Former WWE Superstar The Rock recently revealed why he 'hated' the Rocky Maivia name that he used for the beginning of his run in the company back in 1997.

Dwayne Johnson made his PPV debut for the company on November 17, 1996, at the Survivor Series event.

Johnson appeared as Rocky Maivia in a traditional Survivor Series match, joining Jake Roberts, Marc Mero & The Stalker to defeat Crush, Goldust, Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Triple H) & Jerry Lawler.

Appearing in a video for WIRED to promote the new Disney film Jungle Cruise, Dwayne Johnson would describe to fans how he adopted the gimmick name of The Rock.

"I used to throw around 300-pound men for a living, and get my ass kicked. And then my original wrestling name was ‘Rocky Maivia’, which was a combination of my dad’s first name and my grandfather’s last name because both of them were pro-wrestlers.

And I hated the name. I hated it. I hated it because the lineage I had gave me the opportunity to at least knock on the door. I wanted my own identity, I wanted my own space. So while I was very proud to come from where I came from, with my dad and grandfather, and my whole family’s in wrestling, I still wanted my own space. And so I said, 'I hate it.'”