10 Fascinating WWE Survivor Series 1996 Facts
5. The Rock Didn't Know Where The Hard Camera Was
No reminiscing about Survivor Series 1996 would be complete without bringing up the fact that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was making his on-camera wrestling debut for WWE that night in the Garden. The man who would eventually conquer WWE and Hollywood several times over was, on that night, a smiling do-gooder with a hairstyle that resided somewhere between Lyle Lovett and Sideshow Bob.
Aesthetics weren't the only thing working against the eventual "People's Champion" that night. In a 2016 lookback at his official WWE debut, Rock admits that he didn't know where the hard camera inside MSG was. Wrestlers are supposed to "play to the hard camera" for TV purposes, and Rock thought that's what he was doing.
While re-watching the match, Johnson pointed out two instances in which he exuberantly pointed toward the entrance way: upon hitting the ring during his entrance, and right after pinning Goldust to win the match. That's because he thought the hard camera was up there, and instead of playing to the home audience, he treated said viewers to a shot of his back both times.