Dwayne Johnson

/wiki/Dwayne Johnsoncreator

IF YA SMELLLLLLLLALALALALALAO!!!!! WHAT THE ROCK! IS COOKIN'!!!

"Finally...The Rock HAS COME BACK TO All The Tropes!"

Better known as The Rock, Dwayne Johnson is a hugely personable professional wrestler turned actor. He was born into the Maivia Wrestling Family on his mother's side, which has close ties to the Anoa'i family (its members known for playing up the Wild Samoan stereotype). His father, also a wrestler, is black. Johnson's ambiguous racial features give him a universal sex appeal similar to other mixed actors like Halle Berry and Vin Diesel. Plus, he doesn't seem to take himself seriously, committing without self-consciousness to roles most people would turn down. Either way, his good looks, friendly personality, and decent acting often make him the best thing in a bad movie, although not always enough to save it.

As The Rock, he is a very notable individual in the Wrestling Industry. He first entered the WWF as Rocky Maivia, a Legacy Character to both the Maivia family and his father (wrestler Rocky Johnson), and was pushed into becoming a Creator's Pet. Rocky Maivia was a perpetual face that drove the audience insane with how much he was pushed. Eventually, he was set loose thanks to a heel turn, freeing him creatively and allowing him to show off his incredible mic skills. He's become one of the most prominent examples of Rescued from the Scrappy Heap, exploding as a fan favorite and star. In fact, his mic skills were so good, the title "Smackdown" itself actually comes from one of his catchphrases, causing him to call it his show (and the word is now in the dictionary and is officially part of the English language). After leaving the competition for a stint, Dwayne Johnson re-signed in 2011 with the intention to make appearances more frequently than he has in the past. Ladies and Gentlemen, it's official. FINALLY! THE ROCK HAS COME BACK TO THE WWE!

Aaaaand then he left. Again.

John Cena can't get over his obsession with Johnson.

Were you looking for the Michael Bay movie? IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR!

Films include:
Dwayne Johnson provides examples of the following tropes:
  • Actor Allusion: In his appearance on That '70s Show, while playing his father, Dwayne makes reference to his son, who he hopes will one day be "the most electrifying man in sports entertainment". Red simply responds with "Yeah, good luck with that."
  • Ambiguously Brown: Well, he's half black and half Samoan, but he could be any number of ethnicities if you're just relying on what he looks like.
    • While gushing over a portrait a fan painted of him (yes, really), he praised a number of aspects of the painting, including getting his skin tone right, which he described as a "peanut butter complexion".
    • Family Guy even lampshaded this, calling him black, Hispanic, mixed, and "maybe a little Filipino" all at the same time.
    • Many probably thought he was just a George Hamiltonesque white man when they first saw him.
  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: This video says it.
    • Note to tropers: Please be sure to have the volume on your speakers/headphones at a minimum level. Your ears will be blown out.
    • To make it official, he has signed a contract with WWE to appear on the Raw brand. Ladies and Gentlemen, it's official. FINALLY! THE ROCK! HAS COME BACK! TO WWE!
  • Angry Black Man: He made his Face Heel Turn when he joined the Nation of Domination. Subverted when Rock made it clear that it had nothing to do with the color of his skin, but because of the fans booing him and chanting "Die Rocky Die", and after he took over the group he changed it from an Angry Black Man group into a stable in his own "cool" image.
  • Animal Motif: The Brahma Bull, which he has on his merchandise, and tattooed on his right arm.
  • Arch Enemy: Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, and maybe the Big Show from the Attitude Era. As of 2011, John Cena.
  • Ascended Fanboy: He's been pushing the new G.I.Joe movie extensively on his Facebook and Twitter accounts for a reason.
  • Ass Shove: One of his Catch Phrases.

"Take [this/that] [noun], shine it up real nice, turn that sumbitch sideways and shove it straight up your candy ass!"

  • Awesome Ego: As The Rock. It's what got him heat in his first heel run, then it got him over, and it's been one of his defining character traits ever since. Even while he's a heel, the fans love it and cheer him for it, and he's one of (if not the) best examples in all wrestling.
  • Badass
  • Badass Beard: For a while during his return to aid Mick Foley against Evolution in 2004, as well as Luke Hobbs in Fast Five.
  • Badass Boast: ALWAYS
  • Bald of Awesome: Currently.
  • Beat Them At Their Own Game: At some point down the line, the Rock picked up a habit of using his opponents' own finishers on them. This included Pedigree-ing Triple H onto a table, chokeslamming The Undertaker, putting Kurt Angle in the ankle lock and giving Stone Cold Steve Austin a Stunner at pretty much every opportunity he could... which was a lot. Naturally, many of them would give him a Rock Bottom back.
    • Subverted in two instances with the People's Elbow, ironically in his last two Wrestlemania matches: Wrestlemania 20, where he nipped up when Ric Flair was going for it, and oddly enough, John Cena at Wrestlemania 28, where The Rock countered it into a Rock Bottom for the victory.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The Rock's WrestleMania 20 match.
  • Breakup Breakout: Arguably the most successful wrestling example ever. He went from being a member of the Power Stable Nation of Domination to a full-fledged movie star.
  • Catch Phrase: In addition to "layeth the smacketh downth" (and eventually "smackdown"):
    • If/Do you smell what The Rock is cooking!/?
    • Shine it up real nice, turn it sideways, and stick it straight up your...
      • ...rootie poo candy ass!
      • rectum! (No really, he did say 'candy ass'. But at one point his mother told him she disliked it, so he changed it for her.)
    • ...Whip your monkey-ass!
      • ...make your monkey-ass famous!
    • Early in his career: The Rock is the best damn (whatever the hell belt he was holding at the time) Champ there ever was!
    • Sweet cream on an ice cream sandwich!
    • You look like ten pounds of monkey crap in a five pound-bag.
      • ...piece of grade A monkey crap!
    • Who in the blue Hell are you?
      • What in the blue Hell is wrong with you?
    • ...Jabroni!
    • Now The Rock has just one question. What... is your name? (or "Well, what do you think about that?")
    • ...the Millions (AND MILLIONS) of Rock fans!!
    • Do you like pie?
    • This ain't sing-a-long with The Rock!
    • Whoaaa, easy there, big fella! (usually while slapping his shaking leg)
    • If you ever ...And The Rock means ever...!
    • The Jabroni-beatin', pie-eatin', Hell-raisin', trailblazin', People's Champ!
      • Or, occasionally, the "jabroni-beatin', pie-eatin', trailblazin', Eyebrow-raisin' People's Champ".
      • During one comeback, he flubbed the line completely and it ended up being "The Jabroni-Eatin', Pie-Beatin' Eatin', The Rock says he's walkin' fast, whuppin' ass, People's Champ THE ROCK!"
      • On his return to Raw on February 14, 2011 he named himself as the Jabroni-Beatin', Pie-Eatin', Trailblazin', Eyebrow Raisin', Step off the brake, Foot on the Gas, Always Ready to whup some Ass People's Champ!
    • Enough with the yakking, I'm done with this speech. The Rock is gonna party all over South Beach!
    • The People's Eyebrow/Elbow/Sunglasses/Champion/Strudel.
    • The MOST Electrifying Man In Sports-Entertainment...
    • The Rock guaran-damn-tees that...
    • ....you sick freak!
      • Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!
    • You're gonna go one on one, with the Great One!
    • FINALLY THE ROCK HAS COME BACK TO [Insert City Here]. Even (especially?) when he's never actually been there before.
    • Know your role, and SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!!!
    • The Rock wants you to take a stroll down Know Your Role Blvd, hang a right at Jabroni Drive, and check your candy ass directly into the Smack Down Hotel!
    • Well why don't you come out and (insert action here) at/to The Rock?
    • ... before the Rock gives you an ass-whuppin' of a lifetime!
    • He also simply asks you to JUST BRING IT.
    • You know you've made it when Kim Possible uses your Catch Phrase.
    • He also wants you to know that he is here to put BOOTS TO ASSES.
    • The Rock would also like for you to know that Boots to Asses is TRENDING WORLDWIDE.
  • Cheap Heat: His heel promo in Toronto: "...faster than a bear, stronger than a buck, the biggest thing to hit Canada 'cause the Maple Leafs suck!"
  • Cheap Pop: "Finally, The Rock has come back...to (insert town name here)!"
    • Subverted during his 2003 heel run. He would bastardize a city's name instead of complementing them, and at times even mock the crowd for popping at their city being name-dropped:

FINALLY The Rock HAS COME BACK to Toron... to Toron... TORON HIS MOUTH ON ALL YOUR CANDY ASSES!

  • later*What, is this the first time you heard someone mention your city? "Yay, he said Toronto! Woo, yay! That's where we live, we live in Toronto, yay!" SHUT UP!
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Possible subversion: Although he has never used the actual 'F' word, since his return to PG-WWE, his promos are by far the most foulmouthed.

Booker T and Shane, the punk ass sucka and the silver spoon muthaf****!

  • Commuting on a Bus: Following his return to wrestling in 2011, due to his filming schedule, he would make a few appearances when time was given, and the fact he never said he would be there very single week. This was worked in to his feud with John Cena for their Wrestlemania 28 match.
  • Cool Shades: Well, they started as normal shades, but considering that everything the Rock touched got a bit of his coolness, they ended up this way.
    • They led to a great moment with him and Mankind as tag partners. While putting Mankind down with his usual flair, he went to do his "If you smell..." bit but knocked his own shades off. He couldn't finish the bit without them but picking them up would have made him look like a putz. So, Mankind goes over, picks them up and hands them to him. The Rock then earnestly tells him, "The Rock thanks you for that." before going back into the bit.
  • Costume Porn: There seemed to be a limitless wardrobe of flamboyant "500-dollar shirts" in 1998/1999/2000. Until they started making more and more merch for him, and then it all went away.
    • The "500 dollar shirts" worked when The Rock's character was more emphatically that of a self-important Jerkass. After tagging with Mick Foley, a lot of his more Jerk Sue attributes went away so the loud, pointlessly expensive shirts didn't fit him anymore.
  • Crowd Song: Integral to his role as the People's Champion, was his interaction with his millions... (AND MILLIONS!)... of fans, often achieved by them joining in on his catchphrases. When he returned in 2011, the crowd's interaction was a little rusty, so he got them back into the mood:

"No no no no that's still not good enough! The Rock is the People's Champ, you are the backbone of The Rock! When we speak, all our voices are heard, we all say "I Bring It"! Anaheim, the world is watching, Anaheim, the world is listening! One more time: WHEN THE MILLIONS... (AND MILLIONS!)..."

  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: His victory against Triple H and the entire McMahon entourage, (with a little help from one Stone Cold Steve Austin) at Backlash 2000.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The Rock has displayed a very dry sense of humor when he isn't yelling and electrifying.
  • Did Not Do the Research: Gave John Cena several "History lessons" in Cena's home state of Massachusetts during a March 2012 episode of Raw. Contrary to what Rock said, Paul Revere did not ride through Boston on horseback, screaming "The British are coming," and Benjamin Franklin did not "invent" electricity.
  • The Dragon: To Faarooq in the Nation of Domination after his initial heel turn. Though with his charisma he quickly rose to become Dragon-in-Chief, which of course eventually lead to him becoming a Dragon Ascendant, as he took over as leader of the Nation.
    • The Rock was also The Dragon to Vince McMahon when he joined the Corporation and became Vince's "Corporate Champion". Also played straight during Rock's Hollywood heel run, as Vince would have him fight Hulk Hogan at No Way Out 2003, before Hogan took on Vince himself at Wrestlemania XIX.
  • Enemy Mine: Despite pretty much hating each other, The Rock and Stone Cold were often forced into tag teams together against a team of whoever they were feuding with. Outside of maybe Mick Foley, Stone Cold was probably The Rock's most consistent tag team partner in spite of the fact that they hated each other.
    • He teams up with John Cena at Survivor Series 2011!!! He lists his reasons as being because 1), the fans want it, and 2), he and his fans hate The Miz and R-Truth more.
  • Evil Costume Switch: The early part of his run with the Corporation saw him trade his standard wrestling trunks for athletic pants and shirts as if he wasn't even taking his opponents (usually Mick Foley) seriously anymore. He also started wearing his Costume Porn around this time.
    • His 2003 heel turn saw him trade the merch shirt/athletic pants for leather pants and an open vest.
  • Face Heel Turn: Johnson's first, going from Rocky Maivia to The Rock and joining up with the Nation of Domination, led to the boos being leveled at him turning from X-Pac Heat into Real Heat.
  • Fascinating Eyebrow: The People's Eyebrow.
  • Finishing Move: The People's Elbow (the most electrifying move in sports entertainment!) and The Rock Bottom.
    • Midway through his career, he added the Sharpshooter as a submission finisher as a tribute to his former stable-mate in the Nation, Owen Hart.
  • Fountain of Memes: He lampshades this on Raw gets Rocked

"When The Rock talks on twitter things trend worldwide.

  • Gentle Giant: Off-stage.
  • Glasses Pull: During the oft-mentioned return to the WWE in February 2011, during his promo he took off his Cool Shades, turned down the volume, and said he wanted to address the crowd as Dwayne. For about a minute he allowed his true personality show and gave a heartfelt thanks to the fans for continuing to cheer despite his seven year absence. And then the glasses went back on and the Most Electrifying Man in All Of Entertainment reappeared in the ring.
  • Ham-to-Ham Combat: Anytime he and John Cena are in the same room, you can expect this.
  • Heel Face Turn: His turn after leaving The Corporation was very much welcomed.
  • Hell-Bent for Leather: The Rock has a fondness for leather, especially during the Hollywood Rock era.
  • He's Back: To host Wrestlemania XXVII.
  • Hot-Blooded: Some of Johnson's promos would veer right into this territory...and then he'd go out to the ring and back it up.
    • Also, pretty much anytime Rock puts someone in the Sharpshooter or any other submission move, he gives that look of insanity Ken Shamrock would give.
  • How Much More Can He Take? / No-Holds-Barred Beatdown / Unnecessary Roughness: Johnson's "I Quit" match with Mick "Mankind" Foley at Royal Rumble 1999 was all three of these - the second for the nature of the match, the first and third for the 10 unprotected chair shots in a row Johnson delivered to Foley.
    • Brutal enough to make Foley's wife and children leave their ringside seats in a crying, hysterical mess, as documented in the Beyond the Mat documentary.
  • Jerk Jock: Even as a face, Johnson was the cool slick athlete that made fun of everybody, his interactions with Coach were especially telling; the crowd still went nuts over him.
    • It was the crowd-pleasing charismatic awesomeness with which he did this that convinced WWE to turn him face.
  • Large Ham: Even as far as Professional Wrestling goes, Rocky was/is one of the largest.
  • Legacy Character: Johnson was the first third generation wrestler in WWE history.
  • Lightning Bruiser: He wrestled a pretty straight power wrestling style, but was not slow at all; the guy could perform a kip-up, and the pop for that was always incredible.
  • Lighter and Softer: In 1999, the Rock was a flashy, flamboyant Jerkass that could spend ten minutes running down characteristics of his opponents. By 2000 he had turned face and his mockery was often left to Michael Cole and assorted backstage fodder, save one incredible promo about Rikishi, Austin, and others. His Costume Porn was replaced with basic gym pants and his merch shirt. As Badass Decay took hold, he nearly turned into The Scrappy, to the point where he was booed at a Wrestlemania while fighting a guy who hit him with a bigrig. Now, said crowd was wearing Nostalgia Goggles for Hulk Hogan's first WWF outgoing in something like eight years, but still...
  • Loners Are Freaks: Part of the WWE roster's seemingly legit beef with the Rock backstage involves the words "he keeps to himself".
  • Meaningful Name: Johnson's first ring name, Rocky Maivia, was a tribute to his father (Rocky Johnson) and grandfather (High Chief Peter Maivia).
  • Mean Character, Nice Actor: If he's not being The Rock, Dwayne is 'the nicest man in ANY business'. He used to be a 'Nice Character, Nice Actor', but that... doesn't work so well, so he fixed it.
    • And as shown by the Saturday Night Live sketch used to promote The Scorpion King, he has a gentle and lovely singing voice.
    • Check out this quote...sniff, it's nothin', just some dirt in my eye.
  • Money, Dear Boy: One of the main reasons he took up acting, even while his wrestling career was at a stellar level of popularity. In interviews, he's said that he enjoys wrestling more than acting, but acting pays a great deal better, has a more flexible work schedule, and is far less physically punishing.
    • That's the upside (while wrestling fans may not like it, they can at least understand it, and at least we still get to see him be a badass in movies.) The dark side of this is that he also developed a reputation for taking parts that no other actor would touch. He's getting better, going back to more action films, but The Tooth Fairy is seen as a low point where Money, Dear Boy and possibly So My Kids Can Watch clouded his better judgement.
  • Nice Guy: Very sweet, sensitive and self-deprecating, and as a rule rather than exception these days plays exact opposites of his macho wrestling persona in movies.
  • Odd Couple: His team-ups with Mick Foley, aptly labeled The Rock and Sock Connection. The Rock went from being a Jerk Jock who consistently bullied Mick to slowly respecting and liking Mick to the point where, in his last match, he was acting as something like a big brother for Mick in regards to his feud with the bullies in Evolution.
  • Older Than He Looks: He celebrated his 40th birthday in 2012. Aside from a little gray in his beard, there is absolutely nothing to indicate he is anywhere near that old.
  • Old Shame: Averted. His distance from wrestling was due to pressure from his old agent. Before he got involved with WWE again in 2011, he fired said agent and is now represented by his ex-wife, to whom he was married to during his full-time WWE career.
  • Playing Against Type: Sometimes, like his role as Elliott in Be Cool.
  • Popularity Power: The ONLY reason anyone buys the People's Elbow as a finisher.
    • Lampshaded by Mick Foley in his autobiography Have A Nice Day when he said it looked totally ridiculous, but it's effect on a crowd was phenomenal.
    • In an Epileptic Tree about the People's Elbow seen below, it's actually the Rock's Combined Energy Attack because of this.
    • Also seen in the fact that he's one of the few people that can get something to trend on Twitter simply by saying that it's trending on Twitter.
  • Power Stable: The Nation of Domination; The Corporation.
  • Ragdoll Physics: The Rock oversold the Stone Cold Stunner in ways that made it impossible not to laugh.
  • Rhymes on a Dime: All his "Jabroni beating, pie eating..." rants end with him rhyming, pretty impressive since most of his promos are improvised.

"...stronger than a bull, faster than a buck, the best thing to hit Canada since the Maple Leafs suck!"

"...step off the brakes, put on the gas, ready to come here and whip some candy ass!"

"You come here to The Rock's show and don't even have the class to introduce yourself? What is your name? IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS!

  • Sobriquet: "The Rock", "The People's Champion", "The Most Electrifying Man In Sports-Entertainment.[context?]
  • Still Got It: 2011-2-14 Raw. He comes out to a deafening pop and cuts a promo starting at 10:55 and getting to go for almost 30 minutes (including a 20 minute run-over) that proves that he's STILL the best promo guy in the business EVER, even after being out of the business for SEVEN YEARS.
    • And at Survivor Series 2011, he proved that, yes, he can still go in the ring. The crowd agreed.
    • And then at Wrestlemania 28, he proved that he can still go one on one in the ring.
  • Stylistic Suck: When Rock sings. It's not that he's horrible, but he deliberately hams it up to be worse than it is. A series of "Rock Concerts" in 2003 amounted to acoustic performances about how awful the host city is.
  • Tall, Dark and Handsome
  • Tall, Dark and Snarky: "Know your role and shut your mouth, or The Rock will layeth the smacketh down all over your roody-poo candy ass!"
  • Ten-Minute Retirement: Averted; Johnson, who left WWE after WrestleMania 20 to concentrate on his film career, didn't wrestle for another seven years.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: On the 2/14/11 episode of Monday Night RAW, Rock returned to announce that he was hosting Wrestlemania 27. His following speech will no doubt be in his Crowning Moment of Awesome page within the coming days, as he essentially tore the PG-era apart, from Cole to Cena to you-can't-see-me and all the while swearing and ignoring PG in every way possible.
  • The Starscream: How the Rock took over the Nation of Domination.
  • Theatrics of Pain: The Rock sells pain like few others. This sometimes creeps into Narm... especially when he's hit with the Stone Cold Stunner, the Rock would flip when he got hit with it, though his passion arguably turned it into Narm Charm.
  • Third Person Person: Personified.
  • This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: Heel!Rock in particular liked to emphasize his statements by calling his opponent bitch.
    • In his recent feud with John Cena, the Rock referred to Cena as a "Yabba-Dabba Bitch".
  • Three Chords and the Truth: He wrestled this, the Rock does not have an incredible number of moves, what he does have is a such an incredible energy that electrifies the entire crowd.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Pie, lots of pie!
  • Underwear of Power
  • Unnecessary Roughness: Johnson was recruited by the University of Miami to play football, but injuries kept him out of the starting lineup for most of his college career. His biggest moment in a game was when he became involved in a bench-clearing brawl (Miami vs. San Diego State) and was shown on ESPN chasing the San Diego mascot screaming "I'll kill you!" Good times.
  • Unusual Euphemism: Mentioning "Strudel" typically gets a pop out of the audience, regardless of context. Because he says it when referring to genitalia.
  • What Could Have Been: At one point, there was talk of casting Johnson in a movie adaptation of Captain Marvel as either The Good Captain or The Rival Black Adam. The producers actually set up an online poll where fans could vote for which character they'd rather see him playing; Black Adam won out, and Dwayne was enthusiastic about the project either way. Sadly, the film seems to be in Development Hell, and Johnson might not be a part of it anymore.
    • Another What Could Have Been trapped in Development Hell is the live action Spy Hunter movie, with Johnson in the lead role. However, he did manage to put in a performance in the What Would Have Been a Tie-In game Nowhere to Run.
    • At one point, he said that he was going to run for President in 2008 as a Republican.
      • Eerie thing is, Barack sounds exactly like the Rock, just less awesome. It's said that those listening to the Kennedy v Nixon debate on the radio thought Nixon won; if you listened to Obama vs Johnson, you'd probably have a hard time figuring out who was speaking. One person at film.com even suggested that Johnson should drop forty pounds and play Obama in the inevitable movie.
      • To which Barack used in his appearance on WWE RAW when the presidential nominations were taking place, as he ended his segment with "...if you smell what Barack is cookin!"
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?
    • Johnson's heel stint before retiring. His gimmick was that his new presence in Hollywood made him completely egotistical; of course, with Johnson being the Hot-Blooded Large Ham that he is, it led to endless amounts of Crowning Moment of Funny like this. Despite trying every play in the Cheap Heat playbook, Johnson still got cheered, mostly because amidst all the faux egotism, the crowd could see how much Johnson was willing to make himself look ridiculous to entertain the fans.
      • That also counts as a CMOA for the Hurricane.
    • The People's Elbow. I'll never understand how that became a finisher.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Recently been called out by John Cena for leaving the people that made him a superstar and that half his (at the time after his February 2011 return) promos had been via satellite. Rock addressed these comments the next week, and after that, things got a bit silly.
    • Recent RAW seems divided between "ROCKY!" and "CENA!" At this point, it may be impossible to tell who's The Face and who is The Heel. Broken Base indeed.
    • Although, on his Twitter account, he said he wasn't scheduled to be there in person.
  • Who Are You?: Employed a variant of this in his wrestling days: would often act nonplussed when being addressed by someone he viewed as inconsequential (which was pretty much everybody), waiting until they were finished before asking them, "Who in the blue hell are you?", then interrupting them after a couple of syllables with, "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS!"
  • Wrestling Family: Johnson is one of the many, many wrestlers in the Anoa'i family. He's not a blood relation, but the Anoa'i brothers were "blood brothers" to Peter Maivia (having grown up as Maivia fans in San Francisco, and he helped them get into the business). High Chief Peter Maivia, Johnson's grandfather, was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008, appeared in You Only Live Twice and trained "Superstar" Billy Graham.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Johnson explains that he has this personal rule after being slapped by Stephanie McMahon at Wrestlemania 31. However, there wasn't anything against getting a woman to attack another woman, hence Ronda Rousey was chosen.
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