Ranking EVERY WWE Champion From Worst To Best
10. The Rock
For many years, it felt as though Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson couldn't be as young as Hollywood suggested, but much of that was down to just how early he cracked then completed professional wrestling. The Rock was a bold choice to win the WWE Championship for the first time at the 1998 Survivor Series, but only because of his youth and relative inexperience - not his star power.
As early as SummerSlam 1998 (less than two years into his WWE run), fans were gravitating towards him in a way only comparable to Stone Cold Steve Austin. Bouncing the belt back and forth with Mankind as 1999 dawned was in keeping with the televisual style of the time, but WrestleMania's main event never stood a chance of being anything other than Rock Vs Austin. Just as it was in 2001, following Rock's exceptional stewardship of the company alongside Triple H in 2000.
He was on par with Austin by then, and surpassed 'The Rattlesnake' as a mainstream crossover star by late-2001. As Champion, he was ultimately more of a beneficiary of the business becoming hot again rather than driving the company back to the promised land in the first place. But it takes a minor miracle to make one era-defining star in pro wrestling. It took 'The Great One' to somehow have two.