For the hardcore fans this doesn’t need to be said, but for everybody else we have to put this story into perspective. If you do not know Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson before the successful movie career that he has now and movies like Jumanji, The F&F movie franchise and so much more he did so far, he was known as Rocky Maivia a WWF (later WWE) wrestler. He also comes from the line of proud wrestlers starting from his grandfather, “High Chief” Peter Maivia and father Wayde Douglas Bowles aka Rocky Johnson. But let’s leave history here and get to the title at hand.
The title “The Rock Reacts” is something that Dwayne started recently on his YouTube channel and named it appropriately. It is going to be done “every once in a while” according to him, and he is going to give his live commentary on the topic at hand. This time, it was about his first ever WWF/E appearance. In the beginning, he gave us some retrospective about the match and how it was a truly rare occasion that the rookie like him gets the chance to debut on the huge stage in Madison Square Garden as part of the pay-per-view Survivor Series. Apparently, this was the same place where his father and grandfather “spilled blood” which was a great honor to him.
Dwayne Johnson, you see in the video commentary now and 20 years ago are two completely different characters, especially on the outside. The Rock from 20 years ago had a Chia Pet hair cut or as Dwayne put it picturesquely “a f-ing Chia Pet.” He also made a rookie mistake where he turned to wrong camera leading to the situation where the right camera caught only his back. He continues explaining how that night changed his life forever. On his rookie match, he found himself as the only good guy against two bad guys – Goldust and Crush. That exact moment was a life-changing for him because that is when the entire Madison Square Garden started chanting his name. As The Rock noted that was a hard thing, no it was an impossible thing to script, it’s just something that simply happens.
Of course, it is suffice to say that he won the match and pinned both veteran wrestlers in a true David VS. Goliath match. He also shared that “It was a very, very special night and this night really kicked off my career, it really defined my career.”
