The Rock, a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson was there when professional wrestling went from two chubby, hairy guys wearing unitards to tanned muscular bodies wearing glittery spandex. From 1996-2004, Dwayne glammed and glitzed the crowds with his magnificent form, his skilled moves, and his charisma — before leaving for Hollywood.
WWE languished without its star and Johnson was enticed to return in 2007. Ratings soared.
In 2016, WWE’s wrestlers began wearing swastikas and confederate flags – and the scripts called for these wrestlers to win.
Johnson was called in to management, who said, “You’re contract is up. There will be no renewal. Our partners are taking another direction.”
They wouldn’t say who the partners were.
That night when The Rock got into the ring, all ears heard:
“The Rock cries out to [you] today. You may stand upon me, but do not hide your face.”
Frank J. Tassone is today’s host for dVerse. Frank says:
include this line from that poem using 144 words or fewer (excluding title) that includes the line in our prose:
The Rock cries out to us today, You may stand upon me, But do not hide your face.
Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning” (excerpt) from On the Pulse of Morning. Copyright © 1993 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Source: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (Random House Inc., 1994)
Image and a lot of information about The Rock is found here.
Note: Part of this story is fiction and part is not.
WWE stands for World Wrestling Entertainment
Tao Talk 
“Can you smell what the Rock is cooking?”
I loved seeing the Rock in action, and his banter and wit were without equal. Marvelous job with the prompt line! Love this!
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Thank you, Frank. My kids grew up on WWE.
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What a wonderful take… I have not followed wrestling, but I’m not surprised that it has changed from wit to swastikas… it seems like the show has lost its glitz.
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Thanks, Bjorn. I watched it years ago with my sons, and then for a couple of years in 2012-2013. I did notice some of the more “alt-right thinking” creeping in to some of the characters at that time. I’m sure it’s gotten worse since 2016. What people don’t understand is that kids need heroes. Many kids idolize wrestling heroes, so this trend is more than a little troubling.
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Well done Jade! Loved your piece of Wrestling history and the ending was great!
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Thank you very much, Dwight 🙂
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Bravo. I had considered using Dwayne myself, but I really like where you took it. For 10 years he has made 2-3 movies a year, plus BALLERS. He is a billionaire for sure. He replaced Arnie.
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Thanks Glenn, I couldn’t have gotten a better prompt to include Dwayne in.
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Nice spin on the prompt! As for the turn of WWF into something far more sinister … I hear you. I know people who used to watch it and now won’t.
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Thanks, Na’ama.
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LUV WHERE THE PROMPT TOOK YOU BRAVO!
Much😊love
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Thank you, Gillena!
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a great history lesson on another guy who shone for kids and adults alike 🙂
thanks Lisa!
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🙂 Glad you liked the story, Kate, thanks.
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I’ve never been into wrestling but he does sound like an interesting character 🙂
Frankly horrified at the change it’s taken … this bigotry should be squashed!
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Well done! You Rocked the prompt!
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haha! Thanks much!
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Bravo! A brilliant take on the prompt. Go Dwayne!
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🙂 Thanks Vivian. He is a phenomenal individual.
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My husband and I used to love wrestling years ago, Our favourite was The Undertaker, but I always had a soft spot for The Rock – and I loved him in The Mummy Returns.We haven’t watched in years and I didn’t know that WWE’s wrestlers wear swastikas and confederate flags!
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Kim, my favorite WWE wrestler is The Apex Predator, Randy Orton. Not even sure if Randy still wrestles, it’s been a few years since watching. As to the wrestlers wearing literal swastikas and confederate flags, that was poetic license (see note) but the types of characters (good old boys with “colonel” managers, redneck costumes) was trending that way when I stopped watching. Not sure what the present state of it all is, but since our current pres got elected I’m guessing the decline has continued.
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You went there, and I loved it, and with a smile too.
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Yep, I went there. Maya Angelou got the rest covered with her poem 🙂
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Yes, she sure did, but I liked your creative take.
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Paul, thank you.
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What a amusing slant on the challenge! Great originality!
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Beverly, so glad you enjoyed the poem, thanks!
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Wow- great writing Jade!
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Thanks Linda!
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Lord i did a Biographical Search
on ‘the Rock’ as it’s not a Movie
Genre or Wrestling Meme that i watch
Finding out his Father Rocky a Wrestler
Died just last Week.. He seems to be a Compassionate
Figure who hasn’t let fame go totally to his Head..
but His use of ‘Substances’
to ‘enhance’ his ‘Appearance’
is worrisome for his Health
at least… How Big does
one need to get
to Be.. as
an Athletic
Director of a
Military Installation
i’ve seen that dis ease
a common ‘dude thing’ these
days too.. we had an employee by
the Name of ‘Animal’ and behind the
Gym Counter he had a poster that
inspired the words ‘i am Big’..
Truly the Rock seems
to Have a Magnanimous
Kind and Compassionate
Personality a bit sad to
see him get sucked
down into the
bowels
of
really what
can be Life Threatening
Overall Toxic Patriarchy too..
there is the Man inside always
bigger than the man outside the real source of a Rock..:)
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That does seem completely out of character for him to currently use steroids. I’m not sure I believe he does.
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Smiles i’m not sure what kind of substances
he might be using but Human Growth Hormone
would account for increases in the Skeletal structure
of His Head… working-out doesn’t increase that but Pituitary
Gland issues do as that relates to Human Growth Hormone too…
for his Health
surely best
if he is not
using anything
and doesn’t have
any disease related issues..
Hollywood is rife with this issue…
those who don’t fall to it don’t rise to the same level of success
That’s really sad but it is the Nature of current success whatever it takes..:)
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