Dwayne Johnson's nickname creates an irresistible setup for exactly one hand game. The Rock can't throw Paper or Scissors -- that would be a brand violation. His thing is that he always throws Rock. He has leaned into this publicly and repeatedly, because when your nickname is The Rock and someone challenges you to Rock Paper Scissors, the joke writes itself and he knows it.
The game against Davina McCall was played over Skype, during a promotional appearance, in front of a viewing audience. McCall -- a British television presenter who apparently did not get the memo about Johnson's invincibility -- won. The resulting clip shows Johnson processing the loss with the combination of wounded dignity and self-awareness that makes him one of the more likeable celebrities to have ever claimed dominance in a children's hand game.
What makes the moment work is that Johnson's whole persona is built on being big, being dominant, and winning. He's spent twenty-plus years playing characters who can't be stopped. His social media presence is relentlessly positive and performatively unstoppable. A loss at Rock Paper Scissors -- played over a pixelated video call against a TV presenter -- is the exact right-sized puncture for that image. It's funny because the stakes are so low and his investment in the stakes is so high.
The meme attached to Johnson is the assumption that he always throws Rock. This is correct in the sense that he has made it correct by committing to the bit publicly. In actual competitive play, always throwing Rock is a catastrophic strategy. You lose to Paper every time. But in the world of celebrity games and PR moments, the joke is worth more than the win -- except when you lose, in which case both the opponent and the audience win instead.
The obvious question -- whether Johnson would compete in an actual World Rock Paper Scissors Championship -- is not one we can answer with confidence. But we're available to help him prepare if he changes his mind.