Editing Dwayne Johnson (section)

==== Nation of Domination (1997–1998) ====
{{see also|Nation of Domination}}
Upon returning in August, Maivia turned [[Heel (professional wrestling)|heel]] for the first time in his career by lashing out at fans who had been booing him and joining [[Ron Simmons|Faarooq]], [[D'Lo Brown]] and [[Charles Wright (wrestler)|Kama]] in the [[Professional wrestling stable|stable]] called the [[Nation of Domination]].<ref name="nation">{{cite web |url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/n/nation-of-domination.html |title=Nation of Domination Profile |publisher=Online World of Wrestling |access-date=March 19, 2008 |archive-date=March 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307074516/http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/n/nation-of-domination.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He then refused to acknowledge the Rocky Maivia name, instead referring to himself in the third person as The Rock, though he would still be billed as "The Rock" Rocky Maivia until 1998. The Rock would then regularly insult the audience, WWF performers, and interviewers in his [[Promos (professional wrestling)|promos]].<ref name="nation" />

At [[D-Generation X: In Your House]] on December 7, [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] defeated The Rock in under six minutes to retain the Intercontinental Championship.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/inyourhouse19.html |title=In Your House 19: D-Generation X results |publisher=Online World of Wrestling |access-date=March 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514225935/http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/inyourhouse19.html |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The next night on ''Raw Is War'', Austin was ordered by [[Mr. McMahon]] to defend the title in a rematch, but forfeited it to The Rock instead, handing him the title belt before hitting him with the ''[[Stone Cold Stunner]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.otherarena.com/htm/cgi-bin/history.cgi?1997/raw120897 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061026202130/http://www.otherarena.com/htm/cgi-bin/history.cgi?1997%2Fraw120897 |archive-date=October 26, 2006 |title=WWF Raw: December 8, 1997 |publisher=The Other Arena |access-date=March 19, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/intercontinental/322552 |title=The Rock's second Intercontinental Championship reign |publisher=[[World Wrestling Entertainment]] |access-date=March 19, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428234605/http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/intercontinental/322552 |archive-date=April 28, 2007}}</ref> The Rock feuded with Austin and [[Ken Shamrock]] through the end of 1997 and beginning of 1998.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/royalrumble/history/198811511/results/ |title=Royal Rumble 1998 official results |publisher=[[World Wrestling Entertainment]] |access-date=March 19, 2008 |archive-date=May 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501114652/http://www.wwe.com/shows/royalrumble/history/198811511/results/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/history/wm14/results/ |title=WrestleMania XIV official results |publisher=[[World Wrestling Entertainment]] |access-date=March 19, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080313110737/http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/history/wm14/results/ |archive-date=March 13, 2008}}</ref> On January 19, 1998, at the [[Royal Rumble (1998)|Royal Rumble]], The Rock defeated Shamrock by disqualification to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Later that night, he entered the Royal Rumble match and lasted until the final two before he was eliminated by Stone Cold Steve Austin. On March 29, at [[WrestleMania XIV]], he defeated Shamrock by disqualification once again to retain the title. The next night, on ''Raw is War'', The Rock debuted a new Intercontinental Championship design and would later overthrow Faarooq as leader of the Nation of Domination to spark a feud between the two. He then successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Faarooq at [[Over the Edge: In Your House]] on May 31. The stable would then refer to themselves as simply "The Nation".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/inyourhouse22.html |title=In Your House 22: Over the Edge 1998 results |publisher=Online World of Wrestling |access-date=March 19, 2008 |archive-date=February 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205170956/http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/inyourhouse22.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Rock and the Nation then feuded with [[Triple H]] and [[D-Generation X]] (DX), with the two stable leaders first meeting in the quarter-final of the [[King of the Ring (1998)#King of the Ring bracket|1998]] [[King of the Ring tournament]], which The Rock won. At [[King of the Ring (1998)|King of the Ring]] on June 28, The Rock defeated [[Dan Severn]] in the semi-final match and lost to rival Ken Shamrock in the final. The Rock then resumed his feud with Triple H, as the two had a [[two out of three falls match]] at [[Fully Loaded: In Your House]] on July 26 for the Intercontinental Championship, which The Rock retained in controversial fashion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/inyourhouse23.html |title=In Your House 23: Fully Loaded 1998 results |publisher=Online World of Wrestling |access-date=March 19, 2008 |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905200036/http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/inyourhouse23.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This led to a [[ladder match]] at [[SummerSlam (1998)|SummerSlam]] on August 30, where The Rock lost the title to Triple H.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/summerslam/history/1998/results/ |title=SummerSlam 1998 official results |publisher=[[World Wrestling Entertainment]] |access-date=March 19, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070620164459/http://www.wwe.com/shows/summerslam/history/1998/results/ |archive-date=June 20, 2007}}</ref>

In the latter half of 1998, The Rock saw a big uptick in fan support. He also started consolidating his famous persona during this time, which would last until 2000.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/791462-video-tributes-ten-things-to-love-about-wwe-legend-dwayne-the-rock-johnson|title=Video Tributes: 10 Things to Love About WWE Legend Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson|first=Kevin|last=Germany|website=Bleacher Report}}</ref> His popularity caused him to be booked in a feud with fellow Nation members [[Mark Henry]] and D'Lo Brown, turning [[Face (professional wrestling)|babyface]] in the process. Henry defeated The Rock at [[Judgment Day: In Your House]] on October 18 after interference from Brown, effectively breaking up the stable.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/breakdown98.html |title=In Your House 24: Breakdown 1998 results |publisher=Online World of Wrestling |access-date=March 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514225942/http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/breakdown98.html |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/judgementday98.html |title=In Your House 25: Judgment Day 1998 results |publisher=Online World of Wrestling |access-date=March 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100128011334/http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/judgementday98.html |archive-date=January 28, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>