Joe Rogan recorded a podcast with WWE and Hollywood star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. JRE episode #2063 saw The Rock and Rogan discuss several topics related to acting, WWE, and MMA. The Fast & Furious star also revealed he was close to joining the MMA world early in his pro-wrestling career.
Johnson began his athletics career as a college football player. He also played in the Canadian Football League. However, by 1996, he shifted to pro wrestling, a sport his father and grandfather had been a part of. The Rock was pushed from the initial days of his career as he made his debut on Survivor Series in 1996 and won the eight-man tag-team elimination match as the sole survivor. He won the Intercontinental championship months later.
For Dwayne Johnson’s 50th birthday, we throw it back to 1996 when he made his WWE debut as Rocky Maivia 🤩 @TheRock
(via @WWE) pic.twitter.com/znHYv5hG7c
— ESPN (@espn) May 2, 2022
However, within a year of joining the sport, Johnson showed immense dissatisfaction with his pay. Moreover, he complained about having to smile too much and that was not his personality.
Dwayne Johnson wanted to shift to MMA because he was dissatisfied with WWE
Johnson explained that he used to travel to LA in 1997 and crossed many MMA fighters. In the same year, PRIDE Fighting Championships opened up in Tokyo, Japan. Johnson used to see these MMA fighters make their way in Japan and earn enormous amounts while he was earning “$150,000 dollars wrestling 235 days a year.”
Upon hearing that the fighters “in PRIDE are making $250,000, $350,000, $500,000”, Johnson said he thought “F*ck, I don’t think I’m going to make it in WWE. People are booing me out of the arenas. I can’t be myself. They’re telling me to f*cking smile, I don’t want to f*cking smile. That’s not who I am.”
He had the idea of joining MMA just a year into his pro wrestling career because he wanted to “make real money.”
However, around the time Johnson was having thoughts of moving to MMA, Vince McMahon asked him to turn heel and join the Nation of Domination. At the time, his ring name was ‘Rocky Maivia’. As he turned heel, he stopped smiling and lashed out at fans who were booing him for joining Faarooq, D’Lo Brown, and Kama in the Nation of Domination.
Dwayne Johnson is still the highest-paid actor in 2023 pic.twitter.com/n4NkLYMyVT
— Every Movie Plug 🎬 🔌 (@everymovieplug) October 31, 2023
In the years to come, The Rock earned superstar status in the WWE. He never made it into MMA but he did work his way into Hollywood. He became one of the highest-paid WWE stars along with becoming one of the highest-paid actors in the world.