Cool Wrestling News
Fortune.com published an in-depth profile on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson today touching on all aspects of his career as well his personal life. Highlights from the article are as follows:
Johnson talked about WWE in past tense as he evaluated the three-year run he had.
Johnson returned nearly four years ago to prove he could boost WWE’s business and win back fans who felt he abandoned them for Hollywood.
“I think fans realized, ‘Wow, you’re back, and you committed for three years, and you don’t have to be here.’ I had the balls to be authentic,” Johnson said.
Johnson says changing talent agencies from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to William Morris Endeavor WME) led to his return to the sports-entertainment organization.
“If I want to be called ‘The Rock,’ I’ll be called ‘The Rock.’ If I want to go back to wrestling, I’ll go back to wrestling. It’s all the same guy,” Johnson said.
Johnson continues to claim that he has not used steroids since he was 18-years-old, right before he began attending the University of Miami on a football scholarship.
“Sure, you get a lot of people out there who will suspect, and say s–t,” Johnson says. “They want to negate the hard work you put in.”
Ten years after buying a home in Hollywood, Johnson felt “done with L.A.,” sold his home, and moved to Florida full-time. He now lives with his girlfriend of seven years, Lauren Hashian (not identified by name in the article). Johnson’s ex-wife, Dany Garcia, remarried this year, to Dave Rienzi, who is now his strength and conditioning coach.
“Life is amazing. Life is f–king messy. Life is what you make of it,” Johnson said. “I’m happy to say we’re all together working nicely, but it took a lot of work. With Dany, it was going through the sludge of divorce and then having the clarity to say, ‘We’re still friends, we respect each other, let’s do business. And let’s do big business.'”
7 Bucks Productions, a television production company Johnson co-founded with Garcia, have eight projects in the works. One series slated to air on TNT is called “Wake Up Call,” which Johnson calls a reality advice show.
Each episode begins with Johnson running a surprise intervention, then guiding the subject, such as a father spending his family’s money on trying to become a rapper. “No competition, no cash prize, America doesn’t vote on anything,” says Johnson. “It’s just me and the audience.”
Other projects in the works include “Comeback Kids” with UFC star Ronda Rousey, a comedy show, and Johnson going to a Miami detention center to mentor at-risk youths.
“The thought was always, ‘How can we put a corporate structure around this beast called Dwayne Johnson?'” said Garcia. “What can we set up so that this man, when he no longer wants to be in front of the camera, can have a lot to offer?”
Source: Fortune.comÂ
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