The Rock reveals his father's reaction on entering the wrestling business
The Rock, who recently lost his father, Rocky Johnson, sat down with Oprah Winfrey on Oprah's 2020 Vision Tour Visionaries series to discuss his career and choices in life. Invariably, the subject of his father came up and the WWE legend revealed that his father initially didn't want him to wrestle, but was proud of him when he actually did become successful.
The Rock said that his father was proud of him when he became successful in an industry that he had given his life to. The Brahma Bull told Oprah that his father was a trailblazer in the business as he was wrestling 'down south' most of his career and wrestling in front of white audiences during the 1960s and 1970s.
Despite being practically the only black man in certain territories, he still managed to get the audience to cheer for him.
The Rock revealed that when he also wanted to wrestle, Rocky Johnson was against it. Here's how The Great One explained the situation:
"When I said to him I want to get into the professional wrestling business, because it's in my blood and because I felt I had something to offer but at that time, we were living in a small apartment in Tampa, Florida. And he said, 'Look around, this is what I have. I don't have anything and I don't want that for you.' So, I had to follow my gut and my instinct. "
You can watch the segment at 4:22 in the video below:
The Rock then said that years later when he became successful as a wrestler, his father was very proud, even (jokingly) taking credit for his success.
It should be noted that The Rock is creating a show about his life and it's quite possible that a part of it will focus on his father's career as a wrestler.