Of course, there’s Hulk Hogan to John Cena and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin to Andre the Giant but obviously, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has to be up there.
‘The People’s Champion’ has been with the wrestling promotion since 1996, back when it was WWF (World Wrestling Federation), and currently sits on the board of directors for TKO Group Holdings.
Sure, he had some time away from wrestling, but it feels like ‘The Great One’ has never left and he tells LADbible that he’ll always ‘happily’ go back to WWE.
“I feel like it’s in my blood,” the Teremana founder says. And in a way, that’s kind of true.
Johnson is the first third-generation Superstar in WWE history, something ‘a lot of people know, and a lot don’t’ is that the 52-year-old’s grandad, Peter Maivia ‘used to wrestle for WWE, for Vince McMahon’s dad’.
And then, in the 70’s, his dad, Rocky Johnson, ‘came along and wrestled for’ McMahon.
“I came along in the 90s and wrestled for Vince into the 2000s, so there’s some real connective tissue that goes back generations,” he explains.
The bloke’s a WWE legend (WWE/Getty Images)
The Rock really does have love for wrestling and WWE: “And for that I will forever be grateful, because it provided me a platform and a way to express myself in ways that nothing else would allow, other than acting.
“So the opportunity for me to become a director, sit on the board, take that position, is just another way that I could help the company grow.”
Having returned to the ring earlier this year to become The Final Boss, Johnson adds: “Any opportunity I can to go back and not only make appearances, but help to expand the company, whether domestically or globally, I always go back.
“And it’s also part of my obligation that I happily do.”
This commitment to legacy is something the dad-of-three has quite literally embossed into his tequila company, Teremana which launched in the UK earlier this year.
Tequila on The Rock (Teremana)
Johnson says when he created the brand, his interest wasn’t ‘hey, let me create a brand, and maybe in 10, 15 years from now, I can turn it around and sell it to a large company, and then I ride off into the sunset’.
Instead, he explains: “I really wanted to create a legacy brand that was around well after I’m gone, but it was around for my family.”
So, on the bottom of every bottle of Teremana there’s the embossed word ‘TIJASI’
“This is the first two letters of my daughter’s first names, Tiana, Jasmine and Simone,” he says. “So, at the bottom of every bottle, this will give you an idea of how this is a legacy brand.”
Tequila on The Rock(s) anyone?
Dwayne Johnson’s Teremana tequila is available in three expressions, Blanco, Reposado and Añejo, in Tesco, Selfridges and Amazon.
Featured Image Credit: Pablo Cuadra/Getty/WWE/Getty
Topics: WWE, Dwayne Johnson
As fans may remember, the 51-year-old actor went viral a few years back after someone unearthed an old photograph of him wearing a particularly snazzy outfit, complete with gold chain worn over his polo neck and a rather fetching bumbag. You can see him recreate the look here:
Posting the clip to his Instagram, Johnson wrote: “Merry Christmas, from your keepin’ it [100 emoji] friend. 90’s Rock.” He also included the hashtag #TappinFannys, which I think doesn’t translates very well to the UK.
In the clip, he shows off the outfit in full while singing the festive hit The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole.
As you can imagine, his fans went wild for the clip and its quickly racked up more than two million ‘likes’.
Instagram/@therock
Earlier this year, the former WWE star was left less than impressed after a French museum made a waxwork of him.
The Grevin Museum in Paris, but fans were quick to point out that something was ‘off’ about the star.
“Not one of your best guys – considering the quality of the rest of the museum, there’s something not right about the sculpt on this,” said one person on Instagram.
Another added: “Is it a little pale or is it the lighting?”
A third wrote: “It doesn’t look like him at all!”
Instagram/@therock
Some pointed to the skin tone, whereas others thought it resembled Channing Tatum or Vin Diesel more than The Rock.
Johnson weighed in on the matter himself, posting on Instagram to say he would be getting in touch with the museum to request ‘updates’ to the wax work.
“For the record, I’m going to have my team reach out to our friends at Grevin Museum, in Paris France so we can work at ‘updating’ my wax figure here with some important details and improvements- starting with my skin color,” he said on Instagram.
“And next time I’m in Paris, I’ll stop in and have a drink with myself.”
nstagram/@therock
The Grevin Museum, which is home to hundreds of wax works, admitted that the Johnson figure wasn’t one of its best.
The museum said in a statement to Deadline: “Dwayne Johnson is right and we noticed it and will obviously remedy it as quickly as possible and send him new photos once completed.
“We are waiting for him when he will come to Paris and the Grevin Wax Museum to celebrate that with a cup of champagne.”