He wrestled for the WWF full-time for eight years before pursuing an acting career. His films have grossed over $3.5 billion in North America and over $12.5 billion worldwide,[8] making him one of the world’s highest-grossing and highest-paid actors.[9][10][11] He is a co-owner of the United Football League,[12][13][14] a member of the board of directors of
TKO Group Holdings—the parent company of UFC and WWE[15][16][17]—and co-founder of Seven Bucks Productions.[18] After accepting an athletic scholarship to play football at the University of Miami, Johnson was a member of the 1991 national championship team but was largely a backup player.[19] Despite aspirations to professional football, he went undrafted in the 1995 NFL draft, and briefly signed with the Calgary Stampeders before being cut in his first season.
[20] In 1996, his father assisted in helping him secure a contract with the WWF.[1] Johnson quickly rose to global prominence, aided by a gimmick he employed as a charismatic trash talker. Johnson left the WWE in 2004; he returned in 2011 as a part-time performer until 2013 and made sporadic appearances from thereon until his retirement in 2019;[21] in 2023, he returned once again on a part-time basis. A 10-time world champion—including the promotion’s first of African-American descent[22]—he is also a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time Tag Team Champion, the 2000 Royal Rumble winner, and WWE’s sixth Triple Crown champion. Johnson headlined multiple pay-per-view events, including WWE’s flagship event WrestleMania six times (15, 16, 17, 28, 29 and 40) which includes the most-bought professional wrestling pay-per-view (WrestleMania 28) and main evented the most watched episodes of WWE’s flagship television series (Raw and SmackDown).[23][24]
