The Undertaker Details His Early Doubts About WWE Megastar The Rock

Mark "The Undertaker" Calaway has seen a lot of WWE Superstars come and go, and with that comes a certain kind of gut instinct for talent and longevity. On the latest episode of "Six Feet Under With Mark Calaway," Calaway explained that sometimes that gut feeling can be very wrong. Case in point, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

"I remember him [debuting in Madison Square Garden] and he had that funny color thing on ... I was like, 'This kid isn't gonna make it,'" Undertaker chuckled, saying he felt Johnson was "dead in the water" right off the bat.

"I thought him being a legacy would give him a couple of years that he probably wasn't gonna deserve," Undertaker joked. "He is the American dream. He wanted to play football, that fell through, sometimes when that happens, people cave and they never rebound ... Even when I thought he sucked, he was always motivated." 

According to the WWE Hall of Famer, Johnson was constantly getting advice from veterans and learning the ropes.

"I wish more people had that ... There's a lot of guys that are very cookie-cutter. They're looking at the formula that what they think is gonna lead them to success and they're bringing nothing new to the table. They're staying in the box," said "The Deadman."

The Undertaker believes Johnson shared a common passion with departed WWE Superstar Bray Wyatt, as both men had a laser focus on entertaining the crowd. Johnson went on to superstardom with WWE and is now on the Board of Directors of WWE's parent company, TKO Group Holdings, doing far better for himself than the Mark Calaway of 1996 would've ever dreamed.