Dwayne ‘The Rock' Johnson used to wrestle for $40 a match: Here's the key Hollywood lesson he learned that helped him succeed

Long before he was one of the highest paid movie stars in the world, Dwayne Johnson was wrestling for just $40 a match.

His days spent in the United States Wrestling Association in Tennessee — where he cut his teeth before going on to become a star in the WWF, now known as WWE — weren't lucrative, nor were they glamorous.

"Those were the days where I was making 40 bucks per match wrestling in flea markets and used-car dealerships in the parking lot," Johnson told GQ in a profile published this week. "I ate Waffle House three times a day."

Although the USWA matches didn't pay well, they taught him a lesson that later helped him earn hundreds of millions of dollars: Give the fans what they want.

"What you learn there in cutting your teeth in that world of pro wrestling at that level is to do your best to send everybody home happy," the 52-year-old said. "When I got into the business of Hollywood and moviemaking, it's like, 'Okay, well, what kind of movies do I want to make?' I want to make movies that hopefully are good, that don't suck. But also reach as many people as possible."

The approach shaped his career, with an IMDb full of crowd-pleasing blockbusters like "Fast Five", "Jumanji" and "Moana".

Johnson said he was methodical about the way he selected his roles, always following the mantra of "Audience first."

"I'd look at [a script] and think, Okay, does this have four-quadrant capability and opportunity?" he said. "Are audiences going to like seeing me in this role?"

Though Johnson is still taking on crowd-pleasing fare — "Moana 2" is releasing at the end of the month and he will soon star in the live-action remake of the original "Moana" — he has also decided to pursue roles that "challenge" him.

Next year he will star in the sports drama "The Smashing Machine", playing former UFC champion Mark Kerr.

"It was also an opportunity for me, I realized, to stretch myself in ways that I hadn't been stretched yet," Johnson says. "And also challenge myself in ways that I hadn't been challenged."

But don't expect Johnson to leave his $40 lesson behind after his dramatic turn.

"Not to say that 'Oh, there's no more big movies.' Because the big movies are fun and there's a place for them in our business for a lot of families and people around the world to enjoy them," he said. "But there's also a place for me, in my career, where the material is deeper, it allows me to sink my teeth into something deeper, richer."

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