![]() His breakthrough role was in the 2001 film, The Mummy Returns, as the Scorpion King. He was now ready for more and dreamed of being on the silver screen. The Rock went on to dominate wrestling storylines for nearly a decade, earning eight WWF/WWE championship belts. Johnson eventually joined the “Nation of Domination” alongside wrestlers Faarooq, D’Lo Brown and Karma, where he embraced the role of heel – a wrestler who portrays a villain or a “bad guy”, acting as the antagonist – and the antihero “ The Rock” was born. Interestingly, he squared off against the Brooklyn Brawler, the first opponent his father ever faced. Johnson made his official WWF debut in 1996 as “Rocky Maivia”, honoring both his father and grandfather, and officially found his calling. Professional wrestling was definitely in Johnson’s blood. ![]() His father, Rocky Johnson, was a star professional wrestler in the 70s and 80s and his grandfather Peter Maivia, a native Samoan, also had a successful professional wrestling career in the 60s. During his career at Miami, he appeared in 39 games, starting one, and had a total of 77 tackles and 4.25 sacks.Īfter a brief stint in the Canadian Football League following his college career, it surprised no one when he turned his sights to “the family business”. He was often spotted walking around campus in a lava-lava skirt singing country music.” That same season, Johnson and the Canes took home a national title. His coach, Hall of Famer Dennis Erickson describes him, “Back then, he was a broad-shouldered defensive lineman and his teammates called him “Dewey”. His grades improved and he began to receive scholarship offers from schools across the country including Penn State, Clemson, Florida State and UCLA, but in the end, it was all about “The U”.ĭwayne Johnson had beaten the odds and performed so well in high school that he received a full scholarship to the University of Miami in 1991. Once he started playing football, he flourished both on the field and in the classroom. The next day he found the teacher and apologized.Ĭwik was impressed and encouraged Johnson to try out for the football team. It was clear the teacher was upset and that night, Johnson began to feel bad for the disrespect he had shown Cwik. Johnson shrugged Cwik off and said he would leave when he was done. A teacher, Jody Cwik, immediately told him he needed to leave. One day, he decided he would use the teacher’s restroom instead of the one for students. At 16, he was a 6’4”, 225-pound high school sophomore with a chip on his shoulder. Johnson could have headed down a destructive path if not for an unlikely event that changed his life. He spent much of his childhood shuffling between California and New Zealand, was arrested once by the age of 16, and although his father, Rocky, was a successful professional wrestler, his home life was unstable. ![]() With the MTV Movie and TV Awards just around the corner, the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame takes a deeper look at global icon “The Rock”.Īlthough Johnson’s career has been a remarkable success, that was far from a guarantee early in life. Before becoming a wrestling legend and an internationally known movie star, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson first turned his life around through football. ![]()
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