What If... The Rock Didn't Go To Hollywood?
Charting an alternate PG era timeline.
On 17 July 2018, Forbes magazine named Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as the highest-paid actor in the magazine’s 20-year history, raking in an incredible $124 million between June 2017 and June 2018.
This is almost double the $65 million he earned the previous year, and more than any other actor listed on Forbes’ Celebrity 100 ever. Not bad, for a guy who had just $7 to his name after being cut from the Canadian Football League in 1995.
Johnson is, without question, the biggest mainstream crossover star professional wrestling has ever produced. He transcended the sport a long time ago, and now, the Attitude Era’s top attraction is an unprecedented box office smash, with roles in films like Jumanji, Moana, and the indomitable Fast & Furious franchise placing him on an earnings pedestal above everyone else.
Once one of Vince McMahon’s biggest money-making assets, Rock’s wrestling career faded as his acting one took off. He earmarked on his first sabbatical in March 2002, before taking another upon losing the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar later in the year, and his run as an active performer effectively ended after a Backlash 2003 defeat against Goldberg.
Now restricted to sporadic appearances, Rocky hasn’t appeared live for WWE since squashing Erick Rowan at WrestleMania 32. He has been linked with a match at 'Mania 35, but given the immense physical toll wrestling supposedly takes on his 46-year-old body, this speculation should be kept at arm’s length until the man himself gives confirmation. It woudn’t be the first time the media have teased a non-existent return.
It’s easy to understand why they do. Rock is the most famous wrestler of all time, the most surefire ratings-booster in the business, and someone who has never forgotten his wrestling roots despite immense success elsewhere. On top of this, he was an era-defining Superstar whom WWE have never truly replaced. Lord knows they’ve tried, but neither John Cena nor Roman Reigns has filled that voice as a charismatic franchise player, despite their respective skill-sets.
Coupled with that of Steve Austin, Rock’s WWE departure effectively signalled the end of the company’s last boom period. Things would’ve been vastly different had he not decided to pursue more lucrative income streams on the silver screen, and had he not left (or persisted through notable box office flips like The Scorpion King (2002)), the business might be unrecognisable.
What would that mean for the man himself, his peers, and the wrestling business as a whole? Let’s theorise.
CONT’d...