WWE News: Ahmed Johnson and the Rock had real backstage heat
What's the story?
Ahmed Johnson did an interview with The Unsanctioned Podcast [h/t 24 Wrestling]where he talked about his real backstage heat with the People's Champion, the Rock. He opened up about an altercation he had with the Rock backstage in the presence of other superstars.
In case you didn't know....
Ahmed Johnson was one of the major wrestling figures in WWE between 1995 and 1998. He was the first wrestler of African American origin to win a singles championship in WWE when he won the Intercontinental Title.
One of the major things he was remembered for was his feud with the Nation of Domination where the Rock was a key figure.
The heart of the matter
Ahmed Johnson revealed in the podcast that he had an incident with the Rock backstage, where The Rock was joking around with Triple H and Shawn Michaels while Ahmed Johnson was behind one of the lockers where they could not see him. Triple H and Shawn Michaels were making 'black' jokes, and they apologised to the Rock. The Rock then apparently said that it was okay as he was not black and his mother had an affair with a 'white man' who was his actual father.
"He walked in there with Triple H and Shawn, and they were all talking and they were making black jokes, and they didn’t know I was there. When Triple H said, ‘Man, we were joking Rocky, we were joking,’ and Rock said, ‘That’s okay, people look at me and think I’m black. I’m not black, man. My [mom] had an affair on my dad with a white man. That’s my dad. The white guy is my dad.'"
Ahmed Johnson went on to confront him about it and asked him if he was disrespecting his father, Rocky Johnson, who helped to pave the way for African American wrestlers in WWE. This resulted in a heated confrontation with the Rock, followed by a scuffle where they had to be separated.
“He was serious as a heart attack. So I stepped from around the locker and said, ‘What you just say?’ He said, ‘Aw, aw, nothing, man, you know just here bulls–tting,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I heard you over there selling that bulls–t, man. What did you say about your dad? You mean to tell me this man bust his ass for us to be in this federation, and you’re denying him?’ Then he got cocky and said, ‘Man, this ain’t none of your business’ Once he said that, we went for blows. After that, Ron Simmons and Papa Shango broke it up.”
Video
Listen to the entire Unsanctioned Podcast with Ahmed Johnson here:
Author's take
The culture in WWE during the attitude era was very different at that point in time, and racist jokes were almost commonplace. You will not see this happen in the modern WWE.
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