Will Cain Country - An Exclusive Interview With Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

Today, Will is once again joined by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Will joins Dwayne at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, the site of this year's WrestleMania.  They discuss The Rock's return to wrestling as well as his new character, his best path to the title, and who he thinks is on his level in the wrestling world. Plus, they discuss whether or not he regrets his endorsement of President Biden in 2020, what he thinks about the state of the country, and a serious and long discussion about his presidential ambitions.  Watch the Full Interview: https://youtube.com/watch?v=vODRYedvIE0 Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail] Subscribe to The Will Cain Show on YouTube here: Watch The Will Cain Show! Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Same thing. If you enjoy watching The Will Cane Show, hit subscribe on YouTube. Today, my exclusive sit-down, long-form interview with Dwayne the Rock Johnson. We're headed into WrestleMania and there was a lot to talk about. When last we left off on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, he said to me, let's do this again, let's talk, let's get deep, let's hang out, let's sit down, let's drink some tequila. So, we did. And here is Dwayne the Rock Johnson. Dwayne, good to see you, brother. The Rock, the final boss, Johnson. Who am I talking with?

Who am I talking with? Dwayne, the final boss? All the above. It all depends on the question. Oh, oh, so. All right. I'm looking how far the drop is. Welcome, man. I'm so happy you're here. Man, I'm really happy to talk to you. I'm glad that we managed to put this together. Part two from our conversation. That's right. Yeah, from the New York Stock Exchange. Yeah, it's good to see you. And I brought something for us.

You did. You came prepared, man. You bought the Taramana. Can I pop that open? You pour. I'll put the ice in. It's a mice. We'll make it nice and ceremonial. I'm a tequila guy, by the way. We had more. I went with me first. You did. Selfish. More? A little bit more. Thank you, man.

Boom. All right. Here we go. So you're a tequila man. You'll appreciate the terra mana tequila. This is our Nejo expression. And, you know, I'd be remiss if I didn't say I wanted to create a legacy brand who ended up shattering all records of not only tequila, but also in the spirit industry.

So I got a lot of good people behind that brand. and it's quality. You got your hand in so many things at this point. You are WWE, of course, a movie star. You're now UFL, which seems to be going great. Yeah, we had a great opening weekend, UFL, that's the combination of leagues, the XFL, USFL, Fox is part of our ownership team now. We had a great opening weekend.

We were up 70% from last year, XFL and USFL combined. So, like with anything that I do, Will, the UFL serves as just the opportunity to create opportunities for players to live out their dreams. And I think we might have talked about this before in the past. My dream was playing the NFL. That never happened if I was a little bit better, and maybe if I didn't have a fanny pack and a bad haircut, maybe I would have made it. But that whole, the UFL is designed just to create opportunities for players. you know, you go into a conversation and interview like this

and you think, okay, I'm going to go from here to here to here and then I throw it out the window and say, I'm just going to follow my curiosity. Great. So, you know, first of all, cheers. Cheers, brother. Really happy to see you again.

Good to see you. That's good. It's really good. So, but, okay, from tequila to the UFL to WWE. Yes. You know, I think about this sometimes, Dwayne, like,

when this whole thing is said and done and it's over, and not to be morbid, but they write the obituary. Yes. Like, what is it you want? I think about this myself. Do I want it to say television personality, journalist?

What do I want them to say? What is it you want it to say about this life? That he did all that he could do to live it to the fullest. And he did his best to take care of his family and protect his family and be a good dad and a good guy and take care of people. And run at the opportunity to work hard and build something. But also what I've learned down the road after a lot of these is bring everybody with you and how important that is to as well. So I know I just said a lot.

I don't know if all that will fit in the obituary, but it's that. Well, we're men, and I think I've been talking about this a lot recently on the Will Cain show, like destruction is easy. There's a lot of destruction going on in America. Creation is hard. And obviously, you're very interested in building. in creating, everything centered around the rock, around Dwayne Johnson. What is, were men, we're built to think in terms of legacy,

what is the legacy? The legacy is helping everyone who I'm able to touch and come in contact with, and even possibly the ones who I don't, but the legacy is helping them reach the potential that I was really lucky enough that I continue to try to tap into for myself as well.

You hear that quote, and it's funny because you almost like manifest it, and I find this quote coming back to me at certain times of my life, which is people won't remember, I think, what you said or something else, I'm going to butcher the quote now, but they'll always remember how you made them feel. And that's important to me.

And as I go down the road of life and we start to think about as men legacy, we start to think about what our calling is and what our why is and what our North Star is, and now it continues to change as we go down the road of life. For me, I realize at the end, end of the day, you strip it all away, it comes down to how we treat each other.

And that's ultimately the most important thing for me. How about you? You know, I'm still trying to figure that out. I really am. And I think you're on to something. And it is, you know, you do a lot of things in your life. And in that pursuit of ambition or building something, at some point you look up and you say, how much of this was about me. Yes.

And I think I know where you are, what you're alluding to. And I think I'm there. It's like, in the end, it isn't going to be about me. Right. It's going to be about what I can do for others. And I'll have to ask myself every step of the way. What position am I in to best serve others? Yes, absolutely.

And I love that when we start to explore that because I feel like just as guys and as dudes, you know, as we come from teenagers, 20s, 30s, you're still trying to find yourself. You think you have all the answers. You really don't know. Even in you reach the fourth level in life. A lot of us are still trying to figure it out.

You reach a fifth level. Hopefully you've gotten to a place now where you've got some things figured out and you got a little bit of clarity. But I've got to tell you, the idea of bringing everybody with you is something that speaks to my core, and it's really been gnawing at my bone marrow for the past couple of years, because I've reached this point in my career. Man, I'm a lucky guy.

I'm a lucky SOB. I like to say I work hard, but I believe in luck, and it all kind of converges and dovetails. The luckier you get, the harder you work, the luckier you tend to be. But I realized that, man, if I reached a point in my career where I am lucky enough to say, hey, here's a mountain top and I'm kind of sitting on top of it at what I do. And I'm very lucky. I've got to be careful how you say that, right? You can come across as like an asshole, excuse my language. But when you're on top, I realize, okay, if I'm in this position, a few things could happen.

Either I could just ride off in the sunset, or I could stay where I'm at, or I could look to something else and say, hey, let's go over there and let's build new mountain. But the key that's been gnawing at my gut is, but I can't do it alone, and I don't want to do it alone, but let's bring everybody with us. And what's the point in climbing that mountain? I mean, the point I'm getting at is you have to ask yourself that because you've accomplished, I mean, to be honest, for the gratification of Dwayne Johnson's ego, you've pretty much accomplished almost everything imaginable. So the point is, why do I climb that next mountain? And the focus then is, well, because it's about somebody more than Dwayne Johnson. Yeah. And also, it's, I feel like it's in the DNA.

You know, you want to go do more. And I got two hands that are capable, and I like to put in the work with my own two hands. But I also like to say is, let's go do it together. And if I come up, then I want everybody to come up. And if I'm not coming up, I want you to come up. And I want other people to come up. And I'm going to be right there rooting you on. I believe in that.

Well, I want to talk about what those mountains might be, both here at Russellmania and in America. But I actually want to ask you this first. So you're an incredibly charming guy. I mean, you're naturally likable. And I think that's both a compliment and a little bit of an insult. And I'm going to tell you why I think it's an insult. Because I think likability can become a currency and you can almost become addicted to it. It's a little bit of a poison.

I've seen it in my business. I saw it in sports. I see it in politics. if you're always pursuing and seeking people liking you, then who are you but for the potential reflection of what they want you to be? That's right. So I want to ask you this. What is it that you believe that is important to you no matter its popularity?

To be real and to be direct and to be open and to be transparent. And as you and I have talked about, if you ask me a direct question, I'm always going to give you a direct answer, whatever it is. And that's important to me. And authenticity, we hear that word a lot, but that's important to me. And I feel like, I mean, we could go down the well here, but there's, in today's easy cancel culture world and cancel culture, woke culture, this culture, that culture, division, et cetera, that really bugs me. In the spirit of that, you either, in the spirit of that, you either succumb and be what you think other people want you to be, or you go, well, no, that's not who I am. I'm going to be myself and I'm going to be real. If you ask me something, a real answer is important, and the truthful answer is important, and that may get people upset and may piss people off, and that's okay.

Well, that's what we've only been able to hang out together twice. I can sense this. I appreciate this, this desire to be authentic. It's got to, by the way, that's got to be hard for you, not because it's unnatural, but because A, you're a huge celebrity and you're surrounded by people telling you whatever you do is great or right or good. Or on the alternative, Dwayne, you've got people waiting for you to say something controversial to tell you how awful you are. That's right.

So it's really hard for you to be authentic. Controversial, by the way. They'll make it controversial. But would you say it was hard to be? And I think that just puts extra pressure and makes it more difficult for you to be authentic. Yeah, but it just comes with a game, I think. It comes with the position that I'm in. But it took me some time to recognize that. At first, I was, in a way, adverse to fame. And I didn't understand the power of it, how it could swing both ways. And finally, as I got down the road a little bit, and started achieving some notoriety, a little bit of success.

here and there, I start to realize, oh, man, this is a superpower. The fame is a superpower when used correctly, I believe, when you could use it to influence people and also use it to influence other people in terms of, again, being direct and being honest. So let's be direct, let's be honest. There was a time that you used your fame, and it was a time that not everybody was happy, and that was a few years ago. That's right. And you made a very big point. You said, I've never done this before. I've never endorsed a political candidate. And you endorsed Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. And I'm being real with you and you're being real with me. A lot of people on Fox watching us, you and I talk right now, remember that and wonder about that. So how do you feel

now in retrospect with that endorsement? In what way? Are you happy that you made that endorsement in 2020? Are you happy with the state of America? Am I happy with the state of America right now? Well, that answer is no. Do I believe we're going to get better? I believe in that. I believe in that. I'm an optimistic guy and I believe we can't get better. The endorsement that I made years ago with Biden was one I thought was the best decision for me at that time. And I thought back then when we talk about, hey, you know, I'm in this position where I have some influence and it's my job then. I felt like that then. It's my job now to exercise my influence and share with this is who I'm going to endorse.

Am I going to do that again this year? That answers, no. I'm not going to do that. Because what I realized, and I didn't realize it back then, Will, but I realize it today. And back then, just like I am today, very lucky. I was then the most followed American man in the world, and I am today, the most followed American man in the world, and I appreciate that. But I also realized that what that caused back then was something that tears me up in my guts.

Back then and now, which is division. And that got me. And I didn't realize it then. I just thought, hey, our country feels like there's a lot of unrest. It feels like I would like things to calm down. Maybe we need a change. This is what I'm going to do. And this is who I'm going to endorse.

The takeaway after that, months and months and months, I started to realize, like, oh, man, that caused an incredible amount of division in our country. So I realize now going into this election, I'm not going to do that. I wouldn't do that because my goal is to bring our country together. I believe in that in my DNA. So in the spirit of that, there's going to be no endorsement. Not that I'm afraid of it at all, but it's just I realize that this level of influence, I'm going to keep my politics to me. myself and I think it's between me and the ballot box but I will tell you this while like a lot of us out there not trusting of all politicians I do trust

the American people and I trust that whoever they vote for that's gonna be my president that's who I'm gonna support 100% I trust by the way I feel the exact same way I trust Americans yeah matter the state of this country no matter its political leadership I inherently trust the moral backbone the culture that is uniquely American. And I appreciate that in the spirit of avoiding divisiveness and honoring unity, you do not want to endorse someone in 2024. We talked about that mountaintop, though.

And you and I on the floor, the stock exchange talked about this. Yes. Let me ask you something really quickly. Please. Yeah, yeah. Would you endorse? Will you endorse? Like, how do you feel about that?

Because you're in a position too as well. You're influential. He's putting me on the spot. I've never answered this question. You know, Dwayne, I've never formally endorsed. But I love our flow. That's the thing. I've never done that. I've never formally endorsed someone.

And I don't know why. It's no secret. Anybody watching will know which ways I lean and who I lean against and who I lean for. And I'd be honest with you or anybody else, the way I voted every single time. But a little bit I've always considered the ballot box is private. I mean, I'm not going to vote for Joe Biden. Yes. You know.

And I don't have a problem telling you or America, you know, I will vote for Donald Trump. But I don't know about it. I've just never made a point of my endorse. And that was a big moment. And that's why I wanted to ask you about today. It was a big moment for you. As you mentioned, you're very influential. To the point of this, we talked about it.

You running for president. People talk about it. You've talked about it. Yes. So, you know, you're not going to make an endorsement in 24. I assume what. Because I break out more. I knew this question was coming.

Are you going to ever? Are you going to ever, ever, are you going to ever seriously run for president? Answer that question, seriously, consider it seriously, and make that mountain top run for president. As of now, no. That's not my intention. Well, I'm not a politician. I'm not into politics. I care deeply about our country.

I'm a patriot, and I believe you are too as well. And right now, my desire and my priorities are my babies and school drop-offs and pick-off. and things like that, that's important to me. Because I also have a 22-year-old who I like to say, we grew up together. And I know what it's like to be in a business. At that time, I was a full-time professional wrestler on the road over 300 dates a year,

and I missed a lot of her growing up. And I understand what that is if you become president and how all that goes away. And I don't want that to go away. And I also feel like, in the spirit of bringing people together and bringing our country together, country together. I don't know if that's the right move at this point. Possible. I don't know. So

truth is... As of now, you said. As of now. I mean, this is what I asked you about. As I bring another drink. This is legacy. This is, is there something to serve others outside yourself? Is that a potential mountain? Is that something that you said as of now? It always is, Will, and I got to tell you, we might have talked about this, either on or off camera last time we were together is man my family was evicted out of Hawaii when I was 14 years old we couldn't pay the rent and we were gone we were kicked off the island and and from from that kid to then not knowing where I was going to live winding up in Nashville and then going up to Bethlehem Pennsylvania and kind of all over the place from that kid to a good

amount of Americans feel like I would do a decent job of becoming president that's it's still very surreal to me. And I'm honored by that and this idea of legacy building new mountain more than yourself, bringing our country together. Right now, my main priority is being a daddy and continuing to build these other things. But also, again, being in the position I am, just like you said, my trust unequivocal is with the American people. And whoever they decide to make president, then again, that's my president, that's our president. and we're going to support it. Let's talk about family.

It's a great transition back into wrestling. You know, we were just talking off air about the Von Erick's. Yes. You are inducting, is it your grandmother into the WWHall of Fame? Yes. And your daughter, Ava, is entering this business as well. Yes. It's so fast.

You said to me, I don't remember if it was on camera, off camera as well, I said, my life would have been Mickey Rourke in the wrestler. That's right. It's a hard life. Yes. And yet you see this cycle, whether or not it's your, family or the Von Erics or the flares, several families, this becomes who they are. Why is that? If it's so hard, why does it become family?

Because it's in your DNA, and I think it's in your bone marrow, and as big and as global and as scaled up as we can see as professional wrestling is, and WWE and WrestleMania, it's still at its core, this unique one-of-one culture. And in this, you grew up in Dallas, I did a lot of my grown up in Dallas where my dad and my grandfather and my grandmother used to work for Fritz von Erick. For those of you don't know, the famous von Erick's in the world of professional wrestling. So I love this business of pro wrestling. I'm third generation and I'm honored to induct my grandmother into the Hall of Fame. So just for our viewers out there who don't know, my grandmother, my grandfather was a high chief.

Peter Maivia used to wrestle for Vince McMahon's dad in the 70s when it was WWF. Yeah. And now my grandfather passed away. It was his dream to have a successful wrestling promotion in Hawaii. It failed. My grandmother, while he was on his deathbed, said, I'm going to take the business over, and I want to do my best to make this a success for you. She did.

She became the first successful female promotion. in the world of professional wrestling. And as you know, and as everybody at home knows, professional wrestling, male-dominated, especially back then. Right. And she came in, and she promoted, I like to say that she's the Griselda Blanco of professional wrestling.

And, but now I have an honor to induct her into the Hall of Fame, and I can't wait. And I have a daughter who's 22. She is with WWE as well. She's fourth generation. generation and there's no business like professional wrestling which by the way will is why i come back to do i have to i don't have to certainly not for money luckily thank you uh but it's because i love it okay let's talk about you coming back um not exactly the way it was originally envisioned

um you know the heel turn the bad guy the rock um this is uh this is uh this is a this is This is not, I imagine, how it was planned. No, not at all. The original plan was for me to come back as the baby face. The big baby face, come back and face Roman Raines for the Universal Championship and put on here in Philadelphia the biggest main event of all time. I believe the qualities of a good leader, not to say that I'm a good leader, but I believe the qualities of a good leader is one who has the ability to pivot, but also make sure that

you listen to the people. And as I came back, I started to realize that while fans love the idea of the rock and Roman reigns at WrestleMania, there was also this other storyline building that they had been invested in for a couple of years with a guy named Cody Rhodes, who, wrestling royalty, Dusty Rhodes is his dad. Dustin Rhodes is his brother. And one or two things could have happened in that moment, and this happened in January. We could have either kept trucking through. I'm a director of the board.

I got a little bit of influence here in the WWE. We could have kept trucking through, or the thing that bugged me, I was in Hawaii, and I realized, man, there's a segment of fans here who are just disappointed. And that it hurt my heart to think that, well, I don't want to truck through and leave these fans disappointed.

But not only that, we also got a guy in Cody Rhodes have been working his ass off for years now, and this is his story. And who, by the way, Cody, as we speak very openly here, could not be a better human being, amazing, understood, I get it, I understand the position we're in. Rock, you and Roman, biggest ever, I'm here for it, and I support you. And that's a big deal for somebody to say, especially in our crazy world of egocentric professional wrestling. So I, back in January, I called Nick Con, our friend, and I said, I have an idea. How about

this? Why don't we take care of the people, give them this story of Cody Rhodes and Roman Raines. And Nick said, great. And I said, however, it's a little bit of a twist. He said, what's that? I said, what have I became the greatest bad guy of all time? And that was the attempt and the intention. Have you had this bad guy lurking in the background? Well, it has been lurking. You know, by the way. You know.

It has been lurk. Allow me to do that, please. It has been lurking. It has been lurking for some time. Have you had the, I mean, you couldn't have had the final boss because that's directly, obviously, connected to your new position. But have you had this character in there? Oh, for years, by the way, because if you think about it,

It's nice to be considered, we'll call the Babe Ruth, the professional wrestling. It's nice to be considered the good guy, the big baby face, the hero who comes in and saves the day. But also, again, when you think about authenticity, as we talked about earlier in the interview, and I realized I woke up in Hawaii. It all happens in Hawaii, by the way. A lot of self-reflection. A lot of self-reflection happens in Hawaii, a lot of the mana. And I woke up and I went, God, what if I became a bad guy?

And then I was able to not be pretzled and be freer and be visceral and be open and talk. And excuse my language, but say, I won't even curse because I've been getting in trouble a lot. I want to. Yeah, I will. Say the shit. Say the shit that everyone wants to say, but they can't say. Let you do that. Dwayne, I had a boss at ESPN.

And I got to work with the investigative unit, the E-60 unit, the outside the lines unit. And I had to tell me, you know, Luke Skywalker's not interesting. Darth Vader is interesting. That's right. Seth Curry is not interesting. Draymond Green is interesting. Wow. People love villains.

Yes. Well, you know, well, by the way, the final boss, the spirit of the final boss, it's funny you bring that up, is Darth Vader. Yeah. That's the spirit of the final boss. So let me ask you two questions on this, though. So it's a continuous thread to our conversation, whether or not it's politics or something we're going to talk about in just a moment, Maui, or this lead up to WrestleMania, you are very attentive to the fans.

You are very attentive to the feedback. Always. But doesn't there have to be, do you feel there's this balance you have to strike? Like you, Nick, W.W.B., you responded to the fans in this Cody, And I appreciate what you said about Cody as an individual. Yes. But I wonder sometimes, is it right to gauge the public? And the answer I think sometimes is yes, and the answer is other times, no, it's here.

That's right. And so I just wonder how you balance that, listening versus knowing. Sure. Great question. I think you got your finger on the pulse. You'd like to keep your finger on the pulse of what people want, the public wants. It's important to absorb all that information. But it's also, as you said, important to, you've got to go with you.

gut and you gotta listen to that voice that's behind your rib cage that's talking to you. In this case, now there are times whether it's in the vertical of pro wrestling or if we wanted to create this product or whatever it is where you gotta go with your gut and let's swing for the fences and we believe this is the right choice. You've made that choice throughout your career too as well. I'm going with my gut, this is what I'm doing and this is where I'm going. In a case like this in pro wrestling, there was something intrinsically off and And unaligned, if I didn't listen to this segment of fans.

Because at the end of the day, this whole thing here, we like to wrestle in flea markets for $40 a match. Where the promoter would say, hey, will you cut your forehead with razor blades? Like, that's how crazy it was back then. Every once in a while I did. For an additional five bucks. And free waffle houses, right? But there's a time where you really have to listen.

And in this case, again, we could have trucked through, but why do that? So I feel like we had an opportunity here to look at this situation. Whether it's in wrestling or anything, the way I look at it, I usually look at scenarios like this, like it's a two to four lane highway, how can we make it into a 10? And we can make it into a 10 lane highway by listening and then absorbing that information and letting it inform us how we make that decision. Hey, speaking of Waffle House, here's something I wanted to ask you. Training, training for a movie to be a movie star.

Even that, that's not this. It's been eight years. Yes. I mean, what's the training been like? So thank you for asking that, by the way, because it's the one thing that people, and I understand, they get caught up in the pomp and circumstance of wrestling and it's WrestleMania and the cachet of it, they forget, I'm sorry, it's not that they forget, it's not our lead foot to show.

The training has kicked my ass for weeks now. I went into a full training camp for about six. This is my final week, obviously. We have WrestleMania in a day or two. And the training camp has been tough. There is nothing that you can do to prepare your body to be suplexed and slammed and thrown around in that.

ring. Nothing. And, you know, I'm no spring chicken. I'm a summer rooster. No spring chicken. So I've had some great guys who have been helping me throughout my training camp. So it's a combination of training camp, training hard, getting my cardio right, getting my oxygen right. I have to control my breathing in this match. We could go without giving too much away. We could go an hour. Oh, don't you have like the record of already like an hour long fight? I have an hour long. I don't know if it's a record, but I do that. Are you teasing? You're going to beat that? I'm not saying that. No, no, I'm not saying that, but I'm saying you got to prepare,

but also, unlike all these other sports with professional wrestling, you don't want to go, you can't practice full tilt. You've got to be careful, so you have to take it maybe 25, 50% right up until. Do you give me a day? How many times a day are you working out right now? I'm working out three times a day. I get up in the morning. my day looks like this. I get up super early in the morning. I like to beat the sun up because I have this odd relationship with the sun that I have to beat it before it gets up. So, which basically means I need it. Maybe as president you can address daylight savings.

I'm going to fix that, by the way. If I ever become president, I'm going to fix daylight savings. Just keep it. I like long evenings. You like long evenings. I want to keep, by the way, Hawaii, one of the two states that do not do daylight savings. They don't do that. Right. They got it right. Just let's just make our days as long as possible. I want to make our days in our sunlight. Yes. As long as possible. Yes. All right.

So you beat the sun. You're up. You're working out. We're going to take inventory. If I ever become president, you let me know some of the stuff that needs with. So my day, I get up in the morning. I do my cardio in the morning on an empty stomach. Then I'll get some work done.

Then I'll eat breakfast. I eat a little bit of lunch. Then I'll go back and train again on the weights, do cardio again. And then in the addition in the spirit of WrestleMania, I go do my in-ring work. work and that's where it gets tough again you don't want to get hurt a lot of it a lot there is no other movement in the world in any other sport that that that is like that that in pro wrestling so the training camp has been tough I think we've I think we have created a great compelling storyline I think that we've raised the bar and I've

been really happy with it by the way I got to tell you this the thing that It's been really gratifying, Will, two things. Number one, the fans and the embracing of the final boss, this version, this Rock 10.0 version, but also all the guys and girls in the locker room, because I do come in, admittedly, I'm a disruptive spirit. I like to disrupt things when I come in, and I like to raise all the ships with the tide.

But the locker room has been really tremendous, so... That's, I'm glad you addressed it. I was curious about that because you're now, I mean, you're the director of the board and you're also one of the guys in the locker room. Are you done working out today? I have one more tonight. Yeah, I know. That's not going to be a problem?

That's how I do it. Huh? Really? That's not a problem? Two tequila and you're going to be back in the gym? Well, I mean, not in an hour. Well, I'm going to be four in a second. Okay, a few more quick questions on wrestling.

Yeah. So, listen, I was watching recently, and by the way, my wrestling fandom has come, gone, come. It's, you know, I'm an adult. It's gone different ways. Of course, yes. By the way, it's coming. But you are coming to WrestleMania.

Yeah, I mean, it's, I'm on the way up. That's right. But I was watching recently. Yeah. Humility is also part of his salesman. What can I say except you're welcome, go ahead. And this is going to say, I don't give you extra, I don't give anyone. Okay, I used to have this beautiful Doberman.

I lived in Central Park. I lived in Upper West Side. I walked him in Central Park. He was gorgeous. Yeah. Got him in Hawaii. Maui Humane Society. Oh, nice.

People say, oh, he's gorgeous. I would not return the compliment if their dog wasn't pretty. Okay? So when I give you this, it's not gratuitous. You go on the mic, it's a different level. You're a different level. Who besides you is on your level when it comes to work in the mic in wrestling? Let's see.

You know what, Will, there's that guy. No one. I think I just met the final boss. That's right. Final boss answers no one. No, no, there's a few guys, I think, who are great on the mic. I feel like Sam Punk is great on the mic. I feel like Cody Rhodes is great on the mic too as well.

Seth Rollins, our guy's great on the mic. Paul Heyman, another guy is great on the mic. I will tell you, is you a longtime fan of wrestling, me too as well, and I also grew up in the world of wrestling. What made, I believe, the wrestlers of the 70s and 80s have this unique style, is that in their promos, there was this belief because it was a fact and it was true, that if you didn't get over, if you didn't get over on the microphone,

you weren't going to eat, you weren't going to pay your bills. Like it was just that simple. So when you look back on those guys in the 70s and in the 80s, Ruddy Piper and... Yes. Randy Savage was another one. Hulk Hogan was another. Rick Flair, Dusty Rhodes, the son of a plumber. These guys got over on the microphone

because their life literally depended on it. And when you come from that kind of hunger, you speak in a different way. And what is... It's not that it's missing these days. It's just the way of the culture and it's the way of the business model. is the energy and the intensity

and the vitriol is just different when guys speak on the mic today because necessity is the mother of invention exactly you do nothing better than when it's all on the line when it's all you get what I'm saying you know like for example those guys in the 80s dusty roads a Rick Flair

a Jimmy Superfly snooka like these guys were like you felt like I think something bad is going to happen in Madison Square Guard I need to go down there. This feels authentic. It feels authentic, yes. Best path to a title fight for The Rock.

Cody Rhodes or Roman Raines? You really put me on the spot there. Both. I think both, for sure. I already see it. Well, you know, right? You see it. Here's the thing.

You just, with our world of pro wrestling, you start to stand things up on its feet. And again, great leader, not saying that I am, but quality leadership is just seeing and being able to pivot and being flexible. So as we move forward with the storyline, this interesting thing has started to develop between the Rock and Cody Rhodes. This interesting thing could happen and develop between the Rock and Roman Raines. I speak of myself in the third person, tequila talking. Don't lie, you've been doing that so good. I have. I have been.

I talk at home. All right. We'll be watching, whichever way he goes. Let's bring in Nickcombe. Fox News Audio presents Unsolved with James Patterson. Every crime tells the story, but some stories are left unfinished.

Somebody knows. Real cases, real people. Listen and follow now at Fox Truecrime.com. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy host of the Trey Gowdy podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday. as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side.

Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions in less than five minutes. We ask people on the streets of New York City to play along. Let's see how you do. Take the quiz every day at the quiz.

Fox. Then come back here to see how you did. Thank you for taking the quiz. Nick Con, president of WWE. Let's start with this. First of all, Nick. Look at this. Yes. What is it?

13 straight, like record selling sellouts? Yes. Or WWE? Why is it going so well? A couple things. I think, and Dwayne and I have talked about this many times. Every great macro transaction is a result of a thousand great micro transactions. So assume the bloodline story hits.

Cody Rhodes hits, Triple H and his creative. And then, oh, by the way, the greatest of all time, certainly one of the greatest of all time in our sport. Dwayne Johnson returns in ring as a surprise January 1 and boom, that puts it over the top. So if you look at the record gates, if you look at the record

revenue, if you look at the record attendance, it's all because of everyone at WWW other than me. They're the ones who put in the work. They're the ones who put in the work. He's so good at humility. We're the ones who get there. Set it up, man. And then he undercuit. It's all true. I just want to say he

obviously is a big influence and a big reason why this whole thing is happening well i've never been and both of you guys have made it happen that i'll be here on sunday of this wrestlemania and i've never been as much as we talk about my history with wrestling it's through the television screen yes i've never been what can i expect i assume my seats are really good that i'm going to be right down there and what can i expect like what's this going to be like well listen we went we've gone over the final seating so you know we have you we have you where you would want to be oh thank you So just know that.

That's number one. Number two, what can you expect? Look, Dwayne and I have discussed this also a number of times. Wrestling is theater for those who couldn't or can't get to Broadway. So from your childhood, I'm not saying now, we know you're very rich, powerful, go to Broadway, whenever you want. But I'm saying when the three of us were watching it as children, think about it. And Dwayne, it may have been different because your dad was on the road. I didn't go to New York until I was in law school.

I didn't have a passport until I was in my mid-20s, never went outside of the country. But I went to his grandmother's wrestling shows in Hawaii as a kid, and it was theater in front of you. It was the unimaginable happening. So I think what you're going to see, Saturday and Sunday, WrestleMania 40 from Philadelphia, 7 p.m. Eastern Star Time, in case anyone didn't know that, on Peacock in the United States. What you're going to see is the theater of the unexpected, and that's the best sort of theater in my mind. So this week, leading up to this event, I had Glenn Jacobs, the mayor of Knox County, Kane, on my show. And we got into this. I want to put this to both of you guys. There is something about wrestling that seems to strike at the core of, quite honestly, everything.

Politics, movies, it's baby-faced and heel. It's good guys and bad guys. It's almost as though if you distill everything down, you get to wrestle. Mm-hmm. Why is that? Why is wrestling kind of, you talked about it, Duane a moment ago, like, it's so quintessentially unique and in that way American. Yes.

But it's also like politics, wrestling, movies, wrestling, everything is WWE. Yes. Professional wrestling is at its core, the most American you can get. And at the end of the day, I always like to say, Nick and I have said this too, when you strip it all the way, it all comes down to the raw core idea that, There's good versus evil, there's baby faces versus heels, and it's a storyline, and eventually the talking is done, the talking is done, the rhetoric, the rhetoric, whatever that may be, politics, sports, whatever it is. Ultimately, you've got to come in and you've got to settle it. And then it's in that settling that people will gather and they will get an idea. I would add to that. You know, you two were talking about Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker and what you learned at ESPN. At the end of the day, even if you look at the last 25 years of scripted television,

the characters who have resonated most, the Sopranos, Tony Soprano, I believe there's Vic Mackey from The Shield, the gentleman from Breaking Bad, people who are doing things that inherently you believe you're not supposed to like, but you love those characters. But you understand. You understand? Yes. And you understand at the end of the day, certain decisions are made in life, in business,

in the wrestling ring that might not be. be the best or most thoughtful or sweetest decision, but it's decision that had to be done. Even if you look at the final boss character, what seems to be resonating, some of the lines Duane has said in character as a final boss, it didn't have to be this way. That means we could have gone the easy way,

but others chose to go the hard way, it didn't have to be that way, and now I'm gonna show you what the hard way is, that's life, that's life, and that's what we think resonates with our fans. It didn't have to be this way, but now it's the only way. you can you can use that you're welcome it didn't have to be this way but now it's the only way

i cannot raise one eyebrow there you know no but nick it is it is um i don't know it's the quintessential it's it's the it's the distilled element yes of not just entertainment of in many ways human interaction but but but also will it's it's in a way it's like in politics fix too as well, and not to connect the dots too much to that, but it's saying the stuff that the American people want to say, and they can't say it. Final boss can say it, we can say it in the ring, some politicians can say it, too, as well. So it's that, too as well, when you distill it down. By the way, on that anti-hero front, you know, Will Kane at ESPN, you want to ask him how Will Kane ends up ESPN? How, how? That's how Will Kane ends up at ESPN. Really?

That's really. No, no. I just played this. I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised. Will is extremely talented. He had big ambitions. He had big,

not only are you a handsome man, but you're powerful. That's from Pretty Woman. No one cares about that movie here. I see. Okay. We'll move on from that. Listen, Will was ambitious.

He was talented. He knew sports inside out. I also thought at that moment in time, and I know it's what Will thought. He was an outsider in the media world who wanted to, get to the inside, not by changing who he was, but if you look at what he was able to accomplish in getting into that world with his opinions, which were not the majority voiced opinion at that

time. If you look, Dwayne, at what you were able to accomplish, for people who are on the outside, who want to get to the inside, because you've struggled financially, you don't have the things that you'd like for your loved ones to have, there's a bit of a chip on one shoulder. And I'm not sure that that chip ever went away for you, which is a great thing. I'm not sure it ever went away for Dwayne, which is a great thing. It's a thing in the morning that wakes you up before the sun. That's right. That's right.

By the way, it's like what we were talking about earlier, which is that authenticity part and how you make decisions. People may think that I want to make a decision based on this thing, but I've got to do it for me. And that's what I was talking about earlier, about your own career. You had shared that way. And I think that's honestly your audience. I mean, I think I don't pretend to know the W.E.'s audience the way that you two guys do,

but I think this is outsiders looking to see inside. And I can't speak for Dwayne, but one thing I can say about being on the inside is then all you do is say, I don't want to be an insider. I made my way in, perhaps, to your analogy name. But now I want to make sure I am in touch, like we talked about, with outside.

Yes. Yeah. You can't become one of the elite who are now inside. You've got to be someone who understands the people. Finger on the pulse, man. Finger on the pulse. And by the way, easy at times to get lost in that, right? And become the inside and get lost in that. But finger on the pulse.

All right. I want to talk about Maui for a second. All three of us care about Maui. We just talked about Hawaii. Duane, last time we talked, you just told me your fund, the People's Fund has, is it come to, it's come to its fruition? It's come to its fruition. And at the end of this month, or last month in the month of March, we've delivered over 60 million dollars to over 8,000 survivors. And I know what Hawaii means to you and to you as

well. We all grew up in Hawaii. So I'm very, very proud of that and very, very grateful. The timing is incredible. This week, our fund, which we raised through the generosity of not just Fox News viewers, but Americans, 2.6 million. 210 families, $12,000 grants comes to a conclusion this week. Oh, beautiful. Hey, cheers. Let me. Again. Let me do it. Again. And then, hey, to be honest, Dwayne, that conversation, oh, we never poured a dick one. Listen, I'm working here, so thank you. To Hawaii, to Maui, to Maui, to Maui. That thing we were talking about earlier, something more for others.

This is one of the most meaningful things I've ever done in my career. Yes, by the way. And me too, by the way. We've been lucky boys to be able to get to do what we do, and it broke our hearts. That happened in Maui, of course, because we all grew up there in Hawaii. you and Maui specifically so I know what it means to you but that was it's been the most gratifying thing because you go back home and I always go back home to Hawaii we're just there with our girls again a couple of months ago and the when you meet survivors it's a whole different conversation that

you have unlike anything we've talked about this unlike anything you've ever experienced because you realize not only the enormity of their pain but also you have an opportunity just to help just a little and get them back on their feet. Can I tell one quick story about that? Please. So both of you know this story, but for the audience at home, I get a call from Will Kane a few days ago. And he said, hey, you know, I don't mean to ask for anything.

But I just want to make you aware of a situation. There's a boxing gym in Lahaina that burned down. And this is the gym that the local kids would go to and train. And as everybody knows, boxing gyms typically keep people out of trouble. And, you know, they lost all of their equipment and, you know, I've been trying to figure out a way to get them what they need. And I think I said some version of, stop, give me five minutes, I'll call you right back.

I called Dwayne picked up and I said, hey, you know, Will called and said this and that. Dwayne said, let's take care of it. Let's get it done. He said, you called Dana White, as you might imagine, in the wrestling business, we don't have a lot of boxing bags and double-end bags and all of these things. I called Dana White. He picks up and I said, hey, good friend of ours. Will Kane called boxing gym and the UFC had donated also a considerable amount of money to the Lahaina folks, which was amazing work by then, continued amazing work by that. I said to Dana, boxing gym needs a couple things, X, Y, and Z. He said, how many things are they looking for? I read the list. He's like, we'll send it right now from the UFC. And boom, I believe it's, you know, it takes a moment to get there, but that's on its way. And that was because of your good work. And that's about. about caring the people other than yourself. That's of no direct benefit to you.

That's, hey, there's some kids out there who could use a boxing gym and you got that done. And you flip this table on me, that's not how this was supposed to go. I'm supposed to say. I'm just speaking the fact. Well, but true, it's true. I'm just speaking of the face.

All I did is care and know some people in Lahaina. And I did, I turned to Nick. And I said, Nick, this is the situation. Exactly as you described, you cut me off. You called Dwayne, you called Dana. You had it done in moments. You're going to help out Lahaina, directly. You're going to help them out.

Yes. And I want to share this with you guys. So it's called Contending for the Kingdom. And it's a great man named Dusty Raynone. And faith-based man, bringing these kids up the right way. And he sent you guys that. We can just take a moment. You just hit play. And that's the both of you. So you can watch what Dusty has to say to you. Yeah, I just wanted to give a shout out, a special thanks. You know, thank you guys for your guys' heart. Thank you guys for what you guys. do for Lahaina Town. I just wanted to put this thing together so that we can move forward as a community as well as encourage our brothers and sisters as well as

the kids to strive forward you know what I mean because Lahaina will be rebuilt line is going to be stronger than ever but I wanted to give you give a special shout out to Duane the Rock Johnson thank you Uso thank you for what you do as well as WWE president and owner Nick Khan you know thank you guys so much as well as UFC President Dana White. I'd like to give you a shot up. And a special thanks to you guys. You know what I mean?

The kids are going to be grateful for what you guys are doing. We're going to get this boxing ministry going, contending for the kingdom. That's what we're doing, making kingdom builders in this community, in this town, and this nation. Thank you guys so much. Aloha. Aloha, brother. Awesome. Wow.

That's real Lahana town. You can hear it in the accent. Wow, kingdom builders. So, you've done so much, man. Lastly, how does it make you feel? How does it make you feel to give back to a place that you love so much? Just grateful that I'm in a position where I can do something. Grateful that I'm in a position that we can talk about it, that we can talk about it,

and we're able to do something like that. You know, look, Hawaii, that's my people. It's Polynesian people. It's our people. We're local boys there. in Hawaii and what it means to us but also you know my my ancestors are buried there in those mountains and diamond head and my grandfather's there and my uncles my grandmother's there and my mom wants to be buried there we just had the conversation so it means it breaks my heart

that it happened but at the end of the day we all do what we can do to take care of our people So $60 million, you know, dollars, 8,000 survivors playing our part in their way of getting back up on their feet. And for life, I'm there. A son of Hawaii and a son of Samoa and a son of Polynesian Islands. So I'm grateful. Thank you, guys. Thank you for all the time you give me today. Thank you.

Thank you for everything, both of you, on what you're doing for Lahaina. I appreciate you both very much. Appreciate you, man. Thank you, brother. All right. Thanks, Will. Good to see you. There you go. I hope you enjoyed that interview with Dwayne the Rock Johnson. Make sure, again, you download, subscribe at Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and share that with your friends.

Let me know what you think at Will Cain Show at Fox.com. And I will see you again next time. Listen to ad-free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcast, and Amazon Prime members. You can listen to this show, ad-free on the Amazon Music app. This is Jimmy Phala, inviting you to join me for Fox Across America where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding.

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