Why Is Dwayne Johnson Called The Rock?

While Vince McMahon asked Dwayne Johnson to wrestle under the pseudonym of Rocky Maivia, the wrestler-turned-actor admitted in the Wired video that he wasn't a big fan of it.

"I hated the name. I hated it. I hated it because the lineage I had gave me the opportunity to at least knock on the door," he said. "I wanted my own identity; I wanted my own space. So, while I was very proud to come from who I came from, with my dad and grandfather, and my whole family's in wrestling, I still wanted my own space. And so, I said [to McMahon], 'I hate it.' And he said, 'Okay. Great, well that's your name.' And I went, 'Okay.' So, I embraced it, and I did it."

Fortunately for Johnson, the foundation of his Rocky Maivia name crumbled during his time in the wrestling ring, giving way to the nickname everybody knows him by today. "Eventually, when I became a bad guy, it got truncated down to 'The Rock,'" he said. Among his opponents was fellow actor-turned-wrestler John Cena, who later had some generally warm remarks about Johnson despite being an adversary of his in the ring.

Johnson said the "Rock" nickname was suggested by his professional wrestling mentor, Pat Patterson, who sadly died the same year as his father, Rocky Johnson, in 2020. "He said, 'What if we call you The Rock?' ... I said, 'I love it!' And he goes, ”Okay, you're The Rock.' And that was it," he recalled.