Prior to his stardom as a Hollywood star, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was popular for being a WWE champion. Starting his professional wrestling career in 1996, he went on to win several championships. His father, Rocky Johnson, has been one of the inspiring figures for the Black Adam star, who also taught him the value of hard work and dedication. He passed away in January 2020 after suffering a heart attack.
In memory of his father, Johnson recently shared a short clip of Rocky Johnson teaming up with Tony Atlas, which also shows a young Dwayne Johnson watching his father in the ring from the front row. Along with the clip, the Jumanji star also shared insight into growing up with a wrestling champion.
The Rock Reflects on Growing Up With His Father
The Rock reposted a short clip of his father in the WWE ring with Tony Atlas, as a young Dwayne Johnson watches him from the front row. In its caption, he explained that the clip was from taping for WWE back in 1983 and features the first black tag team champions in WWE history.
The Jungle Cruise star shared that the wrestling champions like his father, Tony Atlas, Jimmy Snuka, Wild Samoans, and many more were heroes for him. “To me, they were the real deal,” he said in the caption. Further in the caption, he also shared some information about how his father used to train him.
Johnson shared that his father started taking him to the gym by the age of five. And by the time he was 12, his father would wake him up early in the morning to workout on weights. “By the age of 5, my dad had me in the gym,” he said before adding, “By 12, he’d make me get up with him at 5am every Saturday and Sunday to go workout on the weights.”
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He shared that these were his father’s extreme ways of disciplining him and that is why he believes the gym will always be his “sacred place.” Johnson has shared several times that growing up, he had a complicated relationship with his father, but they reconciled and developed a strong relationship.
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Dwayne Johnson Had a Complicated Relationship With His Father
Dwayne Johnson has shared on multiple occasions that he had a complicated relationship with his father, Rocky Johnson. He has shared that the late professional wrestler raised him with tough love and was not “an ‘I love you’ guy.” This caused many things unsaid between them, and the absence of his father often made him feel abandoned as a child.
While his father pursued a career as a full-time wrestler in America, The Rock and his mother lived in Hawaii due to their poor economic conditions. Later when Johnson started focusing on his career in Hollywood, his father was also not supportive of Johnson pursuing an acting career in Hollywood instead of returning to WWE.
The Rock, however, has spoken fondly of his father as he addresses his complicated relationship with him but also expresses his admiration for everything his father has achieved as a wrestler.
Source: The Rock via Instagram
