Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has become a household name for his immense presence and influence in the world of pro wrestling. He owes much of his success to his involvement with The Nation of Domination, without which he wouldn’t have achieved what he did. The Rock also shared a memory of Vince McMahon’s tough criticism of him during the early stages of his career.
The Rock certainly had a pretty bad start in WWE as almost everyone hated his Rocky Maivia character. The infamous ‘Die, Rocky, Die’ chants are something no one will ever forget, especially The Rock.
While speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, The Great One recalled the time he had his first ever match in front of Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson. He was distracted by Patterson’s lack of interest, which was all a work.
“Kind of blew me off, kept smoking a cigarette and walked out and I was like, ‘Man, I think I really f***** things up, or I’ll take his word for face value, take it for gospel,’ I’ll just keep working. Little I knew, he went home and he called Vince McMahon. He said, ‘You gotta see this f******* kid.
The next night he had a dark match on RAW against Chris Candido. Vince McMahon was not impressed with The Rock and directly told him that he was not ready for the big time in WWE.
”You’re not ready for WWE, you’re not ready for the big time.”
