A new face entered the wrestling equation in March of 1996 down in San
Antonio , Texas. Duane Johnson, then known as Flex Kavana, son of legendary
Rocky Johnson, made his debut against the Brooklyn Brawler. An inside-cradle
win over a lifetime jobber didn't seem much at the time, but little did the
spectators know, they witnessed the birth of The People's Legend. Kavana
worked matches with USWA for a few months where he co-held the Tag Team
Championship with Bart Sawyer on two occasions.
WWF officials noticed the extrordinary
talent, charisma and possibilities of
Duane Johnson. He began in the
WWF as "Rocky Maivia" where in a few up-close
interviews he said he chose
his name to honor both his father, former
wrestler Rocky Johnson, and
his grandfather, Peter Maivia. He made his
in-ring debut at the 1996 Survivor
Series, where he received the start of
his push by being the sole survivor
of his team. Rocky seemed to be off to a
great start, as he was over
with the fans and recived a huge pop every time
he competed. Gold came early
in his WWF career when he took the IC Strap
from Hunter-Hearst Helmsley
on Feburary 13, 1997, and then lost it to "The
Nugget" Owen Hart in April.
Then came the bizarre warping of attitude toward
Maivia. Fans began to chant
"DIE ROCKY DIE!" or the ever-popular "ROCKY
SUCKS!", and it didn't help
that he started cheating and using illegal
meunevers. He was drawing a
typical response response for a heel, but there
was one problem : HE WAS SUPPOST
TO BE A BABYFACE!!!
Rocky Maivia, after fueding with
the Nation of Domination, actually joined
them after Ahmed Johnson went
out injured. This marked the "official" heel
turn for Rocky, as he played
the roll of the arrogant @ss who followed the
NOD around. He started getting
more and more mic time, and "smarts" all over
the internet began to fall in
love with this guy. Soon, catch phrases such
as "Know Your Role" and "Do
You Smell What the Rock is Cookin?" were
created. Rocky was awarded the
Intercontinental Title when "Stone Cold"
Steve Austin was forced to give
it up (Austin went to bigger and better
things). In theory, Farooq became
jealous of his fellow NOD member. It was
clear that the Rocky drew more
heel heat than Farooq, and that Rocky was
slowly gaining more power than
him. It was sometime around here that Maivia
declared that he was now "The
Rock" and added Mark Henry to the group,
without Farooq's consent. At
the Royal Rumble in January of 1998, The Rock
retained his Intercontinental
Title against Ken Shamrock, when he planted
illegal brass knuckles in Shamrock's
tights. He had a rematch with Shamrock
at WrestleMania, which he actually
lost by tapping out. But Shamrock
snapped, and the decision was
reversed, allowing The Rock to keep the title.
It was during Shamrock's "snap"
that Farooq came out, and instead of helping
Rock like anticipated, he flipped
him the bird and left the ring.
The night after WrestleMania
was the pivitol point in The Rock's career. It
was when, with a raise of The
People's Eyebrow, the rest of the NOD
"ex-communicated" Farooq. With
The Rock at the helm, and the later additon
of Owen Hart, the newly named
stable called The Nation raised to new
heights. As well as defeating
Farooq at OVER THE EDGE, The Rock received
even more interview time, and
he was officialy declared "The Greatest Heel
Ever" by many internet insiders.
The People's Elbow grew to being the second
most over move beside the Stone
Cold Stunner, and the rest of the Nation
receievd huge pushes as well.
The Nation actually "won" the fued against
DeGeneration-X. The Nation dominated
the WWF. The insanely popular DX
appeared to be teetering, but
DX eventually got revenge at SummerSlam 1998
when Triple H challenged The
Rock for the title in a ladder match. The
previous time these men fought
for the title was a month earlier at FULLY
LOADED, which ended in a draw.
But this matches' ending was drastically
different. After a spectacular
match, HHH took the title from the Rock. The
ladder match was suppost to
be "the" match that put HHH over as a huge face,
but instead, the following weeks
showed that The Rock was now a fan
favorite, both on internet and
in the arena. Now, The Rock had a reversal of
his former problem : He was
getting face heat, but he was suppost to be a
HEEL!!!
Then the fall of the Nation began.
Owen Hart was fading from the group, D'lo
Brown regained with the Euro
strap, Kama the Godfather went out with an
injury, and Mark Henry became
tangled in a fued with CHYNA of all people.
And more importantly, people
liked The Rock. The week or so before JUDGMENT
DAY was the official fall of
the Nation. On RAW, D'lo and Mark Henry
attacked The Rock. Owen Hart
"retired" then showed up as the Blue Blazer.
Kama came back, only to be attacked
by the D'lo/Henry combination on HEAT
before the PPV.
Currently, The Rock is becoming
a HUGE face in the WWF. His interviews
aren't quite the same when he
can't make fun of everyone, but the meat of
the character is still there.
He is being pushed for the WWF Title, and the
WWF December PPV is entitled
ROCK BOTTOM. But first, Survior Series is
coming up, when The Rock will
most certaintly be involved in the 16-man
Tournament for the World Title,
which he will probably win.
The Rock is, and will always
be, The People's Champ. The eyebrow, the elbow,
the ability and charisma give
him a huge following of supporters. If their
is a God, Rock when eventually
be in the WWF Hall of Fame, if you smell what
the Rock is cooking!