Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a household name in the world of professional wrestling, having made a significant impact during his time in WWE. Despite his thriving career in Hollywood, The Rock remains closely connected to the industry. Interestingly, it has been revealed that Paul Heyman, a former ECW promoter, once had his sights set on bringing The Rock to his wrestling company.
The Rock’s early days in WWE were marked by a rocky start as his character, Rocky Maivia, was not well received by fans. In fact, he was met with derisive chants of “Die, Rocky, Die” that still haunt him to this day.
In a recent interview on Busted Open Radio, Tommy Dreamer, a former ECW producer, discussed how professional wrestlers were often underutilized in the 90s and 2000s. Dreamer provided a timeline of his backstage work, beginning with his days in ECW and extending into his time with WWE.
According to Dreamer, ECW worked with WWE in 1996 to give a platform to underutilized talent on the WWE roster. During this time, the company focused on stars such as Doug Furnace, Phil Lafon, and Al Snow. Dreamer then revealed that Paul Heyman had expressed a desire to bring The Rock to ECW, but Vince McMahon had immediately shut down the idea.
“Real, real cool revolutionary stuff. I remember Paul [Heyman] being like, ‘Give me that guy.’ That guy was The Rock. They were doing nothing with him. Paul saw something with him, even back then, and Vince wouldn’t let him go. Would that have been awesome to have The Rock under the ECW Original banner? Yes, but it didn’t happen.”
Despite this missed opportunity, the idea of The Rock joining ECW under the “Original banner” is certainly an intriguing one. Heyman’s vision for the wrestling industry has long been known to be groundbreaking, and his belief in The Rock’s potential as a superstar was clearly ahead of its time. It’s fascinating to imagine what could have been, but for now, fans will have to settle for The Rock’s continued success in Hollywood and occasional appearances in the wrestling ring.
