Was The Rock the Original Dan Flashes Guy?

I Think You Should Leave has obviously had a huge impact on our modern culture, as evidenced by the popularity of the hot dog costume meme, the success of Focus Group Man’s cameo account, and the way the “I Don’t Even Want To Be Around Anymore” guy has perfectly encapsulated the abject malaise of the modern social media user.

But what about the “Dan Flashes” sketch, the bit about that store that sells crazy-expensive, “very complicated” shirts to sad middle-aged men? 

Well, it too has had an impact on society at large; for one thing, you can actually buy a real-life Dan Flashes shirt on Etsy for around 90 bucks, which is a steal given how complicated the pattern is.

But as highly influential as this series might be, we’d like to suggest that the original Dan Flashes guy was … The Rock? Here’s Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at SmackDown back in 1999, sporting a top that can only be described as an affront to ocular decency, which he claims cost him a whopping $800.

Weirdly, this was just a thing The Rock routinely did before he was a movie star, wearing ridiculously garish shirts, with alarmingly complicated patterns, that were shockingly pricey, usually $500 – 

This trend became so ubiquitous for The Rock, the shirts even made it into wrestling video games. 

Although, none of our research indicates whether or not The Rock ever mentioned if he bought said shirts using money that the WWE gave him to spend on food.

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Thumbnail: Netflix/World Wrestling Entertainment