WWE News: The Rock Named ‘Movie Person Of The Year’ By ‘USA Today’ — Rock Comments On Achievement
It is quite funny how much Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was scoffed at by professional wrestling fans when he decided to “go Hollywood” in 2002. In just six years, Johnson developed a WWE career that cemented him as one of the most popular stars of all time, and a shoo-in WWE Hall of Famer. However, in 2002, Johnson decided that movies were a better route, and he began to spend more time journeying down that career path.
In early 2003, The Rock returned to the WWE after time off filming The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King, and The Rundown. This elicited a chorus of boos for “The People’s Champion” as fans believed that he betrayed them by becoming primarily an actor.
Johnson would then become a cocky, arrogant, smug heel who would degrade the towns he appeared in by way of his “Night Out with The Rock” unplugged in-ring concerts.
“The Rock feels so glad, he’s so happy. Why? Because The Rock is right here in Sacramento! (audience applauds) I tell you what. The absolute best part about being here in Sacramento, is in about an hour and a half, The Rock is gonna leave Sacramento! (audience boos)”
Of course, Johnson’s popularity would soon overshadow his arrogance, and he would once again become a fan favorite. However, this would be the beginning of the end of Johnson’s full-time career in the WWE. He would stay around until 2004, when he would leave the company entirely for acting.
Since 2004, The Rock has been a part of 30 movies, including popular films such as Fast Five, GI Joe: Retaliation, Fast & Furious 6, and Hercules. In 2015 and 2016, Johnson starred in Furious 7, San Andreas, Central Intelligence, and Moana. His 2016 acting efforts earned a People’s Choice Award for “Favorite Premium Cable TV Actor.”
To add to these accolades, USA Today recently announced that Johnson has been awarded the “Movie Person of the Year.”
Johnson commented on the achievement, stating, “So cool to end 2016 w/ this honor. Thank you @USATODAY, @BryAlexand & especially FANS. #PersonOfTheYear #grateful”
So cool to end 2016 w/ this honor. Thank you @USATODAY, @BryAlexand & especially FANS. #PersonOfTheYear #grateful https://t.co/zDXpVv2KN5
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) December 26, 2016
To make the year even better for Johnson, Forbes announced that he is the highest-paid actor of 2016. His $64.5 million nearly doubled his earnings for 2015 and was primarily tallied from upfront fees and starring in high-grossing movies. He was able to beat out legendary actors Jackie Chan and Matt Damon, who earned $61 million and $55 million, respectively.
Even with so much concentration on being a successful movie star, The Rock still makes time to be an on-air talent for the WWE. In 2011, he returned to a WWE ring after a seven-year hiatus and was the guest host for WrestleMania 27. The following two years, he would compete against John Cena at WrestleMania 28 and WrestleMania 29, splitting victories with Cena.
The Rock also competed at the Royal Rumble 2013, defeating CM Punk to become WWE Champion, ending Punk’s 434-day reign. This would be the first WWE Championship held by The Rock since losing it against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam in 2002.
He was also the person behind unveiling a new WWE Championship to replace the heavily-criticized spinner title introduced by John Cena in 2005.
At WrestleMania 32, The Rock shocked the WWE Universe by actually competing in a match, defeating Wyatt Family member Erick Rowan in a record time of six seconds.
Johnson, 44, has indeed been an incredibly busy person in 2016. However, when someone is doing what they absolutely love to do, classifying daily operations as “busy” gives it a bit of an injustice, especially when having fun and getting paid a significant amount of money are the byproducts.
From the looks of it, he will not be stopping anytime soon.
[Featured Image by WWE]
