What is Dwayne The Rock Johnson?

Dwayne Johnson is a wrestler and actor whose photos and appearances became several distinct memes, including the 'Evolution' image macro and a widely recreated fanny pack throwback photo.

Where did Dwayne The Rock Johnson come from?

The first popular meme was posted by Redditor pedrolakes to /r/funny on July 31, 2013, showing two Johnson photos next to a picture of a boulder.

What does Dwayne The Rock Johnson mean?

References usually play on Johnson's wrestling nickname, his heavily muscled frame, or the earnest, over-the-top persona he shows on Instagram and in GQ.

How do you use Dwayne The Rock Johnson?

People recreate the fanny pack photo for Halloween costumes and remix the 'Evolution' macro by ending it with a boulder or a similarly shaped object.

Is Dwayne The Rock Johnson still popular?

Johnson was one of the most followed people on Instagram at the time of the GQ cover story and the fanny pack photo was being recreated years after it was posted.

Dwayne The Rock Johnson

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Published August 19, 2026

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is the wrestler and actor whose online life spawned several distinct memes, starting with a 2013 Reddit image macro comparing his growth to a large boulder, plus a widely recreated fanny pack throwback photo from his 1990s wardrobe.

celebrity reaction memes wrestling memes lip sync memes image macro memes throwback photo memes

Overview

Dwayne Johnson, the wrestler and actor better known as The Rock, is the subject of several distinct internet memes rather than one single format3. The best-known versions are the 'Evolution of Dwayne The Rock Johnson' image macro on Reddit, a 1990s throwback photo of Johnson in a black turtleneck and leather fanny pack, and lip sync clips from his TV appearances3.

His huge social following fed the meme output. As of May 2015 Johnson had roughly 49 million Facebook likes and 15 million Instagram followers3. His habit of posting throwback photos and joking about his own image gave meme communities a steady supply of raw material to remix.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Reddit /r/funny (image macro) / Instagram (fanny pack photo)

Creator

pedrolakes

Date

2013

The first widely shared Dwayne The Rock Johnson meme appeared on July 31, 2013, when Redditor pedrolakes submitted an image macro titled 'Evolution of Dwayne The Rock Johnson' to /r/funny, pairing two headshots of Johnson with a photograph of a large boulder3. The post pulled in more than 2,500 votes and 250 comments before it was archived3. On April 5, 2014, Redditor GabeNewellHalfLife posted an updated version of the same joke to /r/funny that reached upwards of 2,000 votes at 89% upvoted3.

How It Spread

On July 16, 2014, Johnson posted a 1990s photograph of himself wearing a black turtleneck, chain necklace and leather fanny pack to Instagram, and the picture pulled more than 372,000 likes over the following year3. Bleacher Report ran a Halloween roundup on November 1, 2014 collecting photos of fans dressed in the same outfit, many of which Johnson himself was tweeting out2.

On April 3, 2015, the Lip Sync Battle YouTube channel uploaded footage of Johnson performing Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off' on the Spike show, and the clip pulled over 12 million views in its first two months3. Johnson hosted Saturday Night Live for the fifth time on May 20, 2017, joining the Five-Timers Club and recreating the fanny pack photo on air4.

Earlier that same month, GQ published a cover story in which Johnson called a 2020 presidential run 'a real possibility' and criticized Donald Trump's executive orders on immigration, which pushed the meme output past image macros into political speculation1.

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How to Use This Meme

The 'Evolution' template typically stacks two or three images of a subject growing progressively larger, then ends with a photo of an inanimate object whose shape matches the final form, most often a rock. For the fanny pack format, fans usually copy the exact outfit, black turtleneck, silver chain and leather waist pack, and pose for costume photos to tag Johnson2.