HE'S 260 POUNDS of muscle and menace, served up like raw meat to feed a rabid crowd, and the insatiable appetite of the marketing beast known as the World Wrestling Federation. Who is he? To unearth "The Rock," you have to go backstage where pro wrestling's most celebrated thug retires for the night and a gentle, good-natured guy named Dwayne Johnson takes over.
� � � �Stone Phillips: "So how was it out there?"
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The Rock: "Well, 'The Rock' likes to say it was electrifying."
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�Stone Phillips: "And now it's back to Dwayne Johnson."
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�Rock: "For the most part. There's still a little bit of Rock in here now. I feel like hitting him one more time. It doesn't matter!"
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�For those who have not yet "smelled what the Rock is cookin'," he's the latest poster boy for this controversial, but wildly popular, brand of entertainment. Unlike the less evolved life forms that inhabit this ring, the rock is, by pro wrestling standards, a highly "complex" character. He's part hero, part villain, and for the man who created the Rock, pure gold.
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�With earnings reaching well into seven figures, Johnson's among the highest paid performers in pro wrestling history. He has millions of new fans in a headlock, a stranglehold on some of the highest cable TV ratings ever. And he's mastered the most difficult wrestling move of all � going mainstream.
� � � �He's taken center stage on "Saturday Night Live" and even made a command appearance in the political arena at the GOP convention. He's got a Hollywood deal. And proving once again that the pen is mightier than the head-butt, his autobiography fought its way into the "New York Times" best seller list for 20 consecutive weeks.
"The Rock Says"
�We caught up with the 28-year-old brawler away from the spotlights and smack-downs in the privacy of the Rock's Florida home.
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Stone Phillips: "Should we be worried that a character like the Rock has become an international superstar?"
� � � �Rock: "No, what are you going to worry about? It's the Rock. No, I don't think so. I guarantee that there's people out there who enjoy what the Rock does. Enjoy the WWF programming and see it for what it is, which is just strictly entertainment."
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Stone Phillips: "It's also ultra aggressive."
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Rock: "It is aggressive."
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Stone Phillips: "And violent."
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Rock: "In terms of the perception, sure. But at the same time, there is violence in the world. And I'm just a little biased, because it's The Rock and it's our company and it's the WWF."
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To understand his devotion to the WWF you have consider the Rock's geologic origin. Born in 1972, an only child, Johnson's father was a pro-wrestler as was his Samoan grandfather.
� � � �This third generation wrestler still remembers being ringside as a toddler when his mother let him in on the industry's "dirty little secret".
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�Rock: "My dad would be wincing and grimacing, and my mom would say, 'Oh look Daddy's smiling at you.' And I thought, 'Oh great, daddy's smiling. Wow, he's got an interesting smile. That's not the smile I see at home.' She goes, 'Here's the situation, your dad is not really being hurt he's going out there and he's having a good time. He's earning a living.' And you know she explained it to a five-year-old as best she could."
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� �As a youngster Dwayne was taught to guard that secret at all costs. And he did.
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�Rock: "Well, you know the kids would say, 'Oh yeah, I saw your dad on TV. Boy he's a pretty good actor. Hey, that stuff's really fake, isn't it?' And my answer, of course, was the silly one, which was 'Well, sure, I can show you a lot better than I can tell you how fake it is.'"
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�Stone Phillips: "And you'd show them."
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Rock: "I would show them. Yes I would, Stone."
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Stone Phillips: "You had to keep up the pretense that this was real?"
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�Rock: "No question."
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Though wrestling was in his blood, Johnson's first love was football. He won high school All-American honors, then a scholarship to the University of Miami. A string of back injuries his senior year sidelined his dream of playing in the pro's. So after graduating in 1995, Johnson decided to give the family business a try.
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�Rock: "From the moment I locked up I knew this is what I was born to do."
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Stone Phillips: "Instantly?"
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Rock: "Instant. Fell in love."
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Dany: "The only thing I could say was, 'Go, and do it.'"
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�His wife, Dany, supported the move, but had some serious second-thoughts the first time she saw him take a body slam. Johnson had to stop the fight and reassure her that the agony on his face was just an act.
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�Dany: "By that time tears are streaming down my face."
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Stone Phillips: "Literally."
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� � �Dany: "Literally streaming down my face.
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Then he came out of the ring, got down on his knees and he talked to me. He said, 'I'm OK.'"
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Rock: "Oh, whoa! Easy."
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�Stone Phillips: "You going to blow the Rock's cover."
� � � �Rock: "There was no getting down on knees."
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�Dany: "He held my hand. He was sweet."
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Married to the Rock since 1997, Dany doesn't exactly fit the profile of a pro-wrestling groupie. She's a vice president at the investment firm of Merrill Lynch in addition to being Johnson's tag-team partner in the kitchen.
� � � �Stone Phillips: "Is he good in the kitchen?"
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�Dany: "He's great. Very domestic. Rock's always cooking."
� � � �Rock: "Rock just doesn't clean."
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�Dany: "Right."
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�Stone Phillips: "Rock's got a dishwasher under here somewhere, doesn't he?"
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�Rock: "The Rock has never seen it. Nor has he used it."
� � � �When we visited them at their new Ft. Lauderdale home, they were clearly enjoying the rewards that have come with the Rock's enormous success and newfound celebrity. But we couldn't help notice some delusions-of-grandeur creeping into Johnson's normally humble persona.
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� � �Rock: "I was very fortunate to be compared one day to Barbara Streisand, in terms of being an all-around entertainer."
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�Stone Phillips: "Now, wait a minute, time out. Somebody's comparing you to Barbara Streisand?"
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�Rock: "Well, absolutely. The Rock can sing when he wants to sing. He can dance. He can just do this. He can do that."
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�Stone Phillips: "Just because you can do it, doesn't make you Barbara Streisand."
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�Rock: "No, but then again, Barbara Streisand isn't the Rock, nor will she ever be."
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Stone Phillips: "Are we having this conversation?"
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Obviously we weren't smelling what the rock was cooking there. But when the Rock's on a roll, you get the feeling that sometimes even Johnson can't contain him.
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Stone Phillips: "You're the 'People's Champion.'"
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Rock: "There's only one People's Champion. That's it. It can't be Barbara Streisand. I can't be President Clinton. Unfortunately, it can't be Stone Phillips. It's got to be the Rock. People's Champion."
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Stone Phillips: "People's Eyebrow."
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Rock: "The People's Eyebrow."
� � � �Stone Phillips: "The People's Elbow."
� � � �Rock: "The People's Elbow."
� � � �Stone Phillips: "What is the People's Elbow?"
� � � �Rock: "Well, the People's Elbow, you know, just dropping generally an elbow. But like with everything else, the Rock has to make a big production out of dropping an elbow, just like he has to make a big production out of an eyebrow."
� � � �Being the people's champ doesn't come easy. It takes hours in the gym and plenty of reps to keep Johnson's eyebrow and the rest of him in fighting form.
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� � �Stone Phillips: "What's the story with this?"
� � � �Rock: "Brahma bull? Recognized symbol of greatness right there, Stone."
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� � �The bull has become the Rock's emblem and yet another merchandizing opportunity for the WWF. They've plastered it on all kinds of products from t-shirts to video games to lunch boxes.
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� � �Stone Phillips: "And the more you work out the bigger that bull gets?"
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� � �Rock: "Sure, absolutely. It's pretty big now."
So big, in fact, that the Rock has caught the eye and imagination of millions of youngsters. And that's exactly what troubles critics of the WWF. They point to the abundance of over-the-top violence and blatant sexual imagery and the impact it can have on younger viewers, in particular.
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� � �Johnson acknowledges this kind of entertainment may not be appropriate for all ages, but he insists that the violence here is not nearly as graphic or disturbing as what's broadcast every night in prime time dramas.
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� � �Rock: "Nobody's getting killed, nobody's getting raped, nobody's getting murdered on our shows. Our violence is more like � it's slapstick. It's 'Three Stooges.' It's cartoonish."
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� � �Stone Phillips: "Crash, bang, boom, and they get up to fight another day."
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� � �Rock: "Yes, absolutely. No, question."
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� � �Stone Phillips: "But people are still are still getting hit in the head with chairs. They're being hit below the belt, referees are being attacked. I mean, it's anything goes, and it is a two hour celebration of ultra-aggressive behavior."
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� � �Rock: "But again, I'd like to think that� that our fans� passionate fans of the WWF know the difference between what's reality and what's not."
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But remember that story he told about being a toddler and seeing his father get slammed by an opponent?
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�Stone Phillips: "You said to yourself, 'Who is that man and why is he trying to hurt my Dad?'"
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�Rock: "Sure."
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�Stone Phillips: "I mean, doesn't your own experience at that age, prove that especially young people, especially children, can't always tell the difference between fantasy and reality?"
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�Rock: "No question. At five, absolutely, I completely agree with you. But at the same time, I was fortunate enough to have responsible parents with me. My mom was right away � she was on it."
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�Are parents today vigilant enough? Johnson's not so sure. But one thing they can count on, he says, is that their little ones won't be seeing the Rock or any other WWF wrestler wielding any guns or knives.
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�Rock: "We do have what we call "weapons match" which of course would include, maybe a two-by-four that would break as soon as you hit someone with it. But in terms of weapons match with guns and knives. No, not at all."
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�Stone Phillips: "Do you ever worry that a kid is going to pick up a two-by-four and slam his sister over the head with it, thinking that it's going to break just like that. And she's going to be fine? And somebody's going to get seriously hurt?"
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�Rock: "I don't ever worry about that. If it does happen then of course, you know I feel for that."
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�Stone Phillips: "Are you responsible?"
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�Rock: "Am I responsible for the kid who does that? No, I don't feel I'm responsible for that. I think that parents are ultimately responsible for letting their kids watch what they're watching."
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�While that debate is far from over, at least there's no more arguing over whether pro wrestling is for real. Along with the trash-talking and butt-kicking, Johnson and his colleagues have finally thrown something else into the ring.
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�Stone Phillips: "It's hard for me to use the words integrity and pro wrestling in the same sentence. But at least now you have now finally come clean."
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�Rock: "Sure."
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�Stone Phillips: "Come honest about what this is."
� � � �Rock: "Sure."
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�Stone Phillips: "The scripts, the choreographing, the predetermining the winners and the losers. This is not a sport."
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�Rock: "We are not a sport. No, we are sports entertainment. It's action adventure. It's drama. It's comedy. It's a lot of comedy."
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�Stone Phillips: "So by the time you're out here, the transformation is complete."
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�It's a Tuesday night in Chicago, about three hours till show time. Johnson is showing us the ropes. Though tonight's "comedy" as he calls it won't amuse wrestling critics, it's hard not to smile at how jazzed he gets taking center stage at this theater of the absurd.
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�Stone Phillips: "And the crowd is going wild?"
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�Rock: "The crowd is going crazy. They're chanting his name. You could hear them now."
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�Stone Phillips: "They're seeing him up on the big screen, and they're seeing him here."
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�Rock: "They're seeing him up on the big screen dropping the "People's Elbow" and there's going to be 20,000 - 25,000 screaming rabid Rock fans here tonight."
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�Stone Phillips: "And by the time you get down here to the ring, I mean, you pretty much know what's going to happen?
� �As with every fight, he already knows the outcome. Tonight, the Rock will lose. And while the violence, will be make-believe, the profits, are very real.
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� �Stone Phillips: "Will we see the 'eyebrow' tonight?"
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� �Rock: "You'll see it right now!"
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� �It's now an hour before the show. In his dressing room, the metamorphosis begins.
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� �Stone Phillips: "Is it true you put on baby oil before going out?"
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� �Rock: "Well just between us, The Rock will put on a little body sheen. Not baby oil. That's the wrong terminology, Stone."
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� �Stone Phillips: "Body sheen?"
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� �Rock: "The Rock uses body sheen."
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� �Stone Phillips: "Is the body sheen made by Johnson and Johnson?"
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� �Rock: "The Rock can't disclose that information right now."
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� �Now just moments before his curtain call, the morph'ing of Dwayne Johnson into the Rock is almost complete. As he makes his way to the arena, the infectious smile disappears and this made-for-TV gladiator is once again ready to do make-believe battle.
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� �Whether you love this stuff or hate it, there's no question that for the crowd awaiting his entrance. The Rock has a kind of magic. And as scary as it may be, to some he's even a role model.
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� �If there's a piece-of-the-Rock that's worth holding onto, any virtue, amidst this manufactured mayhem, Johnson says it's the Rock's unbreakable spirit, summed up in the motto this outrageous character shares with the man who plays him.
� � � �Rock: "'Just bring it.' That's it. Just bring it. I say that in my everyday life in terms of my challenges and things like that."
� � � �Stone Phillips: "For all of the negative things that your critics may point to, that's one of the positive things about his character you've created."
� � � �Rock: "Oh, no question, no question."
� � � �Stone Phillips: "He believes in himself."
� � � �Rock: "The Rock believes."
� � � �Stone Phillips: "To say the least."
� � � �Rock: "The Rock believes completely in himself. Taking on all comers, all obstacles, all mountains. Just bring it."
� � � �With the success of "The Mummy Returns," The Rock has a headlock on Hollywood. He'll be starring in the prequel to "The Mummy Returns" set for release in the summer of 2002.
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HE'S 260 POUNDS of muscle and menace, served up like raw meat to feed a rabid crowd, and the insatiable appetite of the marketing beast known as the World Wrestling Federation. Who is he? To unearth "The Rock," you have to go backstage where pro wrestling's most celebrated thug retires for the night and a gentle, good-natured guy named Dwayne Johnson takes over.
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