"I’m asking you to help me get out of here" - The Rock asked WWE Hall of Famer to help him quit the company
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is one of the biggest stars to ever come out of WWE. However, the Great One once asked WWE Hall of Famer J.J. Dillon to help him leave the company while he was still a novice wrestler.
J.J. Dillon is best known for managing the Four Horsemen, one of the greatest factions in wrestling history. He worked for WWE in the 90s as a front office executive. During that time, The Rock was in the midst of the big push that would change his career. However, he almost missed out on it.
Speaking to JBL and Gerry Brisco, J.J. Dillon recalled The Rock requesting his release from WWE because of his financial woes.
“Rock, he was going to get the push of his life, but he couldn’t see at that point how really big that opportunity was going to be for him," said Dillion. "He had everything. He was multiracial. He had the size, he had athletic ability. He had everything. And I came up there and he said, ‘Can I talk to you privately?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘You have connections everywhere. I’m asking you to help me get out of here and find a place for me to go.’ So I listened to him and I said, ‘There’s more to this story than what you’re telling me. You need to kind of trust me and open up to me and tell me what’s going on in your head, what’s really, really troubling you?’"
“After talking about it a little bit, he reached into his pocket and he had a $10 bill and a couple of singles," added Dillion. "And he said, ‘This is all the money I have to my name. I’ve never been in a situation where everybody talks about this great potential that I have. But for me, I have 12 bucks in my pocket and that’s eating away at me.’ I said, ‘Well, I’m glad that you opened up to me and told me because that’s something that can be an easy fix." (H/T Fightful)
The Rock's financial situation nearly resulted at the end of his career, but J.J. Dillion came up with a very generous approach to help out the People's Champion.
WWE Hall of Famer J.J. Dillon handed The Rock $200 in cash
J.J. Dillion knew that The Rock had the potential to be a big star, so he refused to let the latter leave the company. Dillion gave The Rock, $200 in cash, to help with his financial troubles.
"So, I don’t know where we were, I said go up to the box office and pull $200 and I’ll sign for it and I’ll work it out," stated Dillion. "They came to me and gave me $200 in cash. I called The Rock over and I shook his hand and palmed him $200 in cash. I said, ‘Now you’ve got money in your pocket. You can eat, you’re okay. This is just a little speed bump in the road. I couldn’t do justice to the business by allowing you to just not take full advantage of this opportunity because you are just caught in a position where you don’t have any cash in your pocket and we’ve all been there. He gave me a big hug and that was the turning point for him. Just having that money in his pocket so that he could eat and do what he wanted. I just was in the right place at the right time and knew the right thing to do.”
Thanks to J.J. Dillion The Rock remained in WWE and went on to become a mainstream star.
The Brahma Bull went on to become a multi-time World Champion and is a sure-shot Hall Of Famer as well. Today, he's a very popular Hollywood actor with a net worth of $400 million.