The Rock shares cheesy footage of his very first wrestling match (Video)

Way back when...

Nooruddean Choudry

The Rock shares cheesy footage of his very first wrestling match (Video)

He is one of the most famous wrestlers of all time and a major Hollywood star, but even Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson started somewhere.

The star of San Andreas and Ballers posted a video of his first ever professional wrestling bout on Instagram as he got all nostalgic about the good old days.

His debut was in Memphis for the USWA (United States Wrestling Association) in 1996. The fresh-faced 23-year-old wasn’t known as the Rock back then – he went under the ring pseudonym of ‘Flex Kavana’, and was paid a meagre $40 a match.

You can watch the clip below. He’s bigger now – and faaar cooler…

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