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Dwayne Johnson

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
622 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

And that's like a nice father and son moment that was...

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

It was really cool.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

I wasn't, at that time, again, I was kind of struggling with that because I felt like, wait, I still want to try and create my own path.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

And I remember thinking, if my dad comes out and he's involved, it's not aligned with what I want to do and trying to make my own path here.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

But I still, I said, okay, let's do it.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

And we did it, and it was a nice moment.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

But, you know, I realized...

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

what actually it meant for him, which that was a highlight for him.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

And he has said that that was the highlight of his entire career, which meant a lot to me because my dad, he did Trailblaze and he and his tag team partner, Tony Atlas, they became the first black tag team champions of WWE.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

And even in the world of WWE, that's fictionalized and rehearsed and you know who's going to win and you know who's going to lose.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

When somebody becomes champion, the decision is made from an office that this man or this woman is going to become champion.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

But why this was so significant in terms of, I think, culture and black culture and them becoming the first black tag team champions is because it signified that they really were trailblazing at that time.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

And in the early 80s, there was still a lot of racism that was present.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

And especially in these small arenas and these small towns around the country where the audience was predominantly white.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

They cheered these guys.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

And that's why Vince, at that time, Vince McMahon.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

Vince McMahon, yeah.

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

Yeah, he's like, you know what?

Fresh Air
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

You guys need to become champions because you guys are changing the behavior of people.