The Rock has revealed the reason behind Vince McMahon asking him to always have a smile on his face during his Rocky Maivia run.
The Rock sat down with Mark Kerr, whom he portrayed in his latest movie, The Smashing Machine, for a feature with Sports Illustrated. The People’s Champion discussed his first WWE run as Rocky Maivia and the negative crowd reaction he received during that phase. He also revealed that former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon made him smile at all times, to make people know that he was grateful to be in the company and for the opportunities he was given.
“This is me at WrestleMania 13 in Chicago. I was a rookie and Vince McMahon told me very early, ‘You’re going to become the youngest Intercontinental Champion, but you have to smile all the time. When you go out, your music plays, you got to smile. As you come back, you got to smile.’ And I remember telling him, I was like, man, that doesn’t feel real authentic.”
“And he goes, ‘Yeah, but I want to make sure people know that you’re grateful to be here.’ And I went and I thought, ‘God, I wonder if there’s another way, but he’s the boss.’ So what you’re seeing there at WrestleMania 13 is that’s a culmination of months of being inauthentic, not being real, smiling. I mean, dude, I used to go out, my music would hit, and fans would be like, ‘You suck.’ And I’d have to smile, yeah, yeah, thanks, man.” [H/T WrestlingInc]
The Rock Reportedly Took A Massive Pay Cut To Star In ‘The Smashing Machine’
The Rock is one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, but he reportedly took a significant pay cut to star in The Smashing Machine.
Anthony D’Alessandro of Deadline reported that while The Rock usually charges $20 million per movie, he took only $4 million to star in The Smashing Machine.
It was also reported that he gave a part of his earnings to Mark Kerr and Emily Blunt.
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