The Young Rock series that chronicles the early days of Dwayne Johnson has been a fun ride that includes a lot of nods to both the history of pop culture and the history of wrestling. The WWE was the home of The Rock for many years before he made the leap to movies, eventually becoming the highest-paid actor in the world for some time.
Young Rock hasn’t been afraid to make references to the WWE in a number of ways throughout the series, and some of them are so blatant that even the most casual wrestling fan will pick up on them. But others have been a little more hidden from view in various ways, and are extremely fun if viewers are able to pick up on them.
5 The Rock’s WWE Return
Since WrestleMania 32 in 2016, The Rock has not had a match in WWE. It has long been expected that he would return at some point for a final confrontation, and since the rise of his cousin Roman Reigns as the Tribal Chief and top guy in the company, WWE fans have wondered if The Rock would return to face Roman to decide who the head of their family truly is.
Young Rock teased this potential showdown in season 2 when The Rock’s young cousin Joe (who later would grow up to become Roman Reigns) appeared in a scene with The Rock and asked him to show him some wrestling moves. The Rock refused and told him that a match that grand would have to be saved for WrestleMania. The Rock has been rumored to return to WWE at the upcoming WrestleMania 39 for this exact confrontation with Reigns, as WrestleMania 39 will take place in Hollywood.
4 Corpus Christi
The Young Rock show has done a great job of portraying many real-life wrestlers over the seasons, but none more so than in the season 2 episode Corpus Christi. This episode told the story of The Rock’s first-ever match in WWE, and it showcased many of his future rivals and friends along the way. However, there was one actual wrestler that fans may not have recognized hiding under the persona of another one.
The Brooklyn Brawler was The Rock’s opponent in his first match in the show. This historical figure played several different characters in the WWE over his career, but the character was played by Colt Cabana, a real-life wrestler currently signed to AEW who used to be signed to the WWE under the ring-name Scotty Goldman. Cabana has a long history in the wrestling business, but many fans wouldn’t have picked up on his identity when watching Young Rock.
3 Becky Lynch
In The Young Rock season 3, fans will be able to see an even more major WWE personality on their screens in another role. While Becky Lynch is one of the most notable female wrestlers of the modern age and is a surefire hall of fame entrant when her career ends. However, she is instead visible in Young Rock playing none other than musical star Cyndi Lauper.
Lauper played a role inside the WWE around the time of the first WrestleMania in the mid-80s and was an important part of helping to launch the WrestleMania name as the biggest show in the wrestling world. Lynch recently became one of the first women to headline WrestleMania, so playing Lauper is a huge nod to the history of women at the event.
2 Vince McMahon
There are a lot of wrestlers featured in Young Rock, and it is unsurprisingly with how prominent WrestleMania and WWE are in the show that the long-time chairman Vince McMahon is shown in the series. The interesting, much deeper-dive part of this appearance is that Vince was eventually succeeded by Nick Khan as the chairman of the company when Vince was forcibly retired in 2022.
Nick Khan is actually the brother of Young Rock showrunner Nahnatchka Khan, which explains part of the reason she would be interested in exploring the history of the man at the top of the WWE. Vince McMahon worked closely with her brother, who is a childhood friend of The Rock, as is Nahnatchka herself. Khan also made other nods to her own history by casting Randall Park to have conversations with The Rock during his presidential run in the show. Park’s big break was the sitcom Fresh Off The Boat, which Khan also created.
1 WWE Style Stories
The biggest Easter Egg of all in the series is the way in which the stories are told. The overlapping, looping style that zooms between four separate time periods seems nonsensical at times, and the relationship the show has with the reality of Dwayne Johnson’s life is often slightly sketchy. But the way it tells stories is exactly the way that WWE tells stories. With elements of reality trying to make feuds and stories as believable as possible despite being scripted, WWE managed to make an art form of almost telling the truth over the years.
Whether this comes in the form of The Rock’s Presidential campaign, which isn’t real but easily could be as he himself has hinted in the past, or whether it is the stories that his father tells him when he is young about all the legendary wrestlers he has “defeated” the storytelling style is exactly what both The Rock and Nahnatchka Khan learned from watching WWE when they were young.