3. Rocky Maivia To The Rock
Dwayne Johnson is currently one of the most famous movie stars in the world, and will be forever regarded as a legend of the wrestling business. But it wasnt always so rosy for the third generation star. The grandson of Peter Maivia and son of Rocky Johnson, it was clear from the start that Dwayne was a star in the making, having grown up in the wrestling business. Everyone within the WWF believed in him, including the most important man of all: Vince McMahon. Unfortunately, it was too much too soon for the inexperienced Johnson. Packaged as Rocky Maivia, a colourful star paying homage to his past generations, he was quickly pushed up the card as a generic, rather bland, smiling babyface. Just three months after his debut, he won the Intercontinental title. Much like the 2014 reaction to Batistas return, the fans rejected Maivia, and uncharitable chants of Die Rocky Die! could be heard in arenas wherever the WWF went. Then fate played a part in changing his career forever. After losing the Intercontinental title to Owen Hart, Johnson suffered a knee injury. When he returned, he was repackaged as a member of The Nation of Domination, along with Faarooq (Ron Simmons), DLo Brown and Kama Mustafa (see no 10). Now a heel, he could react to the fans jeering, as opposed to trying to ignore them through the forced smiles. He was no longer Rocky Maivia. He was simply The Rock, only ever referring to himself in the third person. All of a sudden, he could show some wit and charisma, and my goodness, he had charisma by the absolute bucketload. Over time, The Rock character evolved, turning babyface as the Nation split. The Rock declared himself The Peoples Champion and started doing the derogatory promos that mocked and belittled his heel opponents. The fans lapped it up. Despite switching between heel and face a couple of times, the fans never really wanted to boo him. His catchphrases are still recited to this day, and one of them even gave a new WWE television show,
Smackdown, its name. Johnson wound his wrestling career down and transitioned into movies very successfully. But the wrestling business has always been in his blood and in his heart. When he came out unannounced at the beginning of WrestleMania XXX, the crowd erupted, before singing along with the catchphrases.