The Rock is man of many names; The Great One, The People’s Champion and the Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment.
All these names are a testament to the incredible athlete, and entertainer Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is.
This man of undeniable charisma and king of legendary catchphrases had fans captured once he shed his early struggles to connect with the WWE Universe.
This October, WWE DSTV Channel 236 will bring viewers four hours of The Great One’s legendary matches against his fiercest rivals, including Triple H, John Cena, Kurt Angle and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin.
Best of WWE series chronicles most memorable matches
The Rock was seemingly destined to become a WWE superstar. Introduced as the first third-generation wrestler in WWE in 1996, he is the son of former WWE superstar Rocky Johnson and grandson to another WWE superstar Peter Maivia on his mother’s side. You could say that sports entertainment runs in his blood.
The Brahma Bull set the ring on fire with his charisma and energy the moment he stepped into the ring in an eight-man elimination tag match at Survivor Series 1996, where he was the sole survivor and eliminated the final two members of the opposing team.
He won his first belt, the Intercontinental Championship, against Triple H at Monday Night Raw only three months later. While The Rock defeated Triple H for the championship, it was two years into his career at SummerSlam 1998, when the two went head-to-head at the Ladder match that had people talking. This is viewed as arguably one of the greatest ladder matches of all-time and one of the best fights of both men’s careers. The match initially came about after Triple H challenged The Rock after being attacked with a ladder backstage. During the match, Rock struck Triple H in his face with a ladder multiple times and even threw him into the crowd. He targeted his opponent’s knee by dropping the ladder on it, causing a knee injury that affected Triple H throughout his career. The match was explosive, with both nearing defeat at multiple points before Triple H ultimately won. Despite losing the Intercontinental Championship to Triple H, The Great One decided to go after something bigger and went up against Mankind to win his first WWE Championship in the finals of the ‘Deadly Game’ tournament at Survivor Series 1998.
One of his most notable matches was against Kurt Angle at No Mercy 2000. Although The People’s Champion didn’t win, it was definitely one for the books. It was a No Disqualification Match meaning no count-outs. In the beginning, The Rock received many kicks to the face from Kurt Angle, but the superstar managed to get back on his feet and applied one of his signature moves, a Sharpshooter on Angle. The match took a turn when Stephanie McMahon came into the ring to distract The Rock to help Angle win. After Stephanie’s many attempts, Triple H came in and interfered by tossing Kurt Angle out of the ring, hitting The Rock with a Pedigree, and then carrying Stephanie McMahon backstage. Kurt Angle then focused on a knocked-out The Rock and attacked him with an Angle Slam which resulted in him winning the title.
While The Rock is a WWE legend with eight WWE Championship tiles, he is also a record-setting, award nominated film star that has starred in multiple Hollywood blockbusters.
The Rock is a cousin to current WWE Champion Roman Reigns and has teased a possible return to the squared circle to face the Tribal Chief.
How to watch the Rock’s classic matches
To watch The Rock go head to head with the best of the best in WWE, Catch Best of WWE: The Rock on Friday 16 October at 19:00, on repeat on Saturday, 17 October at 12:00 on WWE DSTV Channel 236.
The Best of WWE series continues all month long, with specials on WWE superstars including Roman Reigns, Charlotte Flair, John Cena, Becky Lynch and Edge.
