The Rock Recalls Disastrous First Babyface Run, Asking For Mic Time For Heel Turn

The Rock’s babyface turn is legendary in terms of how badly it failed, and the Great One looked back at it in a recent interview. The WWE star appeared on the PBD Podcast and talked about his debut as Rocky Maivia, turning heel and more. You can see highlights below, per Wrestling Inc:

On his babyface run: “What [Vince] did say to me was, ‘I want you to go out there and smile. … I want the audience to feel that you’re grateful, so I want you to smile all the time.’ So I would go out every night and my music would hit, and I would come out and I would smile. But then when I would get beat, I had to smile, like, coming back to the locker room. And eventually, people just started to feel like, well, that’s not real. That’s not authentic. And I started to feel that, too. And it would eat me up inside.”

On getting the chance to turn heel: “I said, ‘Okay, I have one request. Can I have the microphone for two minutes? I just want to express myself.’ And he said, ‘Oh boy, I don’t know about that.’ ‘Just give me one minute.’ He said fine. … and within two months I became the hottest bad guy in the company, and then turned into The Rock.”