A Comprehensive Research Report on
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is one of the most well known entertainers on the planet, made most famous by his role as a professional wrestler. However, his road to the top was not easy and consisted of many twists and turns. He had hopes of being a professional football player, but when those dreams were crushed due to injury, he decided to follow in his father and grandfather’s footsteps and become a professional wrestler. He was not an instant hit though, being greeted with boos at events at first. That changed when he adopted the persona of The Rock, becoming “the People’s Champion.” The Rock was extremely successful, winning a total of 16 championships as a wrestler in World Wrestling
Entertainment. The Rock also became a successful actor, starring in several blockbuster movies. It is therefore not surprising that The Rock has touched millions of lives throughout his career through entertainment.
The Early Years
Dwayne Douglas Johnson was born May 2, 1972, to Rocky and Ata Johnson, in Hayward, California.
Both his father and maternal grandfather, “High Chief” Peter Maivia, were professional wrestlers.
Growing up, Johnson moved a lot. Back then, being a professional wrestler was different, and you had to move every few years after the locals got tired of you. As a result, Johnson lived everywhere from
Auckland, New Zealand to Honolulu, Hawaii. Hawaii was where Johnson met his first girlfriend. Johnson was 10 and she was 13. This was just the beginning of Johnson’s love for older women. Johnson lost his virginity when he was 14 to an 18 year old virgin. He convinced her for months to have sex, making her believe he had had sex many times before and it wasn’t a big deal. He finally won her over and they had sex in a park. However, it didn’t last long as the cops came and ruined the fun.

Johnson’s family finally settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This is where he first tried wrestling.
However, he found it paled in comparison to professional wrestling and decided to quit the team. Instead, he began playing football and quickly became a star. Johnson also found a new girlfriend, Tina, but stayed in touch with Maria, who he still deeply loved. He had promised Maria that he would take her to his senior prom, and the fact he had a girlfriend did not dissuade him. He told Tina that his “cousin” was coming and he wanted to take her to prom. She said she was fine, and then night, at prom, Johnson ran between the two. Neither found out for months.
Johnson was recruited by many Division I programs but in the end accepted a full scholarship from the
University of Miami to play defensive tackle. University of Miami was one of the few schools that didn’t recruit Johnson and this piqued his interest in them. He was also impressed that the coach didn’t try to entice him to come with money, but instead with the opportunity to win a championship. When he arrived, he quickly realized he wasn’t going to be the biggest guy around anymore. However, that didn’t completely destroy his confidence. During pre-season, a coach called him into his office after reading a article in the paper about Johnson, in all likelihood, being red-shirted, which means you participate in all the practices but don’t play in real games. Though this would usually be exciting for a freshman, Johnson had ever intention of making the team, and in the end, he did.
In 1991, the Miami Hurricanes won the national championship, but Johnson was sidelined by an injury, separating a shoulder and tearing ligaments. This injury not only negatively affected his football career but his entire life. Without football, he was just another student and this was very hard for him. He did very poorly in classes, getting a 0.7 GPA, and became depressed and angry. This all changed when he met the girl of his dreams, Dany Garcia. It was the first girl he ever saw as a partner and they became very serious very quickly. His grades improved and he football started going better. That said, he still has anger issues, and one time chased after a mascot, screaming, “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!,” which landed him on all the news broadcasts.
In 1993, Johnson and Dany moved in together. This was a big deal because Dany’s parents had never liked Johnson because he was half-black, and when they decided to move in together, her parent’s made her choose between Johnson and them; she chose Johnson.
Johnson graduated in 1995 with a degree in criminology and physiology. He wanted to play in the NFL and signed with an agent in hopes of getting there. However, he never got drafted and no one signed his as a free agent. That is, until he was signed by a Canadian football team. However, he was cut shortly after, which is he finally realized his professional football career was over.
Wrestling Professionally
While in Canada, Johnson has started thinking about wrestling professionally. He still wanted to be a professional football player, so his dream was to be both, but now that he wasn’t going to be a professional football player, he turned his sights to wrestling. At first, his father was very against the idea of Johnson becoming a wrestler. However, Johnson persisted and his father finally agreed to train him.
Not before long, Johnson debuted in his first match, Survivor Series, at Madison Square Garden. He agreed to take the name Rocky Maivia, after his father and grandfather’s names, after much resistance. He didn’t want to be seen as just the son and grandfather of wrestlers, but as his own person. He “won” the match, signaling to the fans he would be around for awhile. Johnson’s character was a technically

proficient wrestler who smiled a lot but rarely talked, which Johnson was fine with since he was new to the game. Johnson began touring regularly.
However, the fans quickly began to turn on Rocky Maivia. Even though he kept winning, the fans didn’t like his babyface attitude, and soon began booing Rocky Maivia at every match, shouting, “Rocky sucks!” and “Die Rocky! Die!” Rocky ended up losing a match, and around the same time, injuring him.
Johnson used this time off to re-brand himself. During this time off, Johnson also finally married Dany.
When he returned, he decided to turn heel, joining The Nation, which was perceived by fans to be like the
Black Panthers. Johnson welcomed the change but wanted to make clear to the audience that his character wasn’t racist, especially given his past with Dany’s parents. He created a promo when he made clear the the reason he switched was because of “respect” and not skin color. The pivotal moment in Rocky’s career came in December 1997, when he challenged Stone Cold Steve Austin for the Intercontinental championship. Rocky’s promo ended with the line “And if you do accept my challenge, then your bottom line will say: “Stone Cold--has-been. Compliments of the Rock!” This began the greatest rivalry in World
Wrestling Federation history and with that, Rocky became “The Rock.”
Johnson quickly was regarded as the top promo creator in the industry. He attacked and insulted fans in his promos, and mocked WWF announcers. He had become a bully and became a fan favorite.
Interestingly, Johnson attributed his effectiveness as a promoter to his speech communication courses at
University of Miami. Here’s an example of a promo from The Rock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SH7bnElWyY
Acting
After a very successful career, Johnson left WWE in 2004, to focus solely on acting. Johnson has been cast in both movies and television. Johnson’s big break came in 2000, when he hosted Saturday Night
Live, while still wrestling. The success of that episode led to Johnson receiving offers from Hollywood studios for other parts. His first leading role as an actor was in 2002 in “The Scorpion King,” for which he received the highest salary ever for a actor in his first starring role, earning $5.5 million. He has since appeared in many blockbusters including The Rundown, Be Cool, Walking Tall, and The Game Plan. His most financially successful movie was Fast Five, which grossed $624,337,675 at the box offices.
Johnson’s biggest failure was “Doom,” which was a science fiction action film based on the video game series of the same name. Even Johnson referred to it as a failure. He has also guest starred in a number of
TV shows including “That 70s Show,” where he played his own father.
Personal Life
On August 14, 2001, Johnson and Garcia had a daughter, Simone Alexandra. On June 1, 2007, they announced they were splitting up, though they planned on being best friends for the rest of their lives.
Johnson has continued to act while playing a role in WWE. He has also become involved in philanthropic endeavors, starting a foundation in his name in 2006, which supports at-risk and terminally ill children.

He has also joined the race against AIDS and racism. In his spare time, he enjoys singing, playing video games, and telling jokes. Even after all this fame, he is still a mama’s boy at heart.