Looking back at The Rock's WWE debut at Survivor Series 28 years later

Before The Rock was the People's Champ or belting out "You're Welcome" or becoming the perhaps the most recognizable human on the planet he was simply Dwayne Johnson.

But wrestling was in his blood. His father, Rocky Johnson, spent nearly 20 years in the NWA before jumping to the then-WWF for four years and winning the tag team titles with Tony Atlas. His grandfather, Peter Maivia wrestled for 22 years across the world including with the NWA, AWA, WCCW and the WWWF (now WWE).

Their influences eventually led Johnson to start training to become a professional wrestler after a short stint in the Canadian Football League in 1995. Johnson was a successful defensive lineman with the Miami Hurricanes and was then signed by WWE.

The Rock's WWE debut at Survivor Series 1996

After spending about a year training and wrestling with the United States Wrestling Association, Johnson was signed by Vince McMahon and WWE.

His television debut came on Nov. 4, 1996, as a member of Marc Mero's entourage on an episode of Monday Night Raw. His name? "The Blue Chipper" Rocky Maivia. A vignette was aired the following week establishing Johnson as a babyface and highlighting his status as the WWE's first third-generation wrestler.

Six days later on Nov. 17, Rocky Maivia made his in-ring debut in a 4-on-4 Survivor Series elimination match. Maivia teamed with Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Marc Mero and The Stalker (Barry Windham) to take on Crush, Goldust, Jerry Lawler and Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

"There's gonna be the man, right there," Jim Ross said on commentary as Maivia walked down the entrance ramp. "That's blue chip."

Admittedly, it seems a big cringy now. Say what you will about the WWE, but there's no denying the company has a tendency to be a bit ham-fisted.

The final sequence saw Maivia outnumbered 2-to-1 by Crush and Goldust, but he prevailed and won the match as the sole survivor.

"Put him away, Rock!" Ross screamed in the final moments. Which appears to be the first time we hear that name in regards to Johnson.

"What a dream come true for the first third-generation superstar," McMahon belted out as Maivia's hand was raised. Again, if McMahon wants you to know something, he isn't afraid to talk about it over and over and over.

The fans in Madison Square Garden were into the finish, too. The crowd popped for both eliminations and gave Maivia a pretty rousing ovation after the match. But unfortunately... or perhaps fortunately... for Johnson, the admiration was not long lived. Almost immediately fans across the country turned on a character that was, frankly, boring.

Dwayne Johnson becoming The Rock

Maivia won the Intercontinental Championship on Feb. 13, 1997, defeating Helmsley and losing the fans in the process. Throughout the match fans can be heard chanting "Rocky sucks."

He would retain the belt for 10 weeks, finally dropping it to Owen Hart on April 28. But his character was on death's door long before that. By Wrestlemania 13 on March 23 (just a few weeks after winning the IC title), fans had gone from "Rocky sucks" to "die, Rocky, die."

Johnson called this night the turning point of his career.

A few weeks later, in a match against Mankind, Johnson suffered a legitimate knee injury in the ring. As a result, he was off television for two months. During those two months Johnson and McMahon decided on a heel turn for his character.

When he returned in August, he joined the Nation of Domination faction. He then refused to answer to "Rocky Maivia" and began referring to himself as The Rock in third person.

It was here that The Rock became the performer who became one of the biggest wrestlers of all time. The scathing, hilarious, high-energy promos, the catchphrases and the eyebrow all made their debuts during this time.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The Rock's WWE Accolades

The Rock is an eight-time WWE Champion, a five-time WWE Tag Team Champion, a two-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and a two-time Intercontinental Champion. He was the winner of the 2000 Royal Rumble and was in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Match of the Year twice (vs. Mankind at the 1999 Royal Rumble and vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 18.

The Rock has been involved in six of the WWE's 10 highest-grossing events in history (WrestleMania 17, 20, 27, 28, 29 and 40). The Rock main-evented five WrestleManias, and holds a 6-5 overall record at WWE's biggest event of the year.

Other Notable WWE Survivor Series Debuts

Elimination Chamber: The match which now gets its own PLE dedicated to it was once a concoction of pure carny bloodlust and pageantry. The Elimination Chamber originally debuted at Survivor Series 2002 in a much more unforgiving manner, which unpadded floors and chain link surrounding the ring. Triple H, Kane, Booker T, Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam and Shawn Micheals competed.

Kurt Angle: Angle's debut match lasted about six minutes at Survivor Series 1999. He defeated Shawn Stasiak and also jeered the fans for booing an Olympic gold medalist.

Sting: The Stinger had plenty of opportunities to join WWE throughout his career, instead opting to stay with both WCW and TNA. But in 2014, Sting finally signed with WWE and made his debut at Survivor Series. He interfered in the main event, setting up a program with Triple H at WrestleMania 31.

The Undertaker: One of - if not the - best character in the history of professional wrestling, The Undertaker made his debut at Survivor Series 1992. Taker's intimidating appearance and aura legitimately made children cry in the arena.

The Shield: The trio of Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins crashed the main event of the 2012 Survivor Series, wreaking havoc and starting a main roster run that led not only to massive group success but incredible individual success for all three members.