Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne Douglas "The Rock" Johnson OC (born May 2, 1972) is an American actor 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.

Dwayne Johnson OC
Johnson in 2023
Born	(1972-05-02) May 2, 1972 (age 52) Hayward, California, U.S.
Occupations	Actor businessman producer
Years active	1990–1995 (football) 1996–2004; 2011–2013; 2016; 2023– present (wrestling) 1999–present (acting)
Spouses	Dany Garcia ​ ​ (m. 1997; div. 2007)​ Lauren Hashian ​ ​ (m. 2019)​
Children	3
Relatives	Rocky Johnson (father) Peter Maivia (grandfather) Lia Maivia (grandmother) Nia Jax (cousin) Rosey (cousin) Roman Reigns (cousin) Sib Hashian (father-in-law) Ava Raine (daughter)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Dwayne Johnson[1] Flex Kavana[2] Rocky Maivia[2] The Rock[2]
Billed height	6 ft 5 in (196 cm)[3]
Billed weight	260 lb (118 kg)[3]
Billed from	Miami, Florida[3]
Trained by	Pat Patterson[4] Rocky Johnson[2] Tom Prichard[5]
Debut	March 10, 1996

Early life

Johnson was born on May 2, 1972 in Hayward, California. His father, WWE Hall of Fame Rocky Johnson, was of Black Nova Scotian and Irish descent and his mother is Samoan.

Professional wrestling

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]

Championships and awards

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Match of the Year (1999) (vs. Mankind in an "I Quit" match at Royal Rumble)^[13]
  • PWI Match of the Year (2002) (vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8)^[14]
  • PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1999, 2000)^[15]
  • PWI Wrestler of the Year (2000)^[16]
  • He was ranked #2 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 2000.^[17]
  • He was ranked #14 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 2001.^[18]
  • He was ranked #9 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 2002.^[19]
• United States Wrestling Association
  • USWA World Tag Team Championship (two times) (with Bart Sawyer)^[20]
• World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
  • WCW/World Championship (two times)^1[21][22]
  • WWF/E Championship (eight times)^{2[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]}
  • WWF Intercontinental Championship (two times)^[31][32]
  • World Tag Team Championship (five times) (with Mankind (three), The Undertaker (one), and Chris Jericho (one))^{[33][34][35][36][37]}
  • Royal Rumble (2000)^[38]
  • Slammy Award for New Sensation (1997)^[39]
  • Slammy Award for Game Changer of the Year (2011) (with John Cena)
  • Slammy Award for Guess Who's Back or: Return of the Year (2011)
  • Slammy Award for LOL! Moment of the Year (2012) (Insulting John Cena using the history of Boston, Massachusetts)
  • Slammy Award for LOL! Moment of the Year (2013) (The Rock Concert on the 20th Anniversary of Raw)^[40]
  • Slammy Award for Match of the Year (2013) (vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 29)^[41]
  • Sixth Triple Crown Champion
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Best Box Office Draw (2000, 2011, 2012)
  • Best Gimmick (1999)
  • Best on Interviews (1999–2000)
  • Most Charismatic (1999–2002, 2011, 2012)
  • Most Improved (1998)
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2007)

¹The Rock won the championship during The Invasion

²His seventh reign was as Undisputed WWE Champion

Acting

Johnson as began acting in 1999. In 2004, he stopped wrestling so that he could focus on acting. During this time, he was in many movies. He was also a guest star in some television series. He usually played himself in these episodes. He played the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King. He was also in the movies Race to Witch Mountain, The Other Guys, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and G.I. Joe - Retaliation. He is set to play Shazam! villain Black Adam in the DC Extended Universe movies, staring with his own movie titled Black Adam in 2022.

Movies

• Dog Days - Lucas, Edson (1995)
• Beyond the Mat - Himself (1999)
• Longshot - Mugger (2000)
• The Mummy Returns - The Scorpion King (2001)
• The Scorpion King - Mathayus the Scorpion King (2002)
• The Rundown - Beck (2003)
• Walking Tall - Chris Vaughn (2004)
• Be Cool - Elliot Wilhelm (2005)
• Doom - Sarge (2005)
• Dog Days II - Lucas (2005)
• Gridiron Gang - Sean Porter (2006)
• Reno 911!: Miami - Agent Rick Smith (2007)
• Southland Tales - Boxer Santaros (2007)
• The Game Plan - Joe Kingman (2007)
• Dog Days 3 - Lucas (2007)
• Get Smart - Agent 23 (2008)
• Race to Witch Mountain - Jack Bruno (2009)
• Planet 51 - Capt. Charles 'Chuck' Baker (2009)
• Tooth Fairy - Derek Thompson / Tooth Fairy (2010)
• Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? - Daniel Franklin (Patricia's new boyfriend) (2010)
• Faster - Driver (2010)
• The Other Guys - Detective Christopher Danson (2010)
• You Again - Air Marshall (2010)
• Fast Five - Luke Hobbs (2011)
• Journey 2: The Mysterious Island - Hank Parsons (2011)
• G.I. Joe - Retaliation - Jon M. Chu (2012)
• Pain & Gain - Paul Doyle (2013)
• Fast & Furious 6 - Luke Hobbs (2013)
• Empire State - Detective James Ransome (2013)
• Hercules: The Thracian Wars - Hercules (2014)^[42]
• Fast & Furious 7 - Luke Hobbs (2015)^[43]
• Moana - Maui (2016)
• Fate of the Furious -Luke Hobbs
• Baywatch (2017)
• Rampage - Davis Okoye (2018)
• Skyscraper - Will Sawyer (2018)
• Jumanji: The Next Level - Dr. Xander "Smolder" Bravestone (2019)
• Hobbs & Shaw - Luke Hobbs (2019)
• Free Guy - Bank Robber #2 (2021)
• Jungle Cruise - Francisco Lopez de Heredia / Captain Frank Skipper Wolff (2021)
• Red Notice - John Hartley (2021)
• Black Adam - Black Adam (2022)
• Red One - Callum Drift (2024)

Television

• That '70s Show - Rocky Johnson (1999)
• The Net - Brody (1999)
• Star Trek: Voyager - The Champion (2000)
• Saturday Night Live - Guest host (2000 to 2008)
• Cory in the House - Himself (2007)
• Hannah Montana - Himself (2008)
• Wizards of Waverly Place - Himself (2009)
• Transformers: Prime - Cliffjumper (2010)
• Family Guy - Himself (2010)
• The Hero - Himself (2013) (host/producer)
• Wake Up Call - Himself (2014) (host/producer)
• Ballers - Spencer Strasmore (2014) (also executive producer)
• Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
• Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

Video Games

• The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian - Mathayus (2002)
• Fortnite - The End Chapter 2 (2021)

Personal life

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]

In August 2020, Johnson revealed that he and his family were diagnosed with COVID-19 during the pandemic in the United States.^[46]