10 Times WWE Forced It Down Our Throats
5. Rocky Maivia
Who would have thought that this dreadfully cheesy, smiley kid with crap hair and 'traditional' Samoan entrance gear would go on to become The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment? At the time, not the fans, who treated the much-hyped third generation superstar, Rocky Maivia, to charming 'Rocky Sucks!' and 'Die Rocky Die!' chants, such was their chagrin at having this white meat babyface forced upon them.
There was nothing interesting about Rocky Maivia, but that didn't stop WWE making him sole survivor in his debut at Survivor Series 1996, finishing off Crush and Goldust with a less-than-electrifying crossbody and a shoulderbreaker respectively. He became Intercontinental Champion in 1997, defeating Hunter Hearst Helmsley (nope, never heard of him either), and defended his title at Wrestlemania XIII in a bout that illustrated just how far away he was from becoming a fan favourite, with his match against The Sultan (Rikishi in a turban and Hannibal Lecter mask, basically) falling completely flat. At one point, our hero knocked The Sultan to the canvas and in sheer desperation attempted to excite the lifeless crowd with an embarrassingly bizarre dance celebration. It failed to do the trick on the way to Rocky retaining with a roll-up, whereupon he took a post-match beatdown with dad Rocky Johnson making the save. WWE assumed that the live crowd knew who Rocky Johnson was, but it was clear that they hadn't a clue. That, or they simply did not care.
One heel turn and one much-needed character overhaul later and the rest is, as they say, history. Four years after his debut as Rocky Maivia, The Rock faced his Wrestlemania XIII opponent, Rikishi, at Survivor Series 2000, and the crowd reaction was off the charts. Rocky Maivia did indeed suck, and Rocky Maivia did indeed 'die', but with the rise of The Rock, The Great One proved that he didn't need his daddy anymore, and has been pie-eatin' and jabroni-beatin' ever since.