Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson posted last week a video of himself sitting on a chair, wearing his signature 10,000-megawatt smile. He had the look of someone with something groundbreaking to tell; only it turned out to be more heartbreaking than anything else.
He was covering up his iconic Brahma Bull tattoo.
Beside The Rock was famed tattoo artist Nikko Hurtado, who was applying foam on the movie star’s jacked bicep as he spoke. “This is officially the evolution of the bull,” The Rock calmly said on the video, with undertones of excitement.
For 20 years, the Brahma Bull has defined the superstar’s persona, and inspired the generation that followed it. It was an image inseparable from the person.
That was until last week, when The Rock posted the video with the caption: “I’ve engrained this bull in my DNA for two decades. My core. Humbly, it’s also become a symbol of strength, resilience, heart, power and defiance to so many people around the world. I got this tattoo when I was just a kid. Now I need it to reflect me as a man.”
The product of the 22-hour session was a three-dimensional image of a bull skull, damaged and piercing. As with his left bicep piece, which reflects The Rock’s Samoan roots, particularly his warrior spirit and ancestors, this new ink job goes beyond aesthetics and represents his life journey.
He explained in a latter post that each crack stands for the hard lessons he picked up from life over the years, while the horns point straight ahead as it represents progress. The core of the piece, however, is the eye, that fends of the “mana” or spirit.
“The eye tells the story of a disruptive positive energy always ready to dent the universe. Depending on the light and angle, sometimes the energy’s subtle and sometimes it’s glaring. But it’s always alive and ready to disrupt the universe and love and protect my family and all things I love with intense passion and gratitude,” he wrote. “Cheers to living, learning, evolving and growing.”
While the iconic Brahma Bull is no more, The Rock has proven over the years that each change he takes is ultimately for the better.
Before The Rock became Dwayne Johnson the movie star, he was simply Dwayne Johnson, with nothing to his name but a dream to make it big. The third-generation wrestler tried professional football before going home to the industry where his family made a living. In 1996 he made his professional wrestling debut under the pseudonym “Rocky Maivia”, with a crazy hair to match the name. Johnson shot through the ranks with superstar-quality charisma, and soon adopted the motor- and potty-mouthed character The Rock.
He had a million catchphrases, with an identifiable set of gimmicks—from the eyebrow raise, to, yes, the Brahma Bull.
Some said he was made for Hollywood, and eventually, he heeded that advice. The Rock became Dwayne Johnson again, but this time, with a Hollywood-star ring to it. In 2016 he was even named the highest-paid actor by Forbes, with a $64.5-million paycheck that year, thanks in no small part to the success of the Fast 8. The figure is more than double his 2015 earnings.
That people can refer to Dwayne Johnson as The Rock and still conjure the image of someone of high regard speaks volumes to the success of his transcendence from wrestling superstar to larger-than-life icon.
He continues to inspire in different capacities, one of which is through Instagram, where he has close to 92 million followers. The Rock shuffles from spreading inspirational stories to greeting “warriors” or fans with terminal cases to “pull through.”
The most recent recipients of fighting words from “The People’s Champ” were 12-year-old Justin of Oklahoma, who doctors said has a few weeks to live; and a certain LaKresha Norton of Texas, fighting cancer. He flashed his brightest smile to both posts, and told them to keep strong.
In another post on August 10, a scuffled Johnson was professing his love for the city of Vancouver, where he “wrestled multiple matches and shot many movies.” He said what not many people know: when he was 22, Johnson pursued his dreams of becoming a professional football player and played for the Canadian Football League.
He played his first pro football game there and two days later, he got cut. “It was a dream shattered,” Johnson said with a chuckle, adding that he was sent home with only $7 in his pocket.
He regrouped, and said in the video that “playing in the NFL was the best thing that never happened, because it got me here. My point is you’re going to get your ass kicked, but you gotta have faith, that the one thing that you want to happen is oftentimes the best thing that never happened.”
How can you root against the guy? Brahma Bull has heart.