The Rock vs. Dwayne Johnson: Putting a Career in Perspective

credit: WWE

Dwayne Johnson is a highly successful individual, and that needs to be said front and center before anything else. But looking back on his career in front of the people, it’s very easy to admit that a lot of people might have never guessed that he would become a successful movie star, even after his success in professional wrestling. Sure, a lot of folks can readily admit that watching The Rock in the WWE was all sorts of awesome since he was great on the mic and in the ring. He knew how to shred people when it came to his words and could electrify the crowd with his stunning moves, such as the People’s Elbow and the Rock Bottom that lit a fire under each person and made them want to idolize this guy. Even when he turned heel at times, it was seen that his popularity never waned that much, if at all. In fact, the only time his career nearly came to a screeching halt was at the beginning when he was being pushed as a face, and people found him to be less than convincing. Once he joined the Nation of Domination, the Rock was born, and the people absolutely loved him. 

credit: The Scorpion King

His first big role was almost destroyed by horrendous CGI. 

It was great to see Dwayne in The Mummy Returns as the Scorpion King, especially since the initial scenes of the movie showcased him as a powerful and capable warrior who only reached out for help when everything else had failed. From that point on, though, he wasn’t seen in the movie again, at least until his countenance was placed upon the less-than-convincing CGI character that was revealed near the end of the movie during the final fight. Had the studio decided to keep Dwayne’s character in his original body and simply jack up his power levels, it would have been far more convincing, but back in the early 2000s, spectacle was still a thing, so it’s not surprising at all that such a decision was made. Some might have thought that this would keep him from advancing forward in his cinematic ventures, but it was fairly easy for Dwayne to shrug this off and star in The Scorpion King movie that came soon after. 

The movies that have appeared since The Mummy Returns have been everything from corny to impressive. 

Dwayne has taken on several roles since The Mummy Returns, and while some movies have been less than noteworthy, others have made him into the star he is today since he took the role and made it work in a way that people could either relate to or found endearing in one way or another. He’s even taken on the role of a gay man in Be Cool, the sequel to Get Shorty, and it worked just as well since acting mostly like himself was probably a reason why he didn’t get blasted for the part. But Walking Tall, Empire State, Snitch, Southland Tales, and many others have shown moderate to great amounts of success when it comes to his career since they paved the way for other roles that would come along, such as his time as Luke Hobbs in the Fast and Furious franchise, and even the most recent Black Adam movie that Dwayne starred in. He’s shown a great deal of improvement over the years, and because of this, he’s become the favorite of many fans worldwide as he’s managed to convince a lot of people that he’s worth the effort of watching. 

credit: Black Adam

As his movie career took off, so too did the chances he had to expand his influence in other areas. 

This guy has been just about everywhere since he did take on the show Ballers, he’s been on numerous talk shows, and there was even a mention that he might decide to run for president of the United States at one point. That last one has been rescinded, which isn’t surprising, but he’s also been a big component of bringing back the XFL, a league that was initially started by his former boss, Vince McMahon. Whether the XFL will work in 2023 is tough to say, but it does feel that it’s going to be given another look by a lot of people simply because Dwayne is one of those who are attempting to make the league work. 

To date, Dwayne has become one of the most popular people on the planet. 

There aren’t a lot of places that a person can go where the name of Dwayne Johnson, or The Rock, isn’t known. His influence has spread so far over the years that it’s easy to think that it’s not going to wane anytime soon since as long as he’s still acting and still pushing one project or another, people will keep talking about this guy.