Rock made an appearance under his real name as a jobber on a February 1989 episode of WWF Prime Time Wrestling, losing to Bret Hart.
Rock made his televised debut in WCW as the villain Maxx Payne on the January 30, 1993 episode of WorldWide by defeating local competitor Scott Allen. His first pay-per-view match was at SuperBrawl III, where he played on his guitar before challenging Dustin Rhodes for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, substituting for the injured Ron Simmons. After Rhodes locked him in an abdominal stretch from which he was unable to escape, Payne pushed the referee over rather than submit and was subsequently disqualified.
At the June 17 Clash of the Champions XXIII, Payne shot Johnny B. Badd in the face with a confetti gun, scarring him so badly that he had to wear a mask and forcing him to forfeit their scheduled match. This led to a match at Beach Blast on July 18, which Payne lost. They faced one another again at the August 18 Clash of the Champions XXIV in a mask versus guitar match, with Payne putting his guitar on the line in order to unmask and therefore humiliate the mutilated Badd. Badd won once more and took Payne's guitar.
Payne took part in WCW's Jesse "The Body" Ventura Strong-Arm Tournament in late 1993, but was eliminated in the first round by Sid Vicious. On November 20, Payne entered the Battlebowl, a tournament which saw randomly assigned tag team partners work together in order to progress to a battle royal. He was partnered with 2 Cold Scorpio, with whom he lost in the first round to Stunning Steve Austin and Ric Flair.
Turning face, Payne formed a tag team with Cactus Jack towards the end of the year. At Starrcade 1993, they defeated Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce, and at the January 27, 1994 Clash of the Champions XXVI, they defeated The Nasty Boys. They faced the Nasty Boys once more, this time for the WCW World Tag Team Championships, in a Chicago Street Fight at Spring Stampede 1994, but were defeated. Payne was released from WCW soon thereafter.
Debuting in in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in February 1995 on an episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, as Man Mountain Rock, he played a large electric guitar shaped like the WWF logo. He would come to the ring during a commercial, with the arena going pitch black and ring announcer Manny Garcia saying "Ladies and Gentleman, Man Mountain Rock!" He would then play his "axe" (electric guitar) while pyro went off. In the latter part of his WWF tenure, his music incurred the wrath of veteran Bob Backlund, then playing the part of a cantankerous heel crusading against the younger generation, who objected to the music Man Mountain Rock was playing. Man Mountain Rock had suffered several injuries during his career, and was granted his release in October 1995.