The Rock On His Father Being Against Him Becoming A Pro Wrestler

The Rock is very supportive of his daughter Simone Johnson as she begins her journey as a WWE Superstar. When Dwayne Johnson started his own path to follow in his father’s footsteps the legendary Rocky Johnson was against it.

While speaking to Oprah as part of her 2020 Vision Tour in Atlanta, The Rock talked about how his father didn’t want him to go into the pro wrestling business.

“He was adamantly against me getting into the wrestling business,” Johnson proclaimed. “When I said to him I wanted to get into the wrestling business because it was in my blood, and I felt like I had something to offer. But at that time, we were living in a small apartment in Tampa, Florida, and he said ‘Look around. This is what I have. I don’t have anything, and I don’t want that for you.’ I think years later when I became successful, he was very, very proud. Then he would take credit for everything (joking).”

Rocky Johnson was very proud of his son. The Rock became a household name and established their family’s legacy even further into the roots of pop culture.

The Great One also spoke to Oprah about how his father was proud of him when he became successful. Rocky Johnson was a trailblazer and understood the hardships that Dwayne Johnson would face. In the end, he only wanted the best for his son.

“I think he was proud of me when I became successful in an industry that he gave his life to. For those who don’t know, my father was a professional wrestler and my grandfather was a professional wrestler, too. My dad Rocky Johnson, was a black man coming up in the ’60s and ’70s in professional wrestling, which all the companies that he wrestled at were in the south. He was a trailblazer in many ways, because of what he could do as a black man who wrestled.”

“We lived here in Atlanta when I was a kid. What he was able to do was go to these small towns, where it was an all-white business and an all-white audience, and in that time in the late ’60s / early ’70s there was that racial divide. But he was able to change the audiences behavior. So with an all-white audience, who would never cheer for a black man, cheered for him in these arenas. It wasn’t like he was wrestling other black men, he was wrestling against other white wrestlers. So, in a trailblazing sense, he did a lot of things that had never been done, but he also changed the audiences behavior, which is so hard to do.”

The Rock’s heartfelt eulogy at Rocky Johnson’s funeral spoke worlds about The Great One’s relationship with his father. Now Dwayne Johnson gets to watch as his daughter carry on their family name in her own way while he is still very busy as one of Hollywood’s biggest names.

Thanks to Wrestling Inc for the quote