Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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From WHYY in Philadelphia, I'm Terry Gross with Fresh Air Weekend. Today, Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a. The Rock. At one time, he thought of leaving wrestling for mixed martial arts. He decided against it, but in the new movie, The Smashing Machine, he plays a pioneer of MMA.
Wrestling may be choreographed, but... In professional wrestling, it is always and only real blood, and that's the truth.
Also, comic and actor Cristela Alonso. She grew up poor in a Texas border town. Until she was seven, her family squatted in an abandoned diner. Until she was 10, her mother, a Mexican immigrant, was undocumented. I grew up in a mixed status family.
If you guys don't know what that is, that means that half of us were documented, half of us were undocumented, and we're not telling you which one's which. Alonso has a new Netflix comedy special.
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Chapter 2: What role does Dwayne Johnson play in The Smashing Machine?
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This is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Terry Gross. My guest, Dwayne Johnson, is a wrestling star known in the ring as The Rock. He's won eight WWE championships, and he's a movie star. His new movie, which he produced and stars in, is a perfect fit in which he gets to use his muscles, his fighting ability, and to show what a good and nuanced actor he can be for anyone who may have doubted it.
It's called The Smashing Machine, and it's based on the story of Mark Kerr, one of the American pioneers of mixed martial arts and of the UFC, the ultimate fighting championship. The movie is about the high of having tens of thousands of fans cheering for you, the thrill of winning, and the physical pain after some fights when muscles are torn or bones are broken and your face is smashed.
Emily Blunt plays Kerr's girlfriend in a very combustible relationship, which strains under the pressures and pain of Kerr's career. Kerr is portrayed by Johnson as incredibly powerful and vulnerable, the paradox that I'd imagine characterizes many professional fighters. Johnson plays both extremes very convincingly.
He optioned the movie and brought on Benny Safdie to direct it, and Safdie's solo directing debut without his brother Josh. The movie is based in part on a documentary about Mark Kerr, and many of the scenes closely follow the documentary, reproducing fights and statements made by Kerr. Dwayne Johnson's father was a pro wrestler, one of the first black stars whose ring name was Rocky Johnson.
Dwayne Johnson's maternal grandfather was a Samoan pro wrestler, and his grandmother was one of the first Samoan pro wrestling promoters. Johnson's TV series Young Rock was based on his childhood and his family.
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Chapter 3: What personal experiences shaped Cristela Alonso's comedy?
He also starred in the HBO series Ballers. Johnson made his movie debut in the 2001 film The Mummy Returns. He starred in the spinoff The Scorpion King and went on to star in two Jumanji films, Fast and Furious sequels, the Disney animated film Moana and its sequel, and Black Adam. He's hosted Saturday Night Live five times. Dwayne Johnson, welcome to Fresh Air. I really like this movie a lot.
Thank you, Terry. Good to talk with you.
I read that you considered becoming a mixed martial arts fighter, but you didn't. Why did you consider it and why did you not do it yourself?
First of all, I realized I don't like getting punched in the face, so I prefer not to, as these guys do.
Chapter 4: How did Cristela Alonso's childhood impact her career?
But in 1997, I was wrestling for the WWE, and my career at that time wasn't going as planned. And it was actually going backwards, and I wasn't making much progress. And I wound up getting hurt. I tore a ligament in my knee, and And so I went home. And when I was sitting at home, that's when I really started to question whether or not I was on the right path of being a professional wrestler.
And the reason why I considered MMA at that time was because guys like Mark Kerr, who I met, and a lot of his MMA fighting buddies at that time from Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Don Frye, These were all guys who ultimately went on to become legends and godfathers of the world of MMA. And those guys were making a lot more money, and they were wrestling out of Japan.
Chapter 5: What themes are explored in Cristela Alonso's Netflix special Upper Classy?
And at that time, I was wrestling... approximately 235 to 250 nights a year. So I was never home, and I was wrestling every single night in a different city. And so the wear and tear of my body was already beginning to set in, and it was just year one for me.
So at that time, I began to consider a career in MMA, thinking, I know they're making triple the money that I'm making, and they're only fighting... maybe five to eight times a year. So I did consider it, and it was the summer of 1997. And as I was rehabbing my knee, I got a call from the WWE saying,
who said that we're going to bring you back at the end of the summer, but there's going to be one difference. And I said, what's that? And they said, we're going to make you a heel. And so in wrestling... A villain. A villain. Yeah, exactly. And that's at parlance. Babyface is a good guy. Heel is a villain. And they said, we're going to make you a heel when you come back. I said, great.
I just want any kind of change. And I went back as a villain. And probably about three months later, the rest was history. And I took on the persona of The Rock.
Can you describe the difference between your baby face persona and your persona as The Rock?
So my original name when I went in to WWE was Rocky Maivia. And I hated that name because it was, when I got into wrestling, as you said in my introduction, my grandfather was a pro wrestler, my dad was a pro wrestler, my grandmother was one of the first female promoters. in pro wrestling, so I came from a long lineage.
And while very proud of my family's history in pro wrestling, I also wanted to make it on my own, and I wanted to carve my own path. And so they came up, WWE came up with this name, Rocky Maivia, a combination of my dad's name, Rocky Johnson, and my grandfather's name, High Chief Peter Maivia. So it was showing respect to my family lineage, And all part of the good guy, baby face persona.
And I remember having a conversation with Vince McMahon, who was the owner at that time of WWE. And he said, when you go out every night, I want you to smile. I said, can I ask you why? He goes, I want to make sure that the crowd thinks and knows that you're grateful to be here and you're grateful for the opportunity. So I always want you smiling. I want you to be the quintessential baby face.
And I remember at that time, Terry, thinking, well, I feel like there might be other ways for me to show how grateful I am, but also this is a performance. And Even before I went out with my big smiles, as requested from WWE, it just didn't feel right to me. So I made my debut, and my very first match in WWE, which was actually my very first match ever, and that was in Madison Square Garden.
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Chapter 6: How does Cristela Alonso address immigration issues in her comedy?
Oh, that sounds horrible. Did Shamrock know you were bleeding for real and that you were seriously injured?
He did. He asked me, there's ways that wrestlers can talk in the ring. And he says, hey, are you OK? And I said, I feel like I'm OK. At least I can breathe. Let's get through the match. And so we finished the match. And I think, you know, looking back, it was one of those that's happened to me a few times. And it's happened to a lot of wrestlers, too, as well.
You're falling from six, eight, 10 feet and you land in a certain way. That's just the nature of the landing sometimes.
Yeah.
My guest is Dwayne Johnson. He produced and stars in the new film The Smashing Machine. We'll hear more of our conversation after a break. I'm Terry Gross, and this is Fresh Air Weekend.
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Chapter 7: What insights does Cristela Alonso share about her family's struggles?
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So let's talk about your family. You're from a wrestling family. Your father was Rocky Johnson, one of the first black wrestlers, and he's in the WWE Hall of Fame. Your maternal grandfather was High Chief Peter Maivia, who was a very well-known in Samoa professional wrestler. And your grandmother, his wife, took over the Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling organization after your grandfather died.
And how did wrestling change between your grandfather, your father, and your era?
Good question. It became global. And it became publicly traded. And it evolved from wrestling in very, very small venues to stadiums throughout our country and around the world. And I was lucky in a way, Terry, in that my era, when I came into pro wrestling in the 90s, That was like the last man standing in terms of small promotions.
So when I first got into pro wrestling, I didn't immediately go to the WWE because I wasn't ready and I was still green and I needed experience. So fortunately, there was a wrestling company called the USWA. And that wrestling company was based out of Nashville and based out of Memphis. And I lived in Memphis, and that's where I started.
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Chapter 8: What challenges did Dwayne Johnson face in his wrestling career?
But my dad always referenced that moment when he and I were in the ring together at WrestleMania as his greatest achievement. So I'm glad it happened for him. Because even despite our complicated relationship, I think it's just the love of a son that... You'll always be just that. You'll be the son of your dad.
And you always want to make your dad happy, you know, despite all the stuff you go through.
Complicated guy. Complicated relationship. So before we run out of time, I'm going to transition from fighting to singing. I like your voice. I've only heard you sing twice. I heard the Eric Clapton song that you sang and played in the ring to Vicky Guerrero. And then, of course, in Moana, you sing in that too.
Did you think of yourself ever as a singer before singing on film for the animated film?
I grew up singing. And in our family, I'm half black and half Samoan. And in my culture, especially on the Polynesian side... singing and dancing was ever present in our household with my dad as well. And so we grew up that way. And my mom, who will listen to this and is going to love this entire interview, she still carries a ukulele with her everywhere she goes, Terri. Everywhere.
Everywhere she goes, she's known. Oh, here comes the ukulele lady, and then she'll remind everybody, no, I'm the rock's mom. And she'll sing. So we grew up singing, and I grew up singing Sam Cooke and Elvis and Hawaiian artists and Hawaiian songs and Polynesian songs and
in our household it was like quitsing Don Ho tiny but tiny bubble right you hear him sing and like kind of crooning his way through our household
So if this was the 1960s, you would be recording an album. Clint Eastwood recorded an album. George M. Harris recorded an album. I mean, lots of TV and movie stars, whether they could sing or not, recorded albums. Are you going to record an album? I'm not making you an offer. It's not my place to do that.
If we were in the 60s right now, that means Sam Cooke would be alive. And me and Sam Cooke, it would be like, Oh, you're the apple of my eye. my cherry pie, my Coke and ice cream. All right, that's all I got.
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