: Was greenlit by Universal Pictures in 2010, and Rawson Marshall Thurber was selected to direct and started to write the script together with Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen. Before production began, Thurber convinced New Line Cinema to buy the script and the studio became the film's domestic distributor through Warner Bros. Pictures . That year, Dwayne Johnson was cast alongside Kevin Hart . Principal photography began on May 6, 2015, and took place in Atlanta, Georgia, and throughout various Massachusetts locations, including Boston , Burlington , Lynn , Middleton , Winchester and Quincy . Principal photography ended in July 2015. To promote
10908-682: Was in The Mummy Returns (2001). The next year, he played his first leading role in the action fantasy film The Scorpion King . He has since starred in family films The Game Plan (2007), Race to Witch Mountain (2009), Tooth Fairy (2010), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), and Jungle Cruise (2021), and the action films Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), Hercules (2014), Skyscraper (2018), San Andreas (2015) and Rampage (2018). He also starred in
11016-432: Was leaving WWE to pursue an acting career, as evidenced by the negative crowd response during his match with Lesnar. After SummerSlam ended, The Rock was visibly angry at the crowd reaction. When he tried to do a post-show speech for the crowd, the fans booed him. He eventually cut a short promo, declaring that "sing-along with The Rock is over!" The Rock then took time off to kickstart his acting career. The Rock returned on
11124-473: Was named the number one contender for the WWE Undisputed Championship, which he won for a record-setting seventh time at Vengeance on July 21, by defeating Kurt Angle and then-champion The Undertaker in a Triple Threat match. The Rock successfully defended the title at the Global Warning event on August 10 against Triple H and Brock Lesnar after pinning Triple H. On August 25, at SummerSlam , The Rock lost
11232-536: Was offered a full athletic scholarship offer from the University of Miami , whose football program was beginning to emerge as one of the nation's top-level NCAA Division 1 teams. As he did in high school, Johnson continued to play defensive tackle at the University of Miami , where he was a member of the Miami Hurricanes 1991 team , which won that year's national championship. Despite playing four years there, however, Johnson found himself behind elite players on
11340-487: Was persuaded by Vince McMahon and Jim Ross . He was given the nickname "The Blue Chipper", and to play up his lineage, he was hyped as the WWF's first third-generation wrestler. A clean-cut face character, Maivia 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. His first match came at Survivor Series on November 17, in an eight-man elimination tag match ; he
11448-512: Was the sole survivor and eliminated the final two members of the opposing team, Crush and Goldust . On February 13, 1997, he won the Intercontinental Championship from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on a Thursday edition of Monday Night Raw . Maivia then successfully defended the title against Helmsley at In Your House 13: Final Four on February 16. Johnson's first WrestleMania match came at WrestleMania 13 on March 23, where he
11556-426: Was theatrically released in the United States on June 17, 2016. Central Intelligence received praise from critics for Johnson and Hart's performances but criticism for the script, and was commercially successful, grossing over $ 217 million worldwide against its $ 60 million budget. In 1996, star athlete Calvin "The Golden Jet" Joyner is being honored at his school, Central High . Halfway through his speech,
11664-419: Was victorious in his Intercontinental Championship defense against The Sultan . WWF fans started to reject his character and push from the company. He defeated Bret Hart by disqualification in a title defense on the March 31 episode of Raw is War . Behind the scenes, Hart mentored Johnson for his first year in WWF and refused to be booked to take the title from him. On April 20, at In Your House 14: Revenge of
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