The Rock Says He Hated His WWE Name At First

Dwayne Johnson’s name is “The Rock” for many fans, and he got that name from his days in WWE, something he still carries with him to this day. Although that name is synonymous with the Jumanji star now, Johnson hated the name he was originally given.

During a video for Wired to promote Jungle Cruise, Dwayne Johnson answered a fan question about his original WWE name. As it turns out, he hated the name Rocky Maivia, which was a combination of his father and grandfather’s names.

“When it was first pitched to me from Vince McMahon, he says, ‘I’ve got your name and I want it to be Rocky Maivia, what do you think?’ He knows me know, and this is how I speak, I got, ‘I hate it, I hate it,’ because I hated the name. I hated it.”

“The lineage I had allowed me to knock on the door, but I wanted my own space. While I was very proud to come from who I came from with my dad and my grandfather, and my whole family is in wrestling, I said ‘I still wanted my own space.’ I said, ‘I hate it,’ and he said, ‘Oh well, that’s your name.'”

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The Rock went on to speak out Pat Patterson a bit as well and how the legend helped him out during that time. He eventually became The Rock once he turned into a bad guy, but Rocky Maivia was his original name in WWE, and he really hated it.

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Transcription by Thirsty