WATCH: The Rock’s Pro Wrestling Debut

He may be a multi-million dollar movie star and the Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment, but a long time ago, the man we all know as The Rock originally debuted under the name Flex Kavana. This weekend, The Rock posted some rare footage of his very first appearance for the United States Wrestling Association in Memphis on Instagram. Coincidentally, The Rock would go on to debut at the Survivor Series Pay Per View in 1996, and this year’s edition of Survivor Series will air this Sunday on the WWE Network (and PPV).

BIG DEBUT… crazy to share this with y’all.. so surreal to see this classic footage from of my VERY FIRST wrestling match in Memphis, for the #USWA (United States Wrestling Association). I just drove my truck up from Miami to Memphis, had no bank account to my name (just carried cash) and luckily found a very nice elderly couple living in a house on Union Avenue who was willing to rent out a room to me. I’ll always remember it was Union Ave because every day I would drive by the world famous #SunRecords where the likes of Elvis, Jerry Lee and Johnny Cash had recorded early in their careers. In a weird way driving by that studio everyday kinda kept me motivated to stay grinding. I was 23yrs old, making $40 bucks per match and NO CLUE of the long journey that lay ahead of me. But I was then, as I am today, extremely grateful for the opportunity and always willing to put in the work. Y’all keep working hard at your goals and creating opportunities for yourselves, always be humble and never, and I repeat NEVER wear sunglasses inside a TV studio like I did here. What in theeeee f*ck!?? #NaughtyByNature #ViolentByDecision #Huh? #ClearlyImStillLearningHowToCutAPromo #USWA #Channel5Studios #LiveEverySaturdayMorning #FlexKavana #HumbleAndHungry #TheHardestWorkerInTheRoom #LetsGoToWaffleHouse

A video posted by therock (@therock) on Nov 15, 2015 at 6:36am PST

On the heels of that, here’s the whole match, courtesy of YouTube:

https://youtu.be/Y0SEitEkK98

Stephen Randle

Stephen Randle is an avid wrestling and film fan. He's been writing about WWE, movies, and video games for Goliath since 2015.