The Rock's 10 Biggest WWE "What Ifs"
Movies, matches, and missed opportunities - how different things could have been!
Few careers have gone as well as The Rock’s. After a shaky start, the once and future Dwayne Johnson won the hearts of the fans like few before or after, and transcended the business to become a hugely bankable movie star.
It’s not the sort of career you want to pick holes in. Johnson is clearly a smart guy and a keen businessman - he’s put in the hard work, and the results speak for themselves.
That said, a career as incident-packed as his poses a series of questions. Every choice has ramifications, and when you’re at the top of the business for as long as The Great One, those decisions can affect a lot of performers, echoing through the industry.
Some of The Rock’s choices can be directly linked to later events, the fortunes or misfortunes of others. Doors have been opened and closed by the actions or inactions of Dwayne Johnson - and while the possibilities range from the demonstrable to the speculative, there’s much to unpick in what could have been - the what ifs of The Rock’s career in the WWE and beyond.
10. A Bad Start
Before Dwayne Johnson was The Rock, he was Rocky Maivia, a cheery, squeaky clean babyface who was the recipient of a colossal push right from the off. His first WWE match saw him get the win in the traditional Survivor Series match, and three months down the line he was Intercontinental champion.
The fans saw through the transparent attempts to make a new star on the quick, and rained boos and death threats upon the increasingly less smiley Maivia. Johnson went out injured, tweaked the character, and the rest was history.
If he hadn’t debuted with such an objectionable character, though, would he ever have made the necessary adjustments? Had he slipped seamlessly into the midcard and not raised the ire of the fans via his special treatment, would he have had the opportunity to reinvent himself?
Given the sheer talent of the man, you’d have to imagine that he would have ascended in due course, but without that spark of audience discontent, the heel turn he eventually made would likely have been far less dramatic, and effective.