10 Best Gimmick Changes in Wrestling History

Luke Hobbs. Black Adam. Maui. 

These are just a few of the names that Dwayne Johnson has been known by throughout his career. Of course, his Hollywood resume is stellar and he has rightly earned his position as one of the most popular people in the world. However, despite his current worldwide acclaim, ‘The Great One’ began his career under a different guise.

He debuted as Rocky Maivia, the first third-generation wrestler in WWF history, and was pushed as a top babyface despite being a relative rookie. During his time as ‘The Blue Chipper’ he leaned on his heritage and was fast-tracked to an Intercontinental Championship victory over Hunter Hearst Helmsley. While the fans were behind the clean-cut hero for a brief period, they soon began to turn on Johnson and rejected his company-enforced push to the top of the card, even chanting "Die Rocky Die" at Johnson.

After months of enduring this treatment, Rocky Maivia lost his title to Owen Hart in April 1997 and subsequently disappeared from television in June of the same year, following a knee injury. Once he had spent a couple of months away, Johnson reappeared as a member of the Nation of Domination. He fired vicious verbal rounds at the audience and expressed clear disdain for them, explaining that he would no longer focus on what they wanted, instead choosing to focus on himself.

This character change also saw him drop the Rocky Maivia name, choosing instead to simply go by “The Rock” and speaking in the third person. From that moment, ‘The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment’ went on to dominate WWE (and the box office) with heated stories alongside Triple H, Hulk Hogan, and Steve Austin. 

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