Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson pokes fun at 'sexiest man alive' tag with childhood snap

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has tickled fans by pointing out his “matted down” hair, “buck teeth” and Hawaiian shirt in a childhood picture, while joking about how he grew up to be the sexiest man alive.

The wrestler-turned-Hollywood superstar, 48, posted the cute throwback snap on Instagram.

It shows the star aged seven, smiling into the camera.

“Throwback to 7 years old in Hawaii, and just drippin’ cool with my buck teeth, aloha shirt and WTF is going on with my afro matted down on one side!?” joked the Jumanji star.

Read more: The Rock named the world’s highest-paid actor for a second year

“No way this stud doesn’t grow up to become Sexiest Man Alive,” he said, referring to the title America’s People magazine previously bestowed upon him in 2016.

The father-of-four added the hashtags “#HellooooLadies, #BuckyJohnson, #SmellsLikeHotDogs and #KingOf2ndGrade”.

Many fans posted laughing emojis on Instagram, and some hilariously branded the young Johnson, the “pebble”.

“Umm that's unbelievable,” said one fan, while another quipped: “Talk about a glow up!”

Telling the magazine what he thought when he heard he had won their annual honour, he said: “I said, ‘That’s awesome.’

Read more: The Rock almost played Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's remake

“And then what went through my mind was just how cool and exciting it is.

“And then I thought, ‘Wow, we’ve pretty much reached the pinnacle.’ I’m not quite too sure where we go from here. I’ve done it all, this is it.”

Watch: Dwayne Johnson becomes Instagram’s most followed man in America