Before making his WWE debut, The Rock initially wrestled as Flex Kavana in USWA, and Jerry Jarrett recently talked to The Hannibal TV about The Rock’s time in Memphis, and Road Dogg’s influence on the Superstar.
“We had a deal with WWE”, said Jerry, “And so he was here as Flex Kavana or some silly name. And I don’t think he became The Rock until he went back to Vince.
“The Rock’s mother is Hawaiian, and so I think he wanted to do the barefoot Flex Kavana (gimmick). And because he was a WWE wrestler when he was there, we did whatever they wanted him portraying as. And they finally saw that Flex Kavana wasn’t going to be box-office (hit) and The Rock was. I think The Rock was greatly influenced during his time in Memphis with Brian James (Road Dogg), because Road Dogg would get the microphone in the ring and do that little spiel, ‘For the thousands in attendance and millions watching’, and I think that was a real big influence on Dwayne.”
When asked if he thought The Rock was the most successful wrestler financially of all time, Jerry spoke about Gorgeous George and how big of a draw he was in the fifties.
“I don’t think there’s any question. Well, if you add in movies and everything else… when you do this, you can’t take dollars. Gorgeous George may, when you take the dollars in the fifties, then Gorgeous George drew and made… it may very well exceed what The Rock or Stone Cold made in ’90 and ’00 dollars.”
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