Dwayne Douglas JohnsonOC (born May 2, 1972), also known by his nickname and ring nameThe Rock, is an Americanactor and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE. Johnson is also the co-owner of United Football League (UFL) and is on the board of directors for TKO Group Holdings, the parent company for both the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and WWE.[6][7] A third generation wrestler, he is part of the Anoa'i Family. He is the father of Simone Johnson, better known as NXT General manager Ava. His popularity in wrestling led to a sucessful acting career.
Johnson began his career as a football player. He played in the Canadian Football League. This only lasted a couple of months before he was let go. He then chose to become a professional wrestler like his father, Rocky Johnson, and grandfather, Peter Maivia. He began working for the WWE (then known as the World Wrestling Federation) and became very well known. He is one of the most popular wrestlers ever. He has won 16 championships. These include both alone and in a tag team. He has also won the Royal Rumble. He was the sixth person to win WWE's "Triple Crown". This means he won all three of the main championships - the WWE Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, and the World Tag Team Championship. Johnson also has many nicknames to his Rock resume: “The Great One”, “The Most Electrifying Man in All of Entertainment/Sports Entertainment”, “The Brahma Bull”, “Rocky”, and “The People’s Champ/Champion”. One of his most popular feuds during his career was against Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was also one of the most popular feuds in the Attitude Era.[8]
On February 14, 2011, The Rock was announced as the host of WrestleMania XXVII on April 3, 2011, appearing live on Raw for the first time in almost seven years. At WresteMania, after the main event between John Cena and The Miz for the WWE Championship ended in a draw, The Rock restarted the match as a no disqualification match. When the bell rang to start the rematch he hit the "Rock Bottom" on John Cena to let The Miz pin Cena and keep his championship. After the match The Rock came back in the ring and hit the "People's Elbow" on The Miz to end the show. On the following Raw, John Cena called out The Rock and challenged him to a match. The Rock accepted his challenge and said that if they are going to fight, they were going to do it at WrestleMania XXVIII. The Corre came out after The Rock accepted and attacked both The Rock and Cena, Cena and The Rock fought back and beat The Corre. The Rock defeated Cena on April 1 at WrestleMania. On January 27, 2013, The Rock defeated CM Punk at the Royal Rumble to win the WWE Championship for an eighth time. He lost it to Royal Rumble winner John Cena in their rematch on April 7 at WrestleMania 29. He returned in October 2014 to have a face-off with Rusev on Raw.[9]
On the September 15, 2023 episode of SmackDown, The Rock made a return for the first time in four years. He interrupted a promo between Pat McAfee and Austin Theory. He ended up hitting Theory with The People's Elbow with McAfee also hitting one on Theory after.[10] In February 2024, after being angered by Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes, The Rock turned heel and joined The Bloodline stable, led by his cousin Roman Reigns.[11] He then got another nickname, "The final boss".[12]
Johnson is a part of the Anoa'i wrestling family. He is the son of professional wrestler Rocky Johnson and the grandson of Peter Maivia. His mother is Samoan. His father is a Black Canadian from Nova Scotia. Because his father is Canadian, Johnson was given Canadian citizenship in 2009 through changes to the law.[44] His daughter Simone also works in WWE under the ring name Ava (formerly Ava Raine), making her the first ever fourth-generation wrestler in the company.[45]