WWE legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson appeared on the New Heights podcast with Travis and Jason Kelce to discuss a variety of topics, including the Attitude Era.
Rock said, “Back in the Attitude Era, keep in mind that was before WWE was publicly traded, it was well before owned by TKO obviously, we flew under the radar and there was a point when I turned heel in the late 90s & I was mixing it up with Stone Cold Steve Austin & we were going back and forth and having our matches, that s*** was bananas.”
On his life as a WWE Superstar:
“When you’re on the road 365 days a year, there’s no (off)season… you’re in a different city every night. Our goal was to put on a good show. Send the fans hope happy, don’t get hurt, protect each others’ bodies… Let’s not get hurt, let’s take care of ourselves and send everyone home happy, injury free. The problem is, in that world… you’re always working through your injuries, you’re always letting pain be your guide and you’re always protecting yourself.”
On his favorite cities to wrestle in:
“Chicago, New York, nothing like the Garden, right? Down in Texas as well, was amazing. Philly, what I loved about Philly was it’s a heel town… that’s why I came back last year at that WrestleMania, there was nothing like it.”
On transitioning from football to pro wrestling:
“My dad goes ‘Who was that?’ And I go, ‘Oh, it was the coach from Canada (CFL). He offered me a chance to come back.’ (Rocky Johnson) goes ‘Oh, that’s great!’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m not gonna take it’ …and I said to my dad, who was a pro wrestler…I said ‘I don’t wanna do that, and I’m closing that chapter in my life… I’m going to be a wrestler.’ He hated the idea! He was like ‘Worst decision!’ We got into a huge fight that night.”
On the origin of the word ‘Jabroni’:
“I do not own the word ‘Jabroni’, I think it’s just out there. I own the name The Rock, not Jabroni… I might own that, because I own everything associated with The Rock like ‘it doesn’t matter’ or ‘if you smell’… let me give him props: The Iron Sheik… he made that word famous. He used to, especially in the locker room go ‘Oh, this jabroni’… so that’s where I got it from. It’s in the Webster’s dictionary and I get credit for it now. But it’s really the.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
