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Underdog Branding Profile picture
@TheUnderdogDO
Sep 4, 2025 • 15 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
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The Rock just broke down in tears at the Venice Film Festival.

15-minute standing ovation for "The Smashing Machine."

But NOBODY knows the insane story behind it.

It all started with $7... 🧵
1995. Dwayne Johnson gets cut from Calgary Stampeders, a Canadian pro football team.

Checks his wallet: $7 bucks.

But he wasn't broken.

He was plotting revenge... Image
Three years earlier, he saved his mom's life.

She walked into traffic on a highway.
18-wheelers swerving everywhere.

He grabbed her back to safety.

That trauma unlocked something dark... Image
"I was crying constantly," he later revealed.

"I didn't want to do anything."

Depression crushed him for years.

But he was secretly building a psychological weapon...
See - The Rock names his company "Seven Bucks Productions."

Why?

Most people think it's cute branding.

But they have no idea what he was really doing... Image
Because that $7 moment became his weapon.

1996: Debuts as "Rocky Maivia" in WWE.
Fans HATE him. "Rocky Sucks!" chants.

But this time he REALLY had a plan cooking..
He becomes The Rock and invents the ultimate brand:

Tells everyone about his pain.
Every promo became therapy.
Interviews with charisma not seen since Muhammad Ali.

His image was magnetic.
And then Hollywood noticed...
2001: Gets $5.5M for "The Scorpion King."

WORLD RECORD for debut leading role.

But he doesn't go "Hollywood."

He does something that changes
the game forever... Image
He stays The Rock everywhere.

Same energy. Same story. Same connection.

2020: Launches Teremana Tequila during COVID.
Everyone said "terrible timing."

Then something incredible happened...
300,000 cases sold in 9 months.
1 million cases in year 2.
Current valuation: $2 billion.

Fastest-growing tequila in history.

Because people don't buy tequila.
They buy The Rock's story.
Here's the genius part:

He could have hidden the $7 story.
He could have buried the depression.

Instead, he made vulnerability his weapon.

And it built an $800M empire.
Those Venice tears weren't weakness.

They were 30 years of turning
pain into profit.

$7 to $800M by weaponizing authenticity.

The blueprint works for anyone... Image
Your struggles aren't weaknesses.

They're your secret weapons.

Stop hiding your story.
Start monetizing it.

People don't buy products.
They buy stories.
Ready to weaponize your story like The Rock?

We help people build magnetic personal brands
using the same vulnerability-to-victory blueprint.

11 clients. 90+ million combined views.

Book your free call: calendly.com/lewispatrickwa…
El Credits:

Images:
Calgary Stampeders still - @calstampeders
Dwayne & his Mom - facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10…
#13 - creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa…

YT -
youtube.com/shorts/Pz_b5wN…
youtube.com/shorts/_4LHgGJ…
youtube.com/watch?v=A8yXjd…
youtube.com/watch?v=CwZxOe…

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More from @TheUnderdogDO

Underdog Branding Profile picture
Sep 11, 2025
This 15-year-old dropout sold his side project for $1,100,000,000.

• His family thought he'd be homeless.
• At 17 he moved to Tokyo despite speaking ZERO Japanese.
• Barack Obama used his platform.

The anti-establishment playbook that stunned Silicon Valley: 🧵 Image
Meet David Karp.

At 14, his mom pulled him out of school.

Neighbors said "You're destroying his future!"

Yet by 16, he was head of product at UrbanBaby, a parenting site.

Then, David moved to Tokyo alone for 5 months: Image
Couldn't speak Japanese, ran the company's tech from across the world.

2006: UrbanBaby sold to CNET.

David's equity payout funded his next big idea.

& This is what would make him a pretty big deal: Image
Read 12 tweets
Underdog Branding Profile picture
Sep 10, 2025
Apple just KILLED Steve Jobs' legacy.

The company that "thought different" now thinks like everyone else.

Their biggest "innovation" yesterday was making the iPhone slightly thinner.

Here's how Apple became the next BlackBerry: 🧵
Who killed Apple?

Tim Cook - a supply chain guy so forgettable that Trump called him "Tim Apple" and it became his biggest cultural moment.

• Zero breakthrough products
• Boring incremental updates

And yesterday?
Yesterday's "Awe Dropping" event was anything BUT awe-dropping.

iPhone 17 Air: Thinner phone
AirPods Pro 3: Live translation (Google did it first)
Apple Watch Series 11: Blood pressure monitoring

Features nobody cares about. Where are the BENEFITS? (& WHERE is the AI!?)
Read 13 tweets
Underdog Branding Profile picture
Sep 7, 2025
A 32-year-old threw an apple at a woman, called her a "witch," and got kicked out of politics.

3 years later he became president and made $375,000,000 trading Bitcoin naked from his iPhone.

The insane story of Nayib Bukele (and a lesson in power): 🧵 Image
2017. San Salvador City Council meeting.

Nayib Bukele loses his temper.
Hurls an apple at a female colleague.
Calls her a "witch."

Gets expelled from his political party.

But this wasn't rage. This was a strategy...
See, Bukele had discovered something:

Attention creates followers.
Followers create power.

He'd been building his social media army
for years as mayor. 1.3 million followers.

& The apple was just his exit strategy... Image
Read 14 tweets
Underdog Branding Profile picture
Sep 6, 2025
Giorgio Armani just died at 91.

Tributes are pouring in from every A-lister and world leader.

But NOBODY knows the insane story behind his empire.

It all started when he sold his Volkswagen for $10,000... 🧵
1975: Giorgio Armani was a 41-year-old ex-window dresser.

He and his partner Sergio sold their Volkswagen for startup capital and started a fashion company.

First year sales: $14,000.

But Sergio saw something in Armani that would change how the rich wore clothes....
Sergio convinced Armani he had "significant potential" and pushed him to go bigger.

Then, in 1979, John Travolta's manager called about a new movie.

Armani had never heard of "American Gigolo" but said yes anyway.

Then devastation struck at the worst possible moment... Image
Read 16 tweets
Underdog Branding Profile picture
Sep 3, 2025
The world's biggest YouTuber is BROKE.

He built a $100,000,000 burger empire in 24 hours.

Now he desperately wants out but can't escape.

Here's the wild story (& how to win big without getting trapped): 🧵 Image
Meet Jimmy Donaldson - AKA MrBeast!

World's 8th youngest billionaire. Self-made at 27. YouTube sensation.

But here's the twist: He's basically broke.

More of that later, but first let's go back a notch;

See, In 2020, that zombie apocalypse hit and Jimmy had an idea...
The whole world was shut down.

Restaurants were losing money.

People were out of work.

Americans needed their burgers.

The solution was obvious...
Read 16 tweets
Underdog Branding Profile picture
Jul 17, 2025
A German cobbler made the riskiest business bet in history.

He drove to Hitler's Olympics to back an American athlete facing racism.

Everyone called him crazy. He built a $22 billion empire with ONE principle.

Here's the story: 🧵 Image
1936: Adi Dassler ran a small shoe company from his mother's laundry room.

Hitler's Olympics were supposed to prove Aryan supremacy.

Most businesses played it safe.

Dassler saw opportunity where others saw danger. Image
The risk was INSANE.

Publicly supporting a Black American athlete in Nazi Germany?

Business suicide.

But Dassler bet on performance over politics.

He approached Jesse Owens with handmade spikes. Image
Read 11 tweets

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