Bruce Prichard Reveals Who Came Up With the Name ‘The Rock’

– Bruce Prichard discussed the origins of The Rock’s post-Rocky Maivia gimmick on his Something to Wrestle podcast. You can see highlights below per WZ:

On how Rock ended up in the Nation of Domination: “When we made the phone call, the entire situation was that Rocky was out with a knee injury and Russo did not know what to do with him. He kept going, ‘I do not know what to do with this guy.’ I brought up putting him in the Nation of Domination. That way we protect him with his knee. They were chanting “Die, Rocky, die,” so he has a reason to be in this group, so bring him back as a heel. Let him cut the promos on the people.”

On whoi came up with his new name: “In the pitch to Rock, [Ross] said “God damn, boy. I saw Deion [Sanders] cut a promo, and he’s gonna have a good game. Why don’t you refer to yourself [like Sanders did] in the third-person. Call yourself The Rock, just shorten it.’”

On Rock being uncertain about a heel turn: “Russo had called Rocky and pitched it, but Rocky did not want to be a heel. He didn’t want to do it. So, Jim Ross and I got on the phone with him, pitched it, and then he started going, ‘Okay, I could do that.’ At that time, nobody dreamed that he’d be a breakout star and take over the Nation like he did. When he did, I’ll never forget Vince [McMahon] going, ‘God damn, what’s wrong? You put a microphone in his hand and the crowd goes nuts. Give him a God damn microphone and let him talk!’ That’s what made The Rock.”

https://youtu.be/I3rHBJGMurk