The Rock, then known as Rocky Maivia, won his first Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 13. Notable, however, was the crowd’s reaction to the match, with Maivia getting booed out of the building. 

Rock sat down with Mark Kerr in a promotional interview with “Sports Illustrated” ahead of “The Smashing Machine” theatrical release, while a video of that match played in the background. Rock commented on this early version of his WWE character. 

“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.”

Rock went on to explain McMahon’s logic behind the constant smiling. 

“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.”

Rock’s last appearances in WWE have been panned by most fans, as to date, there has not been a follow through on his involvement in John Cena’s heel turn at Elimination Chamber. Conversely, his acting career is reaching another level, as Christopher Nolan recently called his performance in “The Smashing Machine” the best of the year, and he will soon co-star in a Hawaii-set thriller featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt, directed by Martin Scorsese. 

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Sports Illustrated” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for transcription.