After becoming a member of the board of WWE’s mum or dad firm, TKO, in January, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has made his return to the world {of professional} wrestling a critical deal — and the wrestler-turned-actor says he is doing all of it for the love of the sport.
Johnson spoke with ET’s Nischelle Turner on the WWE WrestleMania 40 Kickoff occasion on the T-Cellular Area in Las Vegas on Thursday, noting the rationale he is again is “very simple.”
“I love it,” Johnson mentioned. “I love what I do, I love this world of wrestling, I love pro wrestling, I was born into pro wrestling, I will always be a pro wrestler at heart and in attitude too.”
Johnson has been gunning for an opportunity to get into the ring towards Roman Reigns, and the pair have been hinting that they may throw down at this yr’s WrestleMania XL in April. However for Johnson, being part of the WWE and TKO is larger than merely a return to wrestling — for him, it appears like “a great opportunity” to make issues larger and higher than ever.
Wanting again at his profession and what he is now constructing with the WWE, Johnson mirrored on being part of a wrestling lineage — together with his father, Rocky Johnson, and his grandfather, Peter Maivia, each legendary wrestlers earlier than him.
“I think my dad would’ve never ever imagined anything like this, and my grandfather too,” Johnson mentioned proudly.
“I took a little visit on the day that I took the board appointment in New York City — [when] we opened up the stock exchange that morning, which was awesome — and I said to WWE president CEO Nick Kahn, I said, ‘Hey, let’s go down to Stamford and I just want to see everybody face to face at the Stamford WWE HQ, just so I can see them, say thank you and let’s bring in the future together.'”
Johnson mentioned he’d by no means been to the bottom of operations earlier than and he obtained a tour from Paul “Triple H” Levesque, CCO of the WWE, who confirmed him a slew of memorabilia.
“He goes, ‘Hey, I got one more thing to show you,’ and we went downstairs, [where] you see on the wall these pictures of these wrestlers,” Johnson remembered. “He goes, ‘Oh, look at that one.’ And over in the corner is this incredibly well-lit picture, black-and-white, of my dad and Tony Atlas, the day they made history and became the first Black tag team champions.”
“I have never seen that picture before and I was so choked up… I was really moved,” Johnson added. “In that moment, I thought, ‘Man, they were wrestling in what was a field house back then and wrestling has changed!’ My dad just made history and the bumps and the bruises and the sacrifices that he made and that all those guys made. Now we’re talking about the biggest WrestleMania of all time and the company signs a $5 billion deal with Netflix. It’s just incredible.”
“I’m so grateful for the work that he put in and the ground that he laid, [with] my grandfather and all the other wrestlers,” Johnson mentioned. “But also, I’m so grateful to come back in this capacity that I could come back and give to this business and give to the men and women in that locker room, and try and do my little part to do this with everything and create greater opportunities for all of them.”
“It’s the greatest thing in the world, so I’m so grateful now,” he added.
WrestleMania XL is ready to go down April 6-7 at Lincoln Monetary Subject in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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