Dwayne Johnson Reflects On Early WWE Career, Becoming The Rock

A million-dollar smile might open doors in Hollywood, but sometimes it won't land with a cynical wrestling audience. Before he became the snarky, quick-witted verbal assassin that drops foul-mouthed 20-minute promos on social media, The Rock was a cookie-cutter babyface, glad-handing his way to the ring for an audience that wasn't buying it. Johnson chronicled his early in-ring beginnings from saccharine good guy to heat magnet during an appearance on the "PBD" podcast.

"What [Vince] did say to me was, 'I want you to go out there and smile. ... I want the audience to feel that you're grateful, so I want you to smile all the time.' So I would go out every night and my music would hit, and I would come out and I would smile. But then when I would get beat, I had to smile, like, coming back to the locker room. And eventually, people just started to feel like, well, that's not real. That's not authentic. And I started to feel that, too. And it would eat me up inside."

The son of WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson recalled being given an opportunity as WWE's youngest Intercontinental Champion, but soon felt — and heard — the crowd begin to turn on him. After taking a few months off to rehab a knee injury, Vince McMahon offered Johnson a chance to turn heel, pointedly suggesting that if that role didn't suit Johnson either, he probably didn't have a future with the company.

"I said, 'Okay, I have one request. Can I have the microphone for two minutes? I just want to express myself.' And he said, 'Oh boy, I don't know about that.' 'Just give me one minute.' He said fine. ... and within two months I became the hottest bad guy in the company, and then turned into The Rock."