Rocky Sucks
Despite many victories in the ring, people didn’t seem to like Johnson’s wrestling persona. His nice-guy image just wasn’t working for them because it seemed forced, and they started becoming increasingly hostile toward Rocky Maivia during his matches.
He was regularly being greeted with such chants as “Die, Rocky, die” and “Rocky sucks” and it quickly became obvious that something needs to change. He had to choose between being the hero or the villain, and decided to reinvent himself as the bad guy.
The Rock Is Born
“There are two terms in wrestling,” Dwayne Johnson explained in an interview with Hollywood Reporter. “Baby face is your hero; heel is your villain. I had no choice but to go heel.”
That was how “The Rock” was born, and the audience, WWF performers, and interviewers kept hurling insults his way — but it didn’t hurt him one bit.
He was no longer “the good guy”, and becoming someone that people love to hate gave him freedom to be as theatrical and over the top as he wanted, and allowed him to break new grounds.