What would the WWE have looked like if The Rock left before becoming one of the biggest stars in wrestling history?
Debuting as Rocky Maivia at Survivor Series 1996, the company presented the future Hollywood star as the ultimate babyface. Constantly smiling and being referred to as “The Blue Chipper” on commentary, WWE believed that they had created the formula for a new fan favourite. The fans would have other ideas.
As 1997 came around, the boos started to grow louder and louder towards Maivia along with chants of “Rocky Sucks.” It was also around this time that the PRIDE Fighting Championship was created, a mixed martial arts promotion that was paying more money for fewer dates. Creatively frustrated and feeling unwanted by the fans, The Rock was very close to making the jump to MMA.
Appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Rock stated that he had the opportunity to make more than 3 times his current WWE salary in PRIDE and how he talked over the idea with a wrestler who had previous experience in the MMA world, future rival Ken Shamrock:
“97, I was still going to LA and working out. We were crossing all the MMA guys. PRIDE just opened up in Japan. I started seeing all these MMA guys going over to PRIDE. At that time, I was making $150,000 dollars wrestling 235 days a year. Do the math on that and how much you’re making per match. We start hearing, ‘these guys in PRIDE are making $250,000, $350,000, $500,000.’ I thought then, ‘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.’ I start talking to Ken Shamrock, I start talking with Mark Kerr, ‘tell me about PRIDE.’ I have this idea in my head ‘maybe I should train in MMA, go to PRIDE, and make real money and I don’t have to smile.’ I’m going to get f*cked up, knock one of my lungs loose [laughs], but I find the right coach and train.
I have this whole thing in my head. I’m talking to my wife at the time, ‘I think this is the way to go. I can make real money while these fans are booing me for $150 grand,'”
The first PRIDE pay-per-view aired in October 1997 and featured Dan Severn in the semi-main event.
Vince McMahon Gave The Rock One Minute To Speak His Mind
Still heavily considering the switch to MMA, Rock then described how a call from Vince McMahon would change his life forever. McMahon pitched for Rock to join The Nation of Domination and turn heel in the process. Wanting to air his frustrations publicly, The Great One asked McMahon for some additional TV time to address the negative chants he had been getting for months. McMahon gave Rock 60 seconds:
“I get a call from Vince [Vince McMahon], ‘How is your knee?’ ‘It’s healing up.’ I don’t tell him about this idea and that I’ve been talking to Shamrock and Kerr. He says, ‘I want to try to bring you back this one time. I want to turn you heel and we have a faction called Nation of Domination, I want to have you join them and we’ll see how it works out.’ I said, ‘Okay,’ but I still have this MMA idea in my head because I want to make money and be myself.
I get to the arena that night, I went to Vince and said, ‘When I go out there, can I have two minutes on the microphone?’ He said, ‘I don’t know, it’s live, all our time is allocated for.’ ‘I just need two minutes.’ ‘Why?’ ‘I just want to be real and tell the fans how I feel and I needed to recalibrate things.’ He said, ‘Fine, a minute, you got it.'”
Following the heel turn, Rock was able to be a more authentic version of himself onscreen. Being able to act more naturally, fans would respond accordingly, with many crediting this as the catalyst to one of the most legendary careers in wrestling history.
Rogan asked if Rock had any experience in punching when thinking about making the switch to PRIDE. The former WWE Champion revealed that his father, who sparred against some of the all-time greats, gave him some pointers and boxing training. Fans of The Rock also have a lot to owe Ken Shamrock, who ultimately convinced the Hollywood star to stick in WWE for a little longer:
“A little bit. Very little. My dad [Rocky Johnson] was a great amateur boxer. He sparred with Foreman [George Foreman] a few times. Sparred with Ali [Muhammad Ali], that was a little bit more of a show. Great amateur, Golden Gloves in Canada, he was a badass. He was teaching me how to hit at a young age, heavy bags and speed bags. I felt like I’ve always been very coachable at whatever it is that I did, whether it was football or wrestling.
I felt like, ‘If there’s a shot at this, I can go to PRIDE and make money.’ I had this thought of PRIDE because it felt like those guys were making money, they’re putting on big shows, there are 20 or 30,000 people at these shows and they look incredible. When you’re talking to guys and they’re in it and saying, ‘You can do it.’ Shamrock was very smart, which I appreciated. He was like, ‘You might want to stick with this first. There’s a real shot here. Stick with this.'”
The Rock and Ken Shamrock would feud in 1998, most notably when Shamrock defeated Rock for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 14, but the decision would be overturned when The World’s Most Dangerous Man refused to break the ankle lock.
Also in 1998, The Rock put a major match in jeopardy after choosing to work an independent show. With the Hollywood strike now over, The Rock’s production company recently announced that a future project will focus on the demise of WCW.
H/t to Fightful.