10 Origin Stories Of Awesome Wrestlers
2. The Rock
The Rock was so incredibly naff following the initial rush of his Survivor Series 1996 debut, that it wasn't long before the same fans who'd embraced him had rejected him with vicious cries of "Rocky sucks!" and, worse still, "Die Rocky die!" The ire was such that the usually astute Mick Foley felt that the WWF should've "cut their losses and got rid of the guy".
He was, initially, a victim of circumstance. He just happened to debut, having minimal experience with which to protect himself, in an era in which the WWF's finger was firmly detached from the pulse of its fans. Accordingly, the brash athlete and genuinely funny man was positioned as a bland babyface with an ever-present, sh*t-eating grin.
His 1997 heel turn unearthed hitherto unseen personality - and he would quickly learn on the job.
Already gaining momentum as a brash egotist, The Rock expanded on the cool heel template by first referring to himself in the third person on the December 8, 1997 RAW. In an in-ring promo, transgressive anti-hero Steve Austin dared Vince McMahon to fire him. "The Rock thinks you should fire him," he deadpanned. He also appropriated Ron Simmon's gentle locker room reproach of "Know your role!" to cement his new incarnation as a superior egotist.