The year 2021 saw the debut of Young Rock, a comedy series about The Rock, following not only global superstar’s formative teenage and college years, but also his childhood, growing up in the wrestling business as the son of WWE’s “Soulman” Rocky Johnson. As a result, a number of real life wrestlers appear on the show as characters, including Andre the Giant, The Wild Samoans, Junkyard Dog, and The Iron Sheik.
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The show is also slated to depict Vince McMahon and Randy Savage, but who else should appear on Young Rock? Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and talk about some classic WWE stars that fans would love to see young Dwayne Johnson interact with.
10 Big Boss Man
No matter how good they were in the ring, a lot of the WWE wrestlers of the late 1980s and early 1990s were pretty cartoonish, and therefore ripe for comedy on a show like Young Rock.
There’s a lot of comedic potential, for example, in putting Big Boss Man on the show, which could result in some fun mishap with young Dwayne Johnson accidentally mistaking Boss Man for a cop. He’s technically a prison guard, but his 1980s gear looked enough like a police officer’s uniform that it would work for the show.
9 Yokozuna
Given that The Rock is considered part of the Anoa’i family -- or “Samoan Dynasty” as it’s often called -- that produced stars like Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Umaga, it would be a shame to not take advantage of that. The Wild Samoans already appear on the show, but it wouldn’t be inappropriate to incorporate Yokozuna as well. Given that one of the creators of Young Rock, Nahnatchka Khan, also created Fresh Off The Boat, which dealt with themes of Asian representation, the fact that Yoko was a Samoan working a gimmick as a Japanese sumo wrestler is something the show could work with.
8 The Legion of Doom
While they first came on the scene in 1980s NWA, Road Warriors came to WWE in 1990, where they became The Legion of Doom. With their unique post-apocalyptic look and intense demeanor, they’d be a fun addition to Young Rock.
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Hawk and Animal were notorious for being stiff in the ring -- especially with jobbers and newbies -- so they’d not only be great fodder to show a young Rock in over his head against veterans, but also show how tough wrestling can be.
7 Sgt. Slaughter
Much like Big Boss Man, Sgt. Slaughter is another occupational wrestler who could find some comedic use on Young Rock. The intense drill sergeant/real life G.I JOE character gimmick is full of potential, especially if the show employs the same freewheeling approach to factual accuracy as Fresh Off the Boat did.
After all, Sgt. Slaughter could easily be the tough drill instructor who helps train The Rock in wrestling. Not only would it be great to see the over-the-top character on the small screen once more, it would really showcase the 'entertainment' aspect of Sports Entertainment.
6 Ted DiBiase
Another theme that Young Rock appears to be playing with, based on early episodes, is the concept of “living the gimmick” -- that is, when a wrestler makes sure that they act the part of their character in everyday life. A wrestler like top 80s heel Ted DiBiase is ripe for that kind of theme, because in WWE he was “The Million Dollar Man,” an absurdly rich person who stuffed money into victims’ mouths, but certainly wasn’t that rich in real life.
Given that the show has already depicted the harsh reality of Rocky Johnson’s post WWE career, there’s a lot to explore using a character like DiBiase.
5 Bret Hart
Bret “The Hitman” Hart became a major single's star in the 1990s, but he was a tag team specialist in The Hart Foundation in the 1980s, so there are two distinct eras of Hart that a young Rock could meet during the course of the series.
While Hart’s onscreen persona is that of a serious guy, his taking wrestling too seriously could easily be great for comedy on a show like Young Rock. They could also shout out the Montreal Screwjob in a fun way for the hardcore fans.
4 The Undertaker
The first episode of Young Rock established a theme of reality vs. fiction that wrestling-centric stories simply can’t avoid, and an over-the-top character like The Undertaker would be a great fit for the show.
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By the time Undertaker debuted in WWE, Dwayne Johnson was already in college, but that doesn’t mean that Young Rock couldn’t play around with the idea of a muscular adult like Johnson being spooked by the theatrically morbid ‘Taker. Not having an incarnation of The Deadman make an appearance on the show would be a bit of a missed opportunity.
3 Roddy Piper
“Rowdy” Roddy Piper was around in WWE during the 1980s and 1990s, the same time period during which Young Rock takes place. So it makes a lot of sense for Piper to appear on the show, especially because he’s such a big, over-the-top personality, who owned the promo game, much like The Rock did during his career.
But, more importantly, Roddy Piper was a pop culture icon who many viewers outside of wrestling are likely to know about, thanks to his appearances as an actor in films like They Live.
2 The Ultimate Warrior
It’s tough to imagine an iconic WWE star that’s better suited for a comedy series than The Ultimate Warrior. An attempt to build a new star to succeed Hulk Hogan, Warrior was a muscle-bound freak in facepaint who bellowed stream-of-consciousness promos about being a space alien (?) at the top of his lungs when he wasn’t aggressively hyperventilating.
In other words, The Ultimate Warrior is a comedy writer’s dream, and the right actor in the role could make it an all-timer, though the show would have to toe the line between honoring him and poking fun at him.
1 Steve Austin
If the show continues past its first season, it will only be a matter of time before the show gets into The Rock’s early career wrestling as Rocky Maivia. That means that eventually fans would see Rock debuting in WWE, wearing his goofy original gear as well as interacting with many of the characters who’d help define Rocky’s career.
That will certainly include rival Stone Cold Steve Austin, who put on some era defining matches with The Rock in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
