10 Times WWE Forced It Down Our Throats

7. Rocky Maivia

Bray Wyatt Fiend Seth Rollins
WWE.com

Dwayne Johnson can do whatever he likes. The former Flex Kavana is one of the biggest stars on the planet, a mainstream media icon who may have started in pro wrestling but will finish wherever he god damn pleases, be on the silver screen or even the poisoned chalice of the White House. It isn’t outside the realm of possibilities.

All of this was most certainly outside the realm of possibilities when a young Rocky Maivia was floundering in the face of Vince McMahon’s expectations. A rocket was strapped to the company’s first third-generation star from the get-go, a sole survivor debut followed up by Intercontinental Championship glory and all the attention one could want. It was sickening, in truth.

And the fans agreed. It didn’t take long for the audience to turn on Rocky, bringing about a heel turn and the development of one of the most important characters in the history of pro wrestling, further proof that Vince McMahon isn’t the creative genius many believe him to be. In his world, Rocky Maivia may have been the biggest babyface on planet wrestling by the end of 1997. Instead, we got The Rock, and everyone was better off for it.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.