How to own a room – the Rock (WWE)

http://youtu.be/ncmpFGetU94

Character: The Rock (Dwayne Johnson)
From: WWE (Professional Wrestling)
Type: Sport
Year: 2004

What is the scene about?:

In this scene, ‘The Rock’ (Dwayne Johnson) has shockingly returned to the WWE after an absence. He interrupts the ‘RAW Diva Search’ competition – this weeks installment been run by Jonathan ‘The Coach’ Coachman – and takes charge. Now, I don’t care what you think about professional wrestling, you can love it or hate it but I stand by my opinion, that no-one can entertain and own a room like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. This guy has a room of thousands following his every word. He talks with such passion and intensity, you feel drawn into what he is saying. I don’t doubt that every women there wanted to fuck him and every guy wanted to be him.

In this clip, he interrupts, delights the crowd, flirts with some hot women and ‘fights’ a couple of people. This is also a perfect comparison scene between the beta (Coach) and the Alpha (The Rock) male and how women react to him and social proof.

 

What makes him an AM:

00.01 – 00.51 Coach is in the ring. He is trying to stamp his authority and appear ‘macho’ to the women. He is failing miserably. As a Beta male, he is attempting to come across as Alpha and dominant. As it is not really in his character, it comes across as fake and pathetic (and very Beta).

00.51 – 02.58 The Rock enters. For this time, he doesn’t say anything. He simply struts down to the ring in a confident manner and shows his authority (a type of  peacocking – doing something to stand out from the other guys e.g. outrageous clothing. It is like when a peacock displays their tail feathers. The girl peacock goes for the best display and mates with him. Dating guys used to use this principle years ago. They thought by standing out from the crowd, they’d be more attractive – typically though they just looked like fucking idiots. thankfully it has come on dramatically now and few do this anymore) by showing his muscles, and plays to the crowd by interacting with them. He doesn’t need to speak a word, he just lets the crows build in excitement. They know from previous experience of how funny, alpha and witty he is, so he lets the love from the crowd build to a maximum. He knows they desire to see him, so he lets them build in the excitement before he talks.

02.58 – 4.07 The Rock tools the beta male (Coach). He could easily beat him up but it would kill his attraction (in the real world it would anyway – wrestling is different!). Women love a funny and witty guy who is able to take the mickey out of people, but they HATE violent people. Notice how the Rock stands more upright. His body language is wide and open. He paces about and you can almost feel the intensity he has. When he talks, he has a deep masculine tone. He talks slow but when it speeds up, it has passion and intensity. You believe what he is saying, you know he believes it to be true.

04.11 – 04.28 Once he has dealt with the Beta male, he turns his attention to the women. His conduct has more of a sexual nature to it now. He is flirty, confident almost to the point of cocky but he treads a thin line here. Now in this scenario, the Rock is attractive as the wrestling is hyped up more than normal life, so the Rock can be really loud and almost vulgar at times yet gets away with it. However, you would need to be a bit more toned down but still confident and cocky in a bar or club situation, especially as you learn it at first. The Rock starts to demonstrate his appeal to the ladies. He starts pea-cocking by displaying muscles, showing social proof (how much the crowd love him), using sexual connotations on his words and so on.

4.29 – 05.50 The Rock starts to flatter the girls but he keeps just on the right side of sleazy. He could easily sound desperate and perverted if he got the tone and nature of what he said wrong. He demonstrates confidence in himself and his sex appeal without sounding ridiculous. He knows the point to make a joke to avoid seeming arrogant (after the comment about how ‘fine the Rock’ is). Confidence is great, arrogance isn’t. Work on reading the point when you have moved more towards arrogance and use self-depreciating humour to show you are confident but self-aware. He know’s women find him hot and want to bed him but he doesn’t have to flaunt it in people’s faces or try and get them to believe it. He just needs to be himself.

05.50 – 06.30 To further amp his emotional state, and to show more social proof (and prove that he has numerous options to the girls), he brings another girl into the conversation (at ringside). He looks directly at her and turns his body language to her. He continues his balance of jokey and sexual commentary, bringing the girl into the conversation, who until now had been watching. The Rock is great at making the girl feel like she is the only girl in the world as he speaks to her but also involve everyone else too. He builds the chemistry with her, he insults her but does so in a playful manner*, the Rock shows it is a jest and she plays along by showing responsive pretend outrage but returns eye contact and leans forward showing she is into him. Things like mock outrage, playing ‘reprimanding’ slaps on the arm from the girl etc are what you want. Slaps across the face, not so much!

*(I disagree with using ‘Negs’ – intentional negative comments to a girl to bring her down when doing a push/pull approach. I disagree with them as I feel that you shouldn’t need to bring her down when pulling her. You should be bringing her up and pumping up her emotional state – but that’s more for another post)

 

06.30 – 08.05 The Rock then turns to a topic that had a lot of emotion and differing opinions back then – Carmella. At the time, she was hated by most of the crowds, I don’t really remember why but I don’t think it matters. The Rock chats to her – body language and eye contact again draws her in so she feels like it is just her and him. He reassures her, shows passion and builds her up (she is following every word he says and then he brings her down in a jokey manner, making sure to bring the crowd in on the joke to keep them entertained. He apologies to her afterwards to ensure she isn’t hurt and OK. This is a perfect example of tooling someone in a jokey manner, without letting it escalating into being too serious. Tooling is the act of making fun of someone to show you are more alpha or better than them. Typically guys do it to each other in a nightclub to show they are more alpha than the other guys and the girls will, in theory go for them. However, as most guys nowadays have lost the ability to be witty, funny or think on their feet (mostly due to the instant gratification society we now live in e.g. Facebook, Twitter, smart phones, reality shows making people famous), most guys now resort to violence to get one up on the other guys – a serious turn off to women. A guy who can use his mind, be funny and confident but not too cocky will win the girls. Girls love alpha guys but hate outright aggressive and violent guys.

08.05 – 15.34 Now the Rock turns back to the whole group. He cracks jokes, using his tone and pace of his voice along with facial gestures to bring the girls along on a story journey. He voices his opinions, not caring how they may react (a typical Alpha!). Notice how the Rock talks directly to the girls but he ensures that the crowd follows along. He talks animated (uses his hands and open body language to show passion and intensity). He builds emotion in people by using sexual references and opening up the dialogue for others to contribute. This leads to others shouting out from the crowd. The Rock reacts to them, making them feel part of it and people love feeling like they belong. The crowd are loving it.

During the pie eating contest, Rock again shows his Alpha status by not reacting to the girls and their sexual actions. Look at how Tajiri (the Asian dude!) reacts to how the Rock reacts. Tajiri is very Beta. He responds by openly showing he is into the girls severely. He displays the typical sucking up behaviour that a beta guys does to a girl in a nightclub. Tajiri leans forward towards the girls and stares at them, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine he would do anything for them. The Rock on the other hand, makes jokes and laughs but he displays his authority throughout by staying in control, looking around, giving orders, making fun of people, focusing on all the girls (not just the ones he wanted to bang) and he brings the crowd into the fun too.

15.34 – 20.08 Things start to get a bit comical now. Some guys come out, threats are thrown back and forth and you know the usual routine: good guy gets jumped but he eventually comes out on top. However, the Rock shows Alpha behaviour during this point. He focuses solely on the ‘target’, well the threat anyway! He maintains eye contact to show he isn’t threatened. He makes sure the girls are protected before he moves to the physical threat. He keeps building the emotion in the crowd too by what he says and the passion in his voice and in the end he doesn’t back down despite being outnumbered (in the real world, it would be more stupidity to do this though!).

 

What can you do to be like him or get laid:

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. It’s OK for him as they are Wrestling fans, he has been doing this for years and the crowd have grown to love him etc. Well of course that is all true but it is more HOW he does it, that matters. He built up the ‘love’ from the fans by using these techniques repeatedly, to the point where he is often regarded as the best talker in professional wrestling history.

Use the following to really amp up your own presence and own a room:

Physical/Non-verbal (incl Body Language)

  • Work out – Yes, I know. You are perfect the way you are. You don’t need muscles or looks to get girls. You SHOULDN’T do anything for anyone else (i.e. for the girl), improvement should be for you. BUT working out (with weights or otherwise) will give you a confidence boost. It builds consistency in you (if you can go to the gym regularly, you will find approaching girls regularly easy) and it shows the girl that you value yourself and your health. These are all very attractive features in a guy.
  • Body language – Keep your body language open and welcoming (don’t fold your arms over your chest etc, turn to face people,when they are talking to you, even your upper body if your seated). Talking with your hands is OK as it shows emotion. Stand up straight but not as if you were in the Military. Relax and others around you will relax. People take social cues from each other. Act as you want the others to react.
  • Don’t slouch. Believe you are attractive. Believe that you are an Alpha male. Use mirrors every so often, if you see yourself slouched, pretend your head is being lifted towards the ceiling and your body is following.
  • Don’t look down a lot as this shows lack of confidence  in the environment. Instead, focus on the person speaking to you. If no one is talking to you, either find someone to talk to or something to do. (Always be looking to speak to someone if possible)

 

Verbal

  • Use an authoritative tone. You want to talk deep but not ridiculously deep. Talk as if you were reprimanding a small child but with overtones of it being funny to you.
  • Be passionate in how you talk. People are attracted to passionate people. Talk about things that you are interested in. Don’t pretend about a topic if you don’t like it. Pretending is for Beta males. However, being interested in something and wanting to learn more about it is a Alpha trait.
  • Better if you can also make people laugh as well. People by nature want to be seen with the cool and liked people in the room, they become cool by being with them – social proof. If girls see you making other people laugh and gravitate towards you, they will want to come and talk to you. They want to be seen with the cool person. Never underestimate the power of social proof.
  • Be loud but not too loud to become obnoxious. You want to be heard by those around you but not take up the entire room, leave that to the arrogant people who end up alone.

 

Actions/Relationships

  • Have things to talk about. It helps if you keep up to date with things happening in Society and the world. you don’t have to read book after book but it helps if you have a general idea.
  • Strong eye contact with whoever you are talking to but remember to blink now and then!
  • Tell stories, jokes and what you think. Don’t become the joker of the group though. There is a world of difference between being funny and being the joker. Funny shows a girl you have a sense of humour. Being a joker shows you have to rely on your jokes as you don’t feel you are good enough as you are to be attractive.
  • Move around the room, talking to everyone. Keep it light and playful. Make sure everyone is having a good time. Look to amp up their social state – make them have fun (it helps if you are having fun yourself as they will react to how you are).
  • Build Social Proof – do this by building and maintaining relationships. Say hi to people and genuinely care what they talk to you about and what is going on with them. Bring others into the conversations. Ask their opinions, tool them in a jokey manner, use self depreciating remarks now and them to show your not arrogant. People like feeling involved, they want to be part of the group. Always remember that humans are social animals, we want to feel as if we belong. Use that to your advantage,
  • Talk to ALL women the same. Do not signal out a particular woman by sucking up to her (like the beta males do). Show you are interested in her but then let her work to attract you. Show her you have options by chatting to all women and make them laugh and chat to you. I will go into how to do this and ‘seduce’ her in later posts.

 

An Alpha Male is confident and comfortable in social situations. However, you can’t just be like this straight away. It may take some time to build up to being confident, cocky and gregarious in situations as part of your actual personality. It is ok to fake it at first but being fake full-time will never work. Work on your social skills, remove any sexual outcome in social situations at first – i.e. don’t go out expecting to sleep with someone. Just aim to talk to people. Talk to everyone and anyone. Make your mission, to get over the initial nerves you feel talking to strangers. Repeated practice will lead to being social becoming part of your personality. With repeated practice, it will become authentic and part of you. Then you will own every social situations.

 

So what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Do I need to use more pictures? Am I waffling? Text sections too long? Should I expand on things etc? Let me know in the comments below

About the Author
I’m a podcaster who interviews great examples of people to discuss and highlight the methods, hacks, tips and procedures you can use in your own life to help you develop and better your life. I would definitely not consider myself an expert, so to improve, I ask them and action it in my own life! My personal journey has been marked by awkwardness and awesomeness, OCD and ‘OMG’. I have suffered with depression, shyness, unhappiness and lack of focus and motivation so I know what’s it like to feel lost and hopeless. Back then, I wished I had a podcast to listen to and find actual fixes and concrete action steps and not just unobtainable suggestions and promotion of their products but couldn’t find it … so I made my own!
1 comment on “How to own a room – the Rock (WWE)
  1. Brand New Post: http://t.co/KogMXjbZ How to Own a Room – The Rock (WWE)

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