Are ‘The Rock’ and Dwayne Johnson the Same Person? The Meme — and Hilarious Trolling — Explained

Some people know him as Dwayne Johnson. Others refer to him as The Rock. There are so many people who think these are two different people, that there is actually a meme about it. The meme shows Dwayne Johnson in two different poses and says, “The Rock and Dwayne Johnson are twins. Like if you didn’t know.” Of course, this has only caused further confusion for those trying to figure out what’s going on — much to the amusement of his fans who are purposefully out to troll. The real question is: Why do so many people think that The Rock and Dwayne Johnson are twins in the first place? To answer that, we will have to look at his career before he became an actor and how he got to where he is today.

Yes, The Rock and Dwayne Johnson are the same person

The Rock debuted at WWE under the name Rocky Maivia. The name was a tribute to his father, Rocky Johnson, who was also a wrestler. But the name wasn’t working and it had to be changed. The Rock used Stone Cold Steve Austin to finally announce his name. 

In a segment where he was challenging Austin, he said, “Your bottom line will read ‘Has Been, Compliments of The Rock.” This simple statement also marked the beginning of one of the biggest feuds in WWE. This also led to Johnson referring to himself in the third person often when he was doing interviews for WWE.

Johnson’s first movie role was as the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns, which premiered in 2001. In 2004, he ended up leaving the WWE in order to focus on his acting career. He returned to wrestling part time from 2011 to 2013, and then made occasional appearances until his WWE retirement in 2019.

Does Dwayne Johnson have a twin?

As previously stated, no The Rock and Dwayne Johnson aren’t twins because they’re the same person.

On top of this, however, there have been rumors and whisperings that the Denver Broncos linebacker Shane Ray is, in fact, The Rock’s twin. But some have ventured further than that. Some claim that the linebacker is indeed Dwayne Johnson himself trying to re-imagine his football career. 

Besides the obvious age difference, the consensus is that the two are never seen together in the same room. Likely this is just happenstance. However, the conspiracy theorists who relish this type of rumor somehow keep it going despite the obvious differences, such as tattoos, age, et cetera.

Just to recap, Dwayne Johnson and The Rock are not twins nor do they have twin brothers. The Rock and Shane Ray could be related as they look strikingly similar — however, they do not share a blood relation.

Johnson used to have a very different nickname

The Rock is a very macho name, but Dwayne’s family had a very different one for him as a child. On a Zoom panel for the Television Critics Association on January 26th, Dwayne revealed that his family used to call him Dewey. 

Now, one would think that Dewey was short for Dwayne. However, it was born from a conversation that took place between his mother and godmother when he was around 6 months of age. His mother asked the godmother if his diaper was wet, to which she replied, “No, he’s just a little Dewey.” Not exactly a name that would have stuck when he was trying to be a rough-and-tumble wrestler. 

As a teenager, Johnson tried to rebrand himself as Tomas. However, his family still continued to call him Dewey. When you get stuck with a name like that, it’s often hard to shake and you have to take drastic measures to shed it — even so far as becoming a wrestler.

Just to recap: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is indeed one person. He doesn’t have a twin and he isn’t moonlighting as a linebacker. The memes and rumors are just inventions of the internet to entertain us and keep us on our toes. Indeed, if a man who is 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs nearly 300 pounds doesn’t want to be called Dewey, who will argue with him?