The Rock Makes Sports Illustrated Cover

The newly-crowned “sexiest man alive” isn’t through turning heads this year, as Sports Illustrated has just revealed that their latest cover features the Rock front and center.

The headline is “Dwayne Johnson Owns Hollywood: How Football Helped Create the Ultimate Baller.” In the article, Rocky discusses how his failure to make it in the NFL helped to push his drive for success that persists to this day.

You can read the full article here. No mention of whether the infamous debut of Rocky Maivia was another inspiring failure, but hey, it’s not “Sports Entertainment Illustrated.”

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Grateful to share this EXCLUSIVE NEW COVER w/ you. Failure can be a cool & powerful thing.. When I was 15yrs old and started playing football, I had a dream that one day I'd play in the NFL and be on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Keep in mind, at 15, I also considered becoming a pro-boxer 'cause I thought I could be beat Mike Tyson who at that time, became the youngest ever Heavyweight Champ, so clearly my goals were extremely ambitious if not crack pipe level impossible. I failed to make it to the NFL (as well as got cut from the Canadian Football League). But my football failure created a drive that still pushes me today. Now years later THE COVER of @SportsIllustrated dream & goal was just achieved. Holy shit! (that's the 15yr old in me talkin';). At the end of the day, I want to surround myself with the hungriest and most brilliant team, because I never want to just play in the game, I always want change the way the game played. And thank God I didn't fight Mike Tyson. #FromAthleteToCEO #ToTheCoverOfSportsIllustrated #SevenBucksProds #1Baller *LINK TO FULL STORY IN MY BIO

A post shared by therock (@therock) on Nov 30, 2016 at 7:38am PST

The Rock’s WWE appearances of late have been very sporadic, mostly centered around WrestleMania. This year he appeared in an impromptu match with Erick Rowan, defeating the Wyatt in under 10 seconds.

Can we expect to see Dwayne at the next ‘Mania? That largely depends on his schedule. If he’s filming a movie, his insurance obligations typically preclude him from engaging in any physical action through. But the superstar reportedly loves making his big appearances, and will certainly work to clear his schedule for the day if there’s any possibility of making it to WrestleMania.

His role in WWE may be eclipsed by the heights of Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and John Cena, but he’s the biggest crossover star the company has ever produced, and they’ll certainly be eager to remind the mainstream of where he became famous.