8 WWE Stars Who Worked (By Not Working)

6. The Rock

The Rock Portrait
WWE.com

Nobody can claim that smiling babyface Rocky Maivia was working in 1996-97. It took a turn to the dark side as part of the Nation Of Domination before The Rock started to click with an audience who had long since tired of hand-slapping, baby-kissing good guys.

Suddenly developing a super-cool persona as heel, The Rock had charisma coming out of his ears and fans revelled in his slick put downs and catchphrases.

By acknowledging chants like "Die, Rocky, Die" and "Rocky Sucks", The Rock was able to become one of the best mid-card heels in the industry during the second half of '97. That would have been impossible had it not been for an apathetic reaction towards his 'Third Generation Superstar' gimmick of before.

By not working as a babyface originally, the creative team were forced to turn Rocky Maivia into the self-sure Rock. It took that successful run as a heel for the fans to eventually accept him.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.