Dwayne Johnson is no ordinary superstar. He’s one of those stars who seems to excel at everything he puts his hand to. All-rounder does not even begin to personify him. When he first broke out in Hollywood, he did so with a bang, earning the largest paycheck for a newcomer in a starring role, being paid US$5.5 million for The Scorpion King. In 2016, he was named by Forbes as the world’s highest paid actor, raking in US$ 64.5 million that year alone. This year, there are murmurings he will run for President against Trump in 2020, and he has not denied that he won’t. In fact, he’s said he will for sure consider it. If we can have a reality star in the White House, why not a world champion wrestler and A-list Hollywood superstar?
Dwayne Johnson’s story reads like the classic rags-to-riches story. While he’s a third-generation professional wrestler (both his father and maternal grandfather were pro wrestlers) he’s the first in his family to go to College. He says that when he was a teenager, he was a real rebel, always getting on the wrong side of the law, a real punk. But then he was given a chance, when the football coach of his high school suggested he try out.
Football took him all the way to the University of Miami on a full scholarship. He played for the Miami Hurricanes at the Nationals, winning a National Championship with them in 1991, but then he was sidelined by injury, which kept him from being noticed by the NFL. He had set his sights on pro football, so he made use of his Canadian citizenship (he has dual US-Canadian citizenship) and managed to get a spot on the “Calgary Stampeders” team, playing with them in the Canadian Football League. But that dream was also cut short when he was cut two months into the season.
“Failing” at football is what Dwayne Johnson names as his biggest failure, along with failure in his marriage to his first wife, Dany Garcia. But neither of these failures can be judged on the normal scale of failing. To make it all the way to pro football can hardly be considered failing, nor can divorcing his first wife but remaining close friends and business partners with her, sharing custody of their daughter. Dwayne Johnson’s idea of failure is a far cry from everyone else’s. And perhaps that’s why he doesn’t fail. When something doesn’t work, he finds a better way.
When he couldn’t go all the way in football, he decided to pursue professional wrestling, something his dad, who was also a professional wrestler, was dead set against. But when Dwayne Johnson was adamant, his father agreed to train him himself. In WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, (then WWF) he rose through the ranks at lightning speed, first competing as plain old Dwayne Johnson, but in wrestling, to have the crowd behind you, you need them to “get” you. So most pro wrestlers have a ring name.
His first ring name was “Rocky Maivia” a combination of his father and grandfather’s ring names. Despite becoming the youngest intercontinental Champion in WWF history, his audience didn’t dig his smiley, nice guy attitude, chanting “Die Rocky Die” and “Rocky sucks!” in match after match. In a now famous Youtube clip, he said “Rocky Maivia might be a lot of things, but “sucks” isn’t one of them.”
So he stepped out of his nice guy skin and into the trash-talking, swearing, snarling, spitting character he called “The Rock”, and from there styled himself as the “People’s Champion”. They LOVED it! He was HUGE in the world of wrestling, and his new aggressive, intimidating character showed early glimmers of his tremendous showmanship and natural acting ability. Pro wrestling is not just a sport, it is entertainment. It seemed almost just a matter of time before the lure of Hollywood beckoned.
His first billings in movies had him billed as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson; while he was a newcomer to movies, he was certainly no newcomer to fame and success, and he entered tinsel town wholly on his own terms.
He joined the cast of the Fast and Furious franchise in “Fast Five”, their fifth installment, after numerous fans of the series expressed how they would love to see Vin Diesel and The Rock in the same movie. Fast Five had the biggest opening for a Fast and Furious show, grossing over US$86 million in its opening weekend.
His latest Fast and Furious outing, “The Fate of the Furious” opened this April grossing more than US$1.2 billion worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film of 2017, while it’s opening weekend grossed US$532 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing opening of all time, beating “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at US$529 million.
Dwayne Johnson is absolutely HUGE. This year, there’s been all kinds of talk of him running for President, rumours which started from a question posed by Caity Weaver for a story by GQ! Magazine. This was picked up by all the news channels and media outlets, and when asked, Dwayne Johnson seemed not only unperturbed but quite warm to the idea. To whether he would consider running, he says “Yeah, of course I would consider it.”
When studying such meteoric personalities and their rise to success, it is always fascinating to take a look at their birth charts. Dwayne Johnson’s chart jumps out with all the ingredients to conjure up a superstar. Firstly, his chart is incredibly well-balanced, with all five elements present. There is no missing element, which means that everything can crystallize for him.
His four Earthly Branches feature the Rat, Dragon, Snake and Rooster. In these four branches, he has all manner of allies, which gains him popularity in any circles he moves in, with help and support coming both directly and indirectly.
His chart features two sets of Allies, with the Rat and Dragon from the Triangle of Competitors, and the Rooster and Snake from the Triangle of Intellectuals. He has the luck to win, and he is smart enough to know how. The good fortune from these combinations are enhanced if he completes the triangles with a Monkey and an Ox. His father Rocky Maivia is a Monkey, and so is his ex-wife Dany Garcia, who remains his close friend, manager and producing partner. His latest venture “Project Rock”, a collaboration with leading sports apparel brand Under Armour features an Ox as its primary logo. His motto here is to chase greatness. He says “We all have hopes, goals, dreams and aspirations, and I’ve officially made it my project to help as many of you get after your goals as possible. Let’s get after it and chase greatness… together.”
His chart also has the Dragon and Snake, which forms the House of Magic, a combination that can manifest miracles. This combination fuels achievement of unbelievable scope, letting one get after goals that seem impossible, making them very possible. And lastly, he also has the Rooster and Dragon secret friend combination, which brings help from unexpected and unseen quarters.
The element of Earth meanwhile represents fame and power in his chart, so taking on the name “The Rock” was a stroke of genius on his part. His name The Rock brings to him powerful rock-solid Earth energy, which manifests fantastic fame and recognition luck, and is exactly what he needs if he really does have aspirations to become President one day. But till then, there’s a ton Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has still in store, with a staggering 26 more movies in the works!
