Welcome To The Rock: A Journey Through Dwayne Johnson’s Career

In the mid-1990s, young Dwayne Johnson was followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and became a professional wrestler. He was dubbed “Rocky Maivia,” which was supposed to harken back to his dad, Rocky Johnson, and grandfather, Peter Maivia. It was also supposed to make the audience love him. They did not. In fact, they hated him. Johnson hurt his knee in 1997 and after his recuperation, he returned to the ring as a “heel” (aka bad guy) called The Rock. He insulted the audience, tweaked his eyebrows and became an instant celebrity. You can catch The Rock in action in the professional wrestling documentary, WWE: The Top 25 Rivalries In Wrestling History, now streaming on Netflix.  

After his wild success as The Rock, Johnson started to dip his toe into acting with various guest spots on popular television shows. In 2000, he appeared on Star Trek: Voyager as an alien pro-wrestler who has to fight Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). It’s pretty hilariously awesome and you can catch it on Netflix. 

The Rock made his big screen debut as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the 2001’s The Mummy Returns and films were never the same again. Okay, films were largely the same. The Rock was now in them, though. He played a bit part as “The Scorpion King,” a role he would reprise the following year…

It wasn’t enough for The Rock that he act in films; he wanted to star in them. In 2002, he brought his character from The Mummy Returns back to the big screen in the action epic, The Scorpion King. This time around, he wasn’t the weird CGI-villain. He was the human protagonist. So, that’s an improvement. 

It’s one thing to transition from professional wrestling to playing action heroes, but it’s quite another to go from being a WWE heel to headlining a warm and fuzzy family film. And yet, that’s just what Dwayne Johnson did in 2007. He moved away from playing the scary muscles in action flicks and became Disney’s new leading man when he starred in The Game Plan. 

Ironically, The Rock’s actual physical strength has never been his greatest strength as a performer. His biggest asset is his monster sense of humor. The Rock is more than willing to poke fun at himself and the cast and crew of Saturday Night Live took notice. The Rock has hosted three episodes to date and cameoed in some iconic sketches. Play on, big guy. Play on. You can catch Saturday Night Live on Hulu. 

The Rock solidified his position as “the new Brendan Fraser” when he starred in the 2009 reboot of Race To Witch Mountain. Since that flick, he’s also appeared in family-friendly fare like The Tooth Fairy (2010) and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012). Do you think Brendan Fraser hates Dwayne Johnson for stealing all of Hollywood’s good “hero in a family film” roles? 

You know what would be cool? If Michael Bay made a crime-drama about bodybuilders who do some very bad things? And what if it starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg and Anthony “The Falcon from Captain America: The Winter Soldier” Mackie? That would be cool, right? That, my friend, would be the 2013 film, Pain & Gain. 

You’re not a legitimate movie star anymore unless you have a major motion picture franchise under your belt, and we’ve reached a day and age when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is one of our biggest movie stars. To wit, he now headlines the G.I. Joe franchise films. Most recently, he starred in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. We somehow don’t think the franchise’s original star, Channing Tatum, minds. 

If there’s one big takeaway from Dwayne Johnson’s career, it’s that he makes smart career choices. No, really, he’s a really savvy business man! He switched wrestling personas when one didn’t work, slowly moved into television, and later film. Each film role he’s taken on is something that builds on how the public sees him and how they want to see him. So, you could say that his most genius career move was to join the extraordinarily popular Fast & Furious franchise in 2011. He knows that his audience likes fast cars, great fight scenes and flimsy plots. The Rock is now a member of the franchise’s tight knit family. After appearing in Fast Five, he was asked to return for Fast & Furious 6 and will appear in the seventh installment.