Will Cain Country - Revisiting Will's News-making Interview with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

Will is off this week, but he wanted to share some of his favorite conversations from the launch of The Will Cain Show. The Rock and WWE President Nick Khan joined Will from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to discuss President Trump’s massive UFC ovations, relief efforts for the people of Maui, his presidential ambitions, and whether or not he will fight Roman Reigns at the upcoming WrestleMania. Tell Will what you thought by emailing [e-mail] Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced coffee for five bucks plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. Hey, it's Will Kane. I'm off this week. I wanted to share with you one of the biggest interviews from the launch of the Wilcane Show, which streams at foxnews.com on the Fox News YouTube channel and on the Fox News Facebook page. And you can always get it on demand by subscribing to Will Kane Show on YouTube.

I had the pleasure of talking with Dwayne the Rock Johnson and WWE CEO Nick Kahn from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. A lot of news came out of that conversation, including whether or not the Rock would ever consider running for president and how he now owns the IP to things like, if you can smell what the Rock is cooking. And the name itself, The Rock. We also talked about his vision on how to build a successful life and how he built himself into the worldwide icon that has become the Rock. Here is my interview with The Rock and Nick Con. Following Fox's initial donation to the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund, our generous viewers have answered the call to action across all Fox platforms and have helped raise $7 million.

Visit go.com forward slash TX flood relief to support relief and rebuilding efforts. This is Jason Chafetz from the Jason and the House podcast. Join me every Monday to dive deeper into the latest political headlines and chat with remarkable guests. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts. I'm Janice Dean. Join me every Sunday as I focus on stories of hope and people who are truly rays of sunshine in their community and across the world.

Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com. All right, Dwayne, Rock. I said, what do I call you? I call you, Dwayne. I call you The Rock. He said, now that I own it, I can call you the Rock. Yes, I own it now. You can call me The Rock. Or just Rock. Congratulations on that, by the way. Thank you, man. I appreciate it very much. It's a big moment for you personally and obviously for the company. TKO? A very big moment for me personally, big moment for my family, but big moment for us. I think Nick and I as partners with TKO2 as well. It's a big announcement today joining the board, some of the other things that were in my deal too as well, but also the Netflix deal and showcasing the power of that and what that could be, especially for a business that I love. I know that Nick

loves in this world of WWE and professional wrestling. Nick, why is it so important to bring in the rock? Dwayne Johnson, the Rock, is one of one, as you and the rest of the world, I believe, knows. So to have him back into the WWE family in a meaningful way, he's always been part of the family. But to have him back focus on us, it can only mean a lot for our fans, our shareholders, and the wrestlers who are currently with WWE. Dwayne, The Rock, brings up Netflix. Huge moment, live streaming on Netflix, a first for Netflix. What does that mean for the future of, for example, Raw? stay on Monday night?

Do I look for another night where there's no NFL? Well, look, we always try to be the first at everything. If you look at some of the things that TKO has done, the UFC ESPN Plus, if you look at Dwayne Johnson,

becoming the leading man not only in film, but in television, starting his own tequila company, monetizing that in an extremely lucrative way, energy drink with ZOA. Across the board, first of a kind. In terms of what we're doing with Netflix,

The plan right now is Mondays. Monday Night Raw, it's an institution. At the same time, we have 10 months to figure it out with our new partners as to what night they think will be best. So, Dwayne, obviously this is a big deal. They're excited to have you on board. The first real step, the first real big thing can be, WrestleMania.

Are you going to fight Roman Raines? We're talking about that right now. I'd like to consider myself a long gamer and a builder. So the idea of going up against Roman reigns and creating, if we were to do something like that, quite possibly, and I mean this respectfully, of all the other WrestleMania's before us, and keep in mind, as you know, I was born into the wrestling business with my grandfather and my dad. My grandfather, for your audience who liked this, wrestled for Vince McMahon Senior, back when it was called the WWF. My dad came along in the 80s, Rocky Johnson, and here I come along.

So I think with all the success and the buildup of all the WrestleMania's in the past, if we were to do something like that, we could possibly put on the biggest WrestleMania of all time. So short answer and the long answer is we're figuring it out. You know, Nick brought up all the different evolutions of your career, all of which, at least when you zoom out and look at it in retrospect, have been successes. You know, from the business side, the football side, the wrestling side, the movie stardom, a lot of different people have tried to evolve. to change their careers.

Not all of them have met your success. Why has it worked for you? Well, a few reasons. And also keep in mind, Will, is the successes are always the ones that are the most loudest, and they are the ones that get magnified. No one really talks about the losses, but you have to take the hits in the way that I have over the years.

I always like to say that it's the times that I failed is the thing that really started to create this chip on my shoulder that has allowed me to drive for success. Over the years, I would say if I would point to one thing, I think it's a combination and a convergence of my own ambition, my own desire to put in the hard work with my own two hands, but perhaps more importantly than that, it's surrounding yourself with the right people, who share the same ambitions, who I always like to say, Nick and I have talked about this, hey, that looks like an amazing North Star over there. We should head in that direction. What do you think? Let's head in that direction. We don't know how we're going to get there yet, but let's have faith and let's surround ourselves with the right people. And in this case, of course, Of course, it's Mark, it's Ari, it's all the guys at TKO, and so I would point to that. Can I add one thing I know is a question to Dwayne, but what I've noticed in knowing Dwayne for a significant period of time is once you've been really, really hungry, it's hard to be really, really full. And I think with Dwayne starting where he started, which was not in the easiest of places, and building what he's built, the failures come with the successes.

So building off of that, number one. Number two, perhaps more important than any of this, are you coming to WrestleMania this year or? Is that an invitation? That's an invitation. I'll be there. All right, it'll be that. With your kids.

With you, with Dwayne. I'll be there. We'll see if he's in the ring or on the sidelines. You heard that, Fox. No, I really like what you mentioned, and I think I was almost alluding to that. It's easy to see the successes in retrospect and when you zoom out. And I'm glad you brought up failure. It's hard to see your failures.

I understand the humble beginnings. I understand the hunger. What is your biggest failure? Oh, Will. We need to open up a bottle of tequila now and talk about this. That's another invitation. You heard it again, Fox. I think they're all collective.

I think over the years, you know, and oftentimes it happens when we fail at something. Not only does it define you, but you don't quite know, or at least I'm speaking for myself now, you don't quite know how important that failure is in that moment because you're in the vacuum. And you're in the echo chamber where it's the voices in your head and all the insecurities and doubts, they all creep up on you. And you're like, man, I don't know if I'm ever going to get out of this thing. But then years later, once you're out of it and you are on the other side, and hopefully you or everybody out there has achieved a little bit of success,

you can look back and realize, oh, man, that was really important. So because you asked a specific question, which was great, I think I have a specific answer here that I think your audience might appreciate. I worked for years to make it to the NFL. That was my dream. Even though I grew up in the world of pro wrestling and keep in mind well back then, pro wrestling was not a publicly traded company like it is today.

It wasn't the global juggernaut that it is today. It was localized, paycheck to paycheck, and I always say had it not been for the grace of God in the universe, Mickey Rourke and the wrestler, that's my family. And that would have been my family had I not had the ability to take care of them.

So for me, wrestling never represented, that's massive success, that's where I need to go. It was always pro football. And I thought, if I can make it to the NFL, then I can buy my parents their first home. I can be the first one to go to college. I can have a little bit of money more than seven bucks. And that never happened for me. And so I felt at that time, when I didn't make it to the NFL, I went up to the CFL, I played for what I call as long as a ham sandwich, and then I got cut.

But when I got cut, I had to move back in with my parents. That's when I had seven bucks in my pocket. And you realized back then making it to the NFL was the best thing that never happened. I didn't realize it back then, but I realized that today. We've talked about this. Making it to the NFL is the best thing that never happened because it gave me that chip and it gave me that drive. You were going to say? I appreciate that answer.

Truly, that's a specific answer, and I believe the authenticity of that answer. You said something else, and I know we have 15 minutes together on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, but you've said something that I'll have to follow in the material. nothing but time and money down here you brought up in those moments of failure that that's when you face those insecurities you look anybody that sees you first of all everybody thinks they know you I feel like I know and we just met but they also see you exude so much confidence it's it's fascinating to think about you having a moment of insecurity what what is your biggest insecurity oh man no one now we start talking about insecurities and connected to mental health

connected to depression as we all go through that stuff I was just having a conversation 30 minutes ago with a young lady here on the floor, and she was talking about her own son going through mental health. So that's something that we all go through. I'm an advocate for, especially us dudes, to talk about it because we're generally not wired to talk about it. I can't tell you how many times I've told Nick, come on, man, tell me more. Tell me more.

I would ask Nick the same question, but I don't think there's any insecurities in Nick Con. No, there's plenty. There's plenty. Just like everyone else. There's doubts that I have to get through all the time, I promise you. You know, one of the things that I've obviously success at much lower levels, but understand a lot of friends who have achieved success. There's a fascinating thing that happens when you achieve something, maybe even a moment like today, and that's not to take away from today's moment. But you arrive at a moment and you say, man, look what I've done, and yet somehow I'm unimpressed with myself.

Oh, man. And then you set the bar further. This is part of that hunger. You want something more. Look, Dwayne, a lot of people talk. You've talked at various times about what comes next for you. Obviously, you've had the conversations about president. What is next for you?

Where will you set the bar next? Well, I want to acknowledge what you just said, because I love that. And we've talked about this idea of you never arrive. And I think a lot of us are wired in that way, whether it's really vocal or internal, but this idea of, I don't know if I'm really satisfied. You reach the North Star, you finally get there, and you think, hey, I'm on top of the mountain. This is great. I think there's more mountain.

And you look around, I think there's more to do. So you never really arrive, and I think that continues to drive that hunger. What's next for me is I'd like to think that I'm a builder, Will. I like to build stuff. Sometimes they build greatly. Sometimes they don't. I love partnering up with Nick. I've known Nick.

By the way, we go way back. My grandmother was running a small wrestling promotion in Hawaii back in the early 80s, and that's we were running around as kids back there. So we go way back. So this idea of building, and that's what's next for me. So the idea of building with Nick, with Ari, with Mark Shapiro over at TKO, that's exciting to me because it all connects back to something that's in my blood, this world of wrestling. You and I share something in common. I didn't know that Nick and I do is. It's like looking in the mirror every time. Yeah, in all the shallow and deep ways. No, but you and I share something in common, and I didn't know that Nick and I did as well. But that is I have a deep connection in love for Hawaii, specifically Maui, specifically West Maui. I grew up going to Lahaina every summer.

And I've been so touched by this audience. We raised the fund. We raised $2.5 million. We're doing $12,000 grants. We've hit several hundred families. Fantastic. And I know that you and Oprah did something as well. And so first, let me start with this.

What's an update on your fund, how it's reaching the people of Lahaina? Man, well, first of all, we are all connected to the Hawaii, to the Hawaiian Islands. And I love that. Thank you for sharing that with me. So you're Ohana in many ways. So the update on the People's Fund of Maui is proud to tell you this. At the end of January, we would have delivered over $60 million to over 8,000 survivors, which, you know, those are my people.

Those are our people, just as Americans. And the tragedy that they went through is unimaginable. And as you know, we know, and the world knows, they're still going through it. And the crazy world of news, how it cycles fast and out, our job was to make sure that we continue to take care of them and to do our best to make sure that it was. top of mind for a lot of people. So over $60 million, 8,000 survivors. It's very, very special. And thank you for the money you've raised too. That's amazing. Like you said, this is going to be

something that goes on for years and years. These people are still staying in hotels. They're still homeless in so many ways. Staying with Ohana in the in the back house. Yes. So this is going to be a continuous need for West Maui. You got blowback. You and Oprah got blowback. Sure. And first of all, I want to be here to be someone that defends you on that. Obviously, that came from a point. of a good place in your heart and not just that it's it's practically achieving help for people that need it sure and i think i've seen this you were surprised you were surprised by that blowback yes i was surprised but anytime something like that happens where i'm really taken off guard in that way i i always feel it's prudent just to pause for a second and not get pulled into the

emotion of it and i just wanted to pause and try to understand where where's this coming from What do you think it was? Did I miss something? Because ultimately, as you said, it came from the right place, and it's what you do. If you attempt to raise money for something that has happened, a tragedy that's happened, you ask people, hey, you want to join? You donate a buck, two bucks, a prayer, good vibes, energy, mana, whatever it is. I'm not too sure where it came from, but I will tell you this.

Once I was sifting through all the noise, and by the way, one of the first calls I got was from Nick, saying, hey, just remember where your heart was in the wrong. right place as you're doing this coming from Hawaii himself. I did have a moment where I was able to look at a comment and I wrote one of the comments that, hey, Rock, I love you, love that you raise the money, but man, I don't have anything, paycheck to paycheck, ask someone else, not a good time. It was almost like that. It was really interesting. So it was something like that, the best thing that we could do was keep trucking forward, keep the heart in the right place, and now we delivered over $60 million.

I honestly want to say thank you for that. Oh, thank you for that. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. I'm not done just yet. We're going to return to this conversation about what you're going to build.

I have to ask more about the presidency. You said, I believe it was to Joe Rogan, that one of the political parties had approached you, showed you data, which shocked you about how well you do in a run for president. Is this something that you will be willing to consider? And by the way, what does it make you think about America that you might be, according to the data,

a legitimate candidate for president. Well, I'm honored. And I'm not a politician. Never had intentions to be a politician. And, you know, as all this continues to take shape and form, and I get it, especially as we're ramping up into this year, in particular with the election year, I was honored. I still am honored.

And the data was fascinating. I actually got approached by both parties, one after the other. And I said, as I say now, I'm honored. Thank you. The most important thing I'm doing now is being a daddy to my little girls. I like school drop-offs, and I like pickups, and I like that. And I know that if I were ever to go down that road, which I have no intention to, all that goes away. I don't want that to go away. One last question for you, Nick. So I was at UFC, your sister company, brother's company, at Madison Square Garden. It was when Donald Trump walked in. He has a long

history with WWE. What does it mean that both the WWE audience and the UFC audience seem to have such an appreciation or celebration of Donald Trump? Look, we welcome all people at WWE and at UFC. So we don't see ourselves as a political entity in any way, shape, or form. In fact, over the last 10 to 15 years, we've stayed away from that because we want everyone to know that they're welcome here. Red states we sell out, blue states we sell out. It's not what we're focused on. What we're focused on is the in-ring product and how it delivers to the fans. And if politicians are fans of our product, they're welcome. You have to rock. You want Donald Trump back in the ring at WWE? Listen, I mean, rock against Donald Trump. I don't know how well

that would work out in the ring for Donald Trump. How about that ovation he gets, though, when it comes out? Oh, big ovation. Trump, yeah, no question. That's what I'm talking about. It's incredible. It's incredible. And I don't know what it says. That's why I wanted to ask you about your audience and the audience at UFC. I will tell you this. I think in Dwayne was talking about earlier, sort of the feelings of insecurity. I think for all of us who come from the outside, I'll speak for Dwayne, I'll speak for you, I'll speak for myself. There's always a bit of imposter syndrome of, well, am I going to get discovered for not being who people might think I am? And then you realize at a certain point, like, no, it's not imposter syndrome. It's just

normal life. For our fans, most of them are folks who have earned their way into the seat that they're in. And by the way, that applies to the expensive seats. That applies to the not expensive seats. So I think whenever they see somebody who has a similar story to them, someone who's built something, who wants to build something, it resonates. Somebody like the Rock. Congratulations, guys. This is an awesome day for you. Thanks, man. Thank you. I appreciate that, man. I appreciate that, man. Thank you. That's awesome. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Dwayne the Rock Johnson and WWE CEO Nick Con. If you ever want to watch the Will Kane show, it streams live Monday through Thursday, 12 o'clock

Eastern Time at Fox News.com and on the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page. But if you ever want to watch or listen, at your own leisure on your own time, subscribe to the podcast at Apple or Spotify or Fox News podcast, and subscribe to the Will Kane Show on YouTube. I'll see you 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.

from the Fox News Podcasts Network. Hey there, it's me. Kennedy, make sure to check out my podcast. Kennedy saves the world. It is five days a week, every week. Download and listen at Fox Newspodcast.com or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.