Early career (1996)

After being cut by Calgary, Johnson began his professional wrestling career the next year, in 1996.^[37] Veteran wrestler Pat Patterson secured several tryout matches for Johnson with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1996. Wrestling at first under his real name, Johnson defeated The Brooklyn Brawler at a house show on March 10^[68] and lost matches to Chris Candido and Owen Hart.^[39] After wrestling at Jerry Lawler's United States Wrestling Association under the name Flex Kavana and winning the USWA tag team championship twice with his partner Bart Sawyer in the summer of 1996, Johnson was signed to a WWF contract. He received additional training from Tom Prichard, alongside Achim Albrecht and Mark Henry.^[5]^[39]

World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment

Intercontinental Champion (1996–1997)

Johnson made his WWF debut as Rocky Maivia, a combination of his father and grandfather's ring names, although announcers acknowledged his real name.^[69] He was initially reluctant to take this ring name but was persuaded by Vince McMahon and Jim Ross.^[49]^[70] He was given the nickname "The Blue Chipper", and to play up his lineage, he was hyped as the WWF's first third-generation wrestler.^[2] A clean-cut face character, Maivia was pushed heavily from the start despite his wrestling inexperience. He debuted on Monday Night Raw as a member of Marc Mero's entourage on November 4, 1996.^[71] His first match came at Survivor Series on November 17, 1996, in an eight-man elimination tag match; he was the sole survivor and eliminated the final two members of the opposing team, Crush and Goldust.^[72] On February 13, 1997, he won the Intercontinental Championship from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on Monday Night Raw.^[73]^[74]^[75] Maivia then successfully defended the title against Helmsley at In Your House 13: Final Four.

Johnson's first WrestleMania match came at WrestleMania 13 on March 23, 1997, where he was victorious in his Intercontinental Championship defense against The Sultan. WWF fans started to reject his character and push from the company.^[76] He defeated Bret Hart by disqualification in a title defense on the March 31 episode of Raw is War.^[77] Behind the scenes, Hart mentored Johnson for his first year in WWF^[78] and refused to be booked to take the title from him.^[79] On April 20, at In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker, he lost to Savio Vega by countout but retained the title. Audiences became increasingly hostile toward Maivia, with chants of "die, Rocky, die" and "Rocky sucks" being heard during his matches.^[1]^[49]

After losing the Intercontinental Championship to Owen Hart on the April 28, 1997, episode of Raw Is War,^[80] Maivia suffered a legitimate knee injury in a match against Mankind in June 1997 and spent several months recovering.^[1]

Nation of Domination (1997–1998)

Upon returning in August 1997, Maivia turned heel for the first time in his career by lashing out at fans who had been booing him and joining Faarooq, D'Lo Brown and Kama in the stable called the Nation of Domination.^[81] He then refused to acknowledge the Rocky Maivia name, instead referring to himself in the third person as the Rock, though he would still be billed as "The Rock" Rocky Maivia until 1998. The Rock would then regularly insult the audience, WWF performers, and interviewers in his promos.^[81]

At D-Generation X: In Your House on December 7, 1997, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated the Rock in under six minutes to retain the Intercontinental Championship.^[82] The next night on Raw Is War, Austin was ordered by Mr. McMahon to defend the title in a rematch, but forfeited it to the Rock instead, handing him the title belt before hitting him with the Stone Cold Stunner.^[83]^[84] The Rock feuded with Austin and Ken Shamrock through the end of 1997 and beginning of 1998.^[85]^[86] On January 19, 1998, at the Royal Rumble, the Rock defeated Shamrock by disqualification to retain the Intercontinental title. Later that night, he entered the Royal Rumble match and lasted until the final two before he was eliminated by Stone Cold Steve Austin. On March 29, at WrestleMania XIV, he defeated Shamrock by disqualification once again to retain the title. The next night, on Raw is War, the Rock debuted a new Intercontinental Championship design and would later overthrow Faarooq as leader of the Nation of Domination to spark a feud between the two. He then successfully defended the Intercontinental title against Faarooq at Over the Edge: In Your House on May 31. The stable would then refer to themselves as simply "The Nation".^[87]

The Rock and the Nation then feuded with Triple H and D-Generation X, with the two stable leaders first meeting in the quarter-final of the 1998 King of the Ring tournament, which the Rock won. At King of the Ring, the Rock defeated Dan Severn in the semi-final match and lost to rival Ken Shamrock in the final. The Rock then resumed his feud with Triple H, as the two had a two out of three falls match at Fully Loaded: In Your House for the Intercontinental title, which the Rock retained in controversial fashion.^[88] This led to a ladder match at SummerSlam on August 30, 1998, where the Rock lost the title.^[89]

In the latter half of 1998, The Rock saw a big uptick in fan support. He also started consolidating his famous persona during this time, which would last until 2000.^[90] His popularity caused him to be booked in a feud with fellow Nation members Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown, turning babyface in the process. Henry defeated him at Judgment Day: In Your House on October 18, 1998, after interference from Brown, effectively breaking up the stable.^[91]^[92]

WWF Champion and rise to superstardom (1998–2000)

The Rock was then entered into the "Deadly Game" tournament for the vacant WWF Championship. The finals occurred at Survivor Series on November 15, 1998, where the Rock defeated Vince McMahon's associate, Mankind, to win his first WWF Championship.^[93]^[94] A "double turn" then occurred as the Rock turned heel again after allying with Vince and Shane McMahon as the crown jewel of their stable, The Corporation, after the McMahons betrayed Mankind.^[93]^[95] On December 13, 1998, at the pay-per-view named after him, Rock Bottom: In Your House, the Rock had a rematch with Mankind for the WWF Championship. Mankind appeared to win the match when the Rock passed out to the Mandible Claw submission move, but Vince McMahon ruled that since the Rock did not tap out, he retained his title.^[95]^[96]

In the main event of the January 4, 1999, episode of Raw Is War, Mankind defeated the Rock for the championship after interference from Stone Cold Steve Austin.^[97] Then at the Royal Rumble on January 24, 1999, the Rock regained the title in an "I Quit" match, a type of submission match that only ends if one of the combatants says "I quit" on a microphone. Intended to show a vicious streak in the Rock's character, the Rock hit Mankind in the head with a steel chair 11 times instead of the scripted five, five shots already being risky (most wrestling matches in the Attitude Era involving steel chairs had at most 2 or 3 shots to the head). After the fifth shot, Mankind was still ringside instead of two-thirds up the entrance ramp where he was supposed to be, and after the eleventh shot, which knocked Mankind out, a recording of Mankind saying "I Quit" from an earlier interview was played over the public address system.^[98]^[99] On January 31, during an episode of Sunday Night Heat, the Rock and Mankind participated in an Empty Arena match, a match that took place in an arena with 22,000 empty seats where any part of the facility could be used to contest the match. After 20 minutes of chaotic brawling in the ring, the stands, a kitchen, the catering area, an office, the arena corridors and finally a basement loading area, Mankind pinned the Rock using a forklift truck to win the WWF title.^[100] The two faced off again, at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House on February 14, 1999, in a Last Man Standing match which ended in a draw, meaning Mankind retained the title. Their feud ended on the February 15 Raw Is War, when the Rock won his third WWF Championship in a Ladder Match after a debuting Big Show interfered on his behalf.^[101]^[102] The Rock then lost the WWF Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XV on March 28, 1999.^[103]

The Rock's popularity continued to grow and audiences still cheered for him even though he was a heel. He then lost the title rematch against Stone Cold Steve Austin at Backlash: In Your House on April 25, 1999.^[104] The next night on Raw is War he was fired from the Corporation after he was betrayed by Shane McMahon, turning him face again and starting a feud with Triple H, The Undertaker and The Corporate Ministry. On April 29, 1999, WWF aired the pilot episode of SmackDown!, a term derived from one of the Rock's catchphrases. In the episode, the Rock continued his feud with The Corporate Ministry. This led to a match with Triple H, at Over the Edge on May 23, 1999, which the Rock won,^[105] and a match for the WWF Championship against The Undertaker, at King of the Ring, which the Rock lost.^[106] The Rock then lost a number one contender's match to Triple H, at Fully Loaded, after interference from "Mr. Ass" Billy Gunn.^[107] The Rock then defeated Gunn in a Kiss My Ass match at SummerSlam on August 22, 1999. The Rock was also given the privilege of having his own signature match, like The Undertaker with the Buried Alive match, Kane with the Inferno Match and Mankind with the Boiler Room Brawl: the Brahma Bullrope match, a variant of a strap match was a normal singles match where the components are tied together with a rope used for cattle farming, and the rope and its attached cowbell could both be used as weapons. The Rock contested this match twice, both times in Texas (vs Triple H in Dallas, and vs Al Snow in Houston).^[108]

Shortly after SummerSlam, the Rock began teaming with former opponent Mankind and the two became known as the Rock 'n' Sock Connection.^[109] They became WWF Tag Team Champions for the first time after defeating The Undertaker and Big Show for the titles on the August 30, 1999, episode of Raw is War.^[110]^[111] The two performed a number of critically acclaimed comedic skits together, including one called "This Is Your Life", which saw Mankind bring parody versions of people from the Rock's past on television, such as his high school girlfriend and his high school football coach, only to have the Rock insult them. The segment earned an 8.4 Nielsen rating, one of the highest ratings ever for a Raw segment.^[112] The two lost the titles back to Undertaker and Big Show on the September 9 episode of SmackDown! and won them back from them on the September 20 episode of Raw is War.^[113]^[114] Rock and Mankind then lost the titles to The New Age Outlaws on the very next episode of SmackDown!.^[115] Rock and Mankind would win the tag titles for the third and final time after beating the New Age Outlaws on the October 14 episode of SmackDown! before losing the titles to The Holly Cousins on the October 18 episode of Raw is War.^[116]^[117]

At the Royal Rumble, on January 23, 2000, the Rock entered the Royal Rumble match and was one of the final two remaining, along with Big Show. In an attempt at a "false finish", Big Show intended to throw the Rock over the top rope in a running powerslam-like position, before the Rock countered the move on the ring apron, sending Big Show to the floor before reentering the ring as the winner.^[118] But the Rock's feet accidentally hit the floor during the reversal attempt, though those watching the event on television did not see that. This was played up in the storyline as Big Show provided additional video footage showing it and claimed to be the rightful winner. The Rock's number one contendership for the WWF Championship was then put on the line against Big Show at No Way Out on February 27, 2000, which Big Show won after Shane McMahon interfered.^[119] The Rock then defeated Big Show on the March 13 episode of Raw Is War, to regain the right to face the WWF Champion, Triple H, at WrestleMania 2000 on April 2, in a Fatal Four-way elimination match, also including Big Show and Mick Foley.^[120]^[121] Each wrestler had a McMahon in his corner: Triple H had his wife Stephanie, Foley had Linda, the Rock had Vince and Big Show had Shane.^[121]^[122] The Rock lasted until the final two but was eliminated by Triple H after Vince betrayed him by hitting him with a chair.^[122]^[123]

Due to his image at the time, a Magic: The Gathering deck archetype was named after him.^[124]

Record-breaking world champion (2000–2002)

In the following weeks, the Rock continued his feud with Triple H and eventually won his fourth WWF Championship, which he won on April 30, at Backlash, after Stone Cold Steve Austin intervened on his behalf.^[125]^[126] The following night on Raw is War, he successfully defended his title against Shane McMahon in a Steel Cage match. On May 21, at Judgment Day, the Rock faced Triple H in an Iron Man match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee.^[127] With the score tied at five falls each, and with seconds left on the time limit, the Rock was disqualified when The Undertaker attacked Triple H, thus giving Triple H the 6–5 win and the title.^[127]^[128] The Rock won the WWF Championship for a fifth time at King of the Ring on June 25 by scoring the winning pin in a six-man tag team match, teaming with Kane and The Undertaker against Shane McMahon, Triple H and Vince McMahon, whom he pinned.^[129]^[130] The Rock successfully defended the championship against Chris Benoit, on July 23, at Fully Loaded. The next month, he successfully defended his title against Kurt Angle and Triple H at SummerSlam. The Rock had another successful title defense against Benoit, Kane and The Undertaker, on September 24, at Unforgiven.^[131]

The Rock then lost the WWF Championship to Kurt Angle, at No Mercy, on October 22, 2000.^[132] The next month, the Rock feuded with Rikishi and defeated him at Survivor Series.^[133] The Rock wrestled a six-man Hell in a Cell match for the WWF Championship, at Armageddon, which Angle won to retain the title.^[134] On the December 18 episode of Raw is War, the Rock won the WWF Tag Team Championship with The Undertaker, defeating Edge and Christian, before losing it back to them the next night at a SmackDown! taping.^[135] In 2001, the Rock continued to feud with Angle over the WWF Championship, culminating at No Way Out on February 25, 2001, where he pinned Angle to win the WWF Championship for a sixth time.^[136]^[137] The Rock then feuded with the Royal Rumble winner, Stone Cold Steve Austin, whom he lost the title to at WrestleMania X-Seven after Austin allied with Vince McMahon, who interfered on his behalf.^[138] On the next night's Raw is War, during a steel cage title rematch, Triple H attacked the Rock, allying with McMahon and Austin and helping Austin retain the championship.^[139] Austin and Triple H then formed a tag team called The Power Trip,^[140] while the Rock was indefinitely suspended in storyline. Johnson used this time off to act in The Scorpion King.

The Rock returned in late July 2001 when the WWF was feuding with rival promotions World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) during what is known as The Invasion storyline. In reality, WCW was purchased by Vince McMahon and the WWF, and ECW had gone out of business in early 2001. Many former WCW and ECW wrestlers were then brought onto WWF television and formed The Alliance to compete with the WWF in storyline. The Alliance and Vince McMahon then both attempted to persuade the Rock to join their team. The Rock then aligned with McMahon and the WWF. The next month, the Rock defeated Booker T at SummerSlam to win the WCW Championship for the first time.^[141]^[142] He later lost the title to Chris Jericho at No Mercy on October 21, 2001.^[143]^[144] The next night on Raw, he teamed with Jericho to win the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Dudley Boyz. The two then lost the tag titles to Booker T and Test on the November 1, 2001, episode of SmackDown!.^[145] The Rock defeated Jericho on the November 5 episode of Raw for his second WCW Championship.^[146]

As part of the WWF's battle against The Alliance, the Rock wrestled in a "winner takes all" five-on-five elimination tag team match at Survivor Series where the losing team's company would be dissolved in storyline. He was a member of Team WWF along with Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kane, and Big Show. The Alliance's team consisted of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Shane McMahon. In the end, it came down to a one-on-one between the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock seemed to have the upper hand, until his teammate Jericho entered the ring and attacked the Rock. Austin tried to capitalize on this by pinning the Rock, but Kurt Angle revealed his true allegiance by attacking Austin. The Rock then pinned Austin, giving Team WWF the victory and forcing The Alliance to disband. The Rock's WCW Championship was renamed the unbranded "World Championship" following the Alliance's loss.^[147] At the next pay-per-view, Vengeance on December 9, 2001, the Rock lost the World Championship to Jericho, who would then unify the WWF and World titles later that night.^[148] The Rock then unsuccessfully challenged Jericho for the now Undisputed WWF Championship at Royal Rumble on January 20, 2002.^[149]

At the next pay-per-view, No Way Out on February 17, 2002, the Rock defeated The Undertaker in a singles match. The event also saw the WWF debut of the famed WCW faction New World Order, which at the time consisted of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall.^[150] This later led to a match between the Rock and Hogan at WrestleMania X8 on March 17, 2002. The match was billed as "icon versus icon", with both men representing the top tier of two generations of wrestling; ultimately the Rock pinned Hogan at WrestleMania X8 to win the match.^[151] Despite the Rock portraying a heroic character and Hogan a villain, a portion of the crowd attending the SkyDome was rooting heavily for Hogan.^[152]^[153] In an interview in 2013, Hogan said he and the Rock changed the style of the match on the fly based on the crowd's response.^[154] After the introduction of the first-ever brand extension, the WWF held a "draft lottery" on the March 25, 2002, episode of Raw. The Rock was the number one overall pick, going to the SmackDown! brand before taking a sabbatical from wrestling.^[155]

The Rock made a surprise return on a June episode of Raw before going to his assigned brand of SmackDown!. There, he was named the number one contender for the WWE Undisputed Championship, which he won for a record-setting seventh time at Vengeance, on July 21, by defeating Kurt Angle and then-champion The Undertaker in a Triple Threat match.^[156]^[157] The Rock successfully defended the title at the Global Warning event against Triple H and Brock Lesnar after pinning Triple H.^[158] On August 25, at SummerSlam, after interference from Lesnar's manager Paul Heyman, the Rock lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to Lesnar along with the record for the youngest WWE Champion, which he had set in 1998.^[159] In 2018, writing for ESPN.com, Sean Coyle noted in a retrospective review of the event, that following his victory over Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8, the Rock "started to see a dip in fan support" and "that dip turned into a plunge" by the time Rock had his match with Lesnar at SummerSlam because fans knew he was leaving WWE to pursue an acting career,^[160] as evidenced by the negative crowd response during his match with Lesnar.^[161] After SummerSlam ended, the Rock was visibly angry at the crowd reaction. When he tried to do a post-show speech for the crowd, the fans booed him. He eventually cut a short promo, declaring that "sing-along with The Rock is over!"^[162] The Rock then took time off to kickstart his acting career.^[163]

Hollywood Rock (2003)

The Rock returned on the January 30, 2003, episode of SmackDown! to set up another match with Hulk Hogan at No Way Out.^[164] Because of negative fan reaction during previous matches as a result of his budding acting career, The Rock turned heel for the first time since 1999. He also started a new persona that has been called Hollywood Rock, with a new look and a shaved head.^[165]^[166] The Rock defeated Hogan at No Way Out before moving to the Raw brand.^[167] There, he had various small feuds, including one with The Hurricane.^[168] He also began performing "Rock Concerts", segments in which he played the guitar and mocked WWE performers and fans in song.^[169]

After failing to win a number one contendership for the World Heavyweight Championship, The Rock went into another program with Stone Cold Steve Austin. This led to a match at WrestleMania XIX on March 30, 2003, which called back to their previous two WrestleMania encounters, both of which Austin had won.^[170] The Rock won after delivering three consecutive Rock Bottoms, ending their long-running rivalry in what turned out to be Austin's final match, until WrestleMania 38.^[1]^[171] The next night, Raw was billed as "The Rock Appreciation Night", in honor of his victory over Austin. That night, he was attacked by a debuting Goldberg.^[172] At Backlash on April 27, 2003, Goldberg defeated The Rock, who then briefly left WWE to film Walking Tall.^[1]^[173]

Final feuds and departure (2003–2004)

On the June 2 episode of Raw, The Rock joined the Highlight Reel and attacked Christian and Chris Jericho with Booker T, turning face once again.^[174] He would later return on the December 8 episode of Raw to help Mick Foley against La Résistance. In 2004, The Rock aided Mick Foley in his feud against Evolution,^[2]^[1]^[175] leading to a reunion of the Rock 'n' Sock Connection. They lost against Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and Batista in a handicap match at WrestleMania XX on March 14, 2004, when Orton pinned Foley after an RKO.^[1]^[176] This was Johnson's final wrestling match until November 2011. The Rock appeared in WWE sporadically following WrestleMania XX. He made returns to provide support for Eugene against Jonathan Coachman and made a cameo in his hometown of Miami, where he confronted Randy Orton.^[1] On the August 23 episode of Raw, he hosted a pie-eating contest, as part of the WWE Diva Search, and ended the segment by giving Coachman a People's Elbow.^[1] The Rock's contract with WWE then ended and he started his full-time acting career.^[177]

Non-wrestling appearances (2007–2009)

On March 12, 2007, the Rock appeared on a WWE show after nearly three years, via a pre-taped promo shown during Raw. He correctly predicted that Bobby Lashley would defeat Umaga at WrestleMania 23 in Donald Trump's and Vince McMahon's "Battle of the Billionaires" Hair vs. Hair match.^[178] On March 29, 2008, Johnson inducted his father Rocky Johnson and grandfather Peter Maivia into the WWE Hall of Fame.^[179] His next appearance was through a pre-taped promo on October 2, 2009, during the Decade of SmackDown.^[180]

Independent circuit (2009)

On September 30, 2009, the Rock appeared at a World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) show to support the professional wrestling debut of Sarona Snuka, the daughter of his longtime friend and mentor Jimmy Snuka.^[181]

Return to WWE

Feud with John Cena (2011–2013)

On February 14, 2011, The Rock was announced as the host of WrestleMania XXVII on April 3, 2011, appearing live on Raw for the first time in almost seven years. During a lengthy promo, he addressed the fans and started a feud with John Cena.^[182]^[183] After numerous appearances via satellite, The Rock appeared live on the Raw before WrestleMania XXVII to confront Cena. After he and Cena exchanged insults, The Miz and Alex Riley appeared and attacked The Rock; he fended off Miz and Riley, only for Cena to blindside him with an Attitude Adjustment.^[184]

On April 3, at WrestleMania XXVII, The Rock opened the show by cutting a promo. After appearing in numerous backstage segments, The Rock came to ringside to restart the main event between Cena and The Miz as a No Disqualification match, after it had ended in a double countout. As revenge for the Attitude Adjustment Cena had given him on Raw, The Rock hit Cena with the Rock Bottom, allowing The Miz to pin him and retain the WWE Championship. After the match, The Rock attacked The Miz and hit him with the People's Elbow.^[185] The next night on Raw, The Rock and Cena agreed to a match at WrestleMania XXVIII the next year. They then worked together to fend off an attack by The Corre, which at the time consisted of Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, and Ezekiel Jackson.^[186]

The Rock appeared live on Raw in his hometown of Miami to celebrate his 39th birthday.^[187] On September 16, WWE announced The Rock would wrestle in a traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series tag team match, teaming with Cena at Survivor Series in November.^[188] But on the October 24 episode of Raw SuperShow, Cena instead suggested The Rock be his partner in a standard tag team match against The Miz and R-Truth, a team called Awesome Truth,^[189] which Rock agreed to the next week.^[190] On November 14, during the special Raw Gets Rocked, The Rock appeared live, delivering Rock Bottoms to Mick Foley, who had been hosting a "This Is Your Life"-style segment for Cena, and later both members of Awesome Truth.^[191] The Rock and Cena defeated Awesome Truth on November 20 at Survivor Series, when The Rock pinned The Miz. After the match, The Rock gave Cena a Rock Bottom.^[192]

Leading up to WrestleMania, The Rock and Cena had several verbal confrontations on Raw SuperShow.^[193]^[194] On the March 12, 2012, episode of Raw SuperShow, The Rock hosted his first "Rock Concert" segment since 2004, mocking Cena in his songs.^[195] On April 1, at WrestleMania XXVIII, The Rock defeated Cena in the main event after countering Cena's attempt at a People's Elbow into a Rock Bottom and pinning Cena.^[196] This event broke the record for biggest professional wrestling pay-per-view buyrate. The following night on Raw SuperShow, The Rock praised Cena, calling their match "an honor". He then vowed to once again become WWE Champion.^[197]

On July 23, at Raw 1000, The Rock announced he would wrestle for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. During the show, he encountered then-reigning WWE Champion CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and John Cena, all of whom expressed a desire to face him. The Rock later saved Cena from an assault by Big Show, only to be laid out by CM Punk.^[198] On the January 7, 2013, episode of Raw, The Rock returned to confront his Royal Rumble opponent CM Punk.^[199] On January 11, he made his first SmackDown appearance in ten years, getting into an altercation with Team Rhodes Scholars, resulting in him delivering a Rock Bottom to Damien Sandow and a People's Elbow to Cody Rhodes.^[200] The Rock closed out the 20th-anniversary episode of Raw, on January 14, with one of his "Rock Concerts", leading to a brawl with CM Punk.^[201] The following week on Raw, The Rock was attacked by The Shield. Vince McMahon then asserted that if The Shield attacked the Rock in his title match with CM Punk, Punk would be stripped of the WWE Championship.^[202]

On January 27, at the Royal Rumble, CM Punk would seemingly defeat The Rock after the arena lights went out and someone attacked The Rock. Vince McMahon then came out and was about to strip Punk of the championship, however, at The Rock's request, he instead restarted the match. This culminated in The Rock defeating Punk to win his eighth WWE Championship.^[203] Punk received a title rematch with The Rock, at Elimination Chamber on February 17, 2013, with the added stipulation that if The Rock was disqualified or counted out, he would still lose the WWE Championship. The Rock would pin Punk to defeat him and retain the championship.^[204] The following night on Raw, The Rock unveiled a new WWE Championship design, with a different center plate and removable customizable side-plates which had his "Brahma Bull" logo.^[205] The Rock then resumed his rivalry with John Cena, who won that year's Royal Rumble to set up a rematch of the previous WrestleMania match between the two at WrestleMania 29, only this time with the WWE Championship on the line.^[206]^[207]

On April 7, at WrestleMania 29, The Rock lost the WWE Championship to Cena, ending his reign at 70 days.^[208] Despite being advertised for Raw after WrestleMania, where it was stated that The Rock was still entitled a rematch for the WWE Championship,^[209] The Rock did not appear because of a real injury sustained during his match with Cena, in which his abdominal and adductor tendons tore from his pelvis.^[210] Johnson underwent surgery on April 23 to reattach the torn tendons.^[211] Post surgery, it made his abdomen look far less muscular than the rest of his body, notably his arms.^[212]

Part-time appearances (2014–2023)

In April 2014, the Rock appeared in the opening segment of WrestleMania XXX along with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan.^[213] On the October 6 episode of Raw, the Rock made a surprise appearance to confront Rusev and Lana; this resulted in the Rock clearing Rusev from the ring.^[214]

The Rock appeared at the 2015 Royal Rumble event on January 25, 2015, during the main event match, where he helped his relative Roman Reigns fend off Big Show and Kane after Reigns eliminated them from the match. Reigns then won the match and the Rock endorsed him in the ring.^[215]^[216]^[217] The Rock appeared at WrestleMania 31 on March 29, 2015, alongside Ronda Rousey, getting into an in-ring altercation with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Rock and Rousey prevailed after he attacked Triple H and she overpowered McMahon.^[218] On June 27, the Rock appeared at a live event in Boston, where he confronted Bo Dallas and gave him a Rock Bottom.^[219]

On the January 25, 2016, episode of Raw, the Rock was in a segment that saw him converse with The Miz, Big Show, Lana and Rusev before he and his relatives, The Usos, got into an altercation with then-WWE Tag Team Champions, The New Day.^[220] The Rock appeared at WrestleMania 32 on April 3, 2016, where he announced that WWE had broken the all-time WrestleMania attendance record before being interrupted by The Wyatt Family. The Rock got into a verbal back-and-forth with Bray Wyatt before having an impromptu match with Wyatt Family member Erick Rowan. The Rock won after giving Rowan a Rock Bottom and pinning him in six seconds, which set the record for the fastest win in WrestleMania history. The Rock was then aided by a returning John Cena to fend off Wyatt, Rowan and Braun Strowman.^[221]

On the February 20, 2017, episode of Raw, the Rock made an untelevised appearance after the broadcast had gone off the air, where he promoted and filmed a scene for his then-upcoming film Fighting with My Family.^[222] On August 3, 2019, the Rock officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling.^[223] On September 30, 2019, after weeks of speculation, the Rock announced that he would appear on SmackDown's 20th Anniversary on October 4, 2019, marking his first appearance on SmackDown since October 2014 and his first televised appearance since April 2016.^[224] At the event, he cut a promo with Becky Lynch before they were interrupted by King Corbin. After attacking Corbin, the Rock and Lynch celebrated in the ring.^[225]

On September 15, 2023, the Rock made a surprise return to SmackDown, in a segment with Pat McAfee and Austin Theory, who Rock took out within the segment. This marked his first televised appearance in WWE since October 4, 2019.^[226]

The Final Boss (2024–present)

It was teased that a former WWE Champion would be appearing on the Day 1 edition of Raw on January 1, 2024; the unidentified champion was at first revealed to be Jinder Mahal, who insulted the crowd before being interrupted by The Rock in his first live appearance on Raw since 2016.^[227] The two brawled and The Rock emerged victorious, after which he asked the crowd if he should sit at "the head of the table" in a direct reference to Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, his relative whose nickname is "The Head of the Table".^[228]^[229] The Rock also appeared on the February 2 episode of SmackDown, where he confronted Reigns after Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes decided against choosing Reigns as his WrestleMania 40 opponent to allow The Rock to face Reigns.^[230] This was met by intense backlash from fans who wanted Rhodes to face Reigns; the WrestleMania XL media event on February 8 thus saw The Rock align himself with Reigns, chastise Rhodes for reversing his decision not to choose Reigns as his WrestleMania opponent, and slap Rhodes for speaking out against the Anoaʻi family (of which The Rock and Reigns are both members), thus turning heel for the first time since 2003.^[231]^[232] As WWE's chief creative officer Triple H was being interviewed backstage over what had just transpired, The Rock and Reigns walked by and told him to "fix it" or they would, though Triple H would later appear on SmackDown to stand by Rhodes' decision.^[232]

On the February 16 episode of SmackDown, The Rock officially joined Reigns' faction The Bloodline, debuting a new character similar to past iterations of him, including “Hollywood Rock”.^[233] He then appeared on the March 1 episode of SmackDown, where he gave himself the new nickname of "The Final Boss" and issued a challenge to Rhodes and Seth Rollins; if they beat him and Reigns in a tag team match at WrestleMania Night 1, Rhodes' championship match against Reigns on Night 2 would be free of interference from The Bloodline, but if Rhodes and Rollins lost, the championship match would be contested under Bloodline Rules. During the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame, The Rock received a "People's Championship" from Lonnie Ali.^[234] In the Night 1 main event of WrestleMania XL, The Rock and Reigns went on to defeat Rhodes and Rollins in a tag team match.^[235] The Rock appeared during the Night 2 main event of WrestleMania XL between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes where he performed a Rock Bottom on John Cena. Afterwards, The Undertaker appeared and took out The Rock with a chokeslam. Rhodes would then defeat Reigns for Undisputed WWE Universal Championship^[236] The following night, on the Raw after WrestleMania in Philadelphia, The Rock interrupted Rhodes's celebration stating that even though he has to leave for a bit, once he returns he plans on coming for him. This action would allow Johnson to take time off for filming the biopic The Smashing Machine.^[237]^[238]