As the wrestling world mourns the loss of wrestler Rocky Johnson, who passed away today at the age of 75, fans have swarmed social media with their condolences, and even passing on their well-wishes to his son, Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock. Now, The WWE has issued a statement on their website on the late wrestler’s legacy he leaves behind.
“The physically imposing and wildly charismatic Johnson had several memorable rivalries with the likes of Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine, Don Muraco and Adrian Adonis,” the statement read, in part. “He found his greatest success when he teamed up with Tony Atlas as The Soul Patrol. The two men became the first African-American World Tag Team Champions in WWE history when they defeated The Wild Samoans on Dec. 10, 1983.”
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Even though Johnson formally retired from the ring in 1991, The WWE wrote that the hall-of-famer left an “imprint continued to be felt on WWE for years to come.”
“Post-retirement, Johnson had a hand in training his son, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. The Rock would become one of the biggest stars in the history of sports-entertainment and carried on his father’s legacy with pride.”
Other wrestling icons have also weighed in, including Mick Foley, who competed against The Rock a number of times over the years. Foley said that Johnson was “always a gentleman, I always enjoyed talking with him, adding that the news marked “a very sad day for wrestling.”
Just under a year ago, Dwayne had surprised his father with plans to buy him a house and shared the news with his fans on Instagram.
“I just got off the phone with my dad and, man, it was a great call and I just had to share this with you guys really quickly,” The Rock said in the video. “So about two, three weeks ago I called my dad and I said, ‘Look, you’re probably happy where you’re at but I want to do something for you, I want to buy you a brand new home, wherever you want to live, you can live.’”
The younger Johnson went on to say that his father “was speechless” about the news. In the caption, he also detailed the complicated relationship the two had when he was growing up.
“He’s a weathered soul and like all weathered souls, there’s often a harsh storied path that got them there,” he wrote. “Well for my pops that path started at 13 [years] old when his mom kicked him out of his house on Christmas day and forced him to live on the streets (very true and f—ed up story) so his reality of compassion and love was forged thru [sic] pain and toughness.”
