10 Fascinating WWE WrestleMania 14 Facts

9. The Rock's Million Dollar Catchphrase Was Born On This Show

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WWE.com

By the spring of 1998, it was apparent that the once-dismissed Rocky Maivia possessed at least a modicum of charisma to go along with a dry sense of humor. None of us, however, realized in those days that we were watching the next great comedy/action star in his larval stage. At WrestleMania 14, The Rock would continue building his launch-pad, and had installed its spring in the form of a curious choice of words.

Earlier in the night, Rock took part in a silly sitdown interview with Gennifer Flowers, a woman most notable for a brief affair with former US President Bill Clinton. Flowers "interviewed" The Rock, as though he were running for office, and the Intercontinental Champion offered arrogant assertions as his political positions.

While the interview was only semi-amusing at best, it's most notable for siring the phrase, "smell what I'm cooking", a punctuation for one of Rock's playfully-infantile answers. It was the first time Dwayne Johnson had ever said those words on camera.

Little did anyone realize just how much that innocuous, off-hand phrase would play a role in launching Johnson into the stratosphere.

Contributor
Contributor

Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.