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

Episode Date: May 27, 2024

Will was once again joined by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson last month. Will joined Dwayne at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, the site of this year's WrestleMania.  They discussed 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

Happy Memorial Day. What's up? It's Will Kane of the Will Kane Show, which streams live Monday through Thursday at Fox News.com on the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page. Hit like, share the show on Facebook, and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or on YouTube, and you'll never miss an episode.

of the Will Kane show. But if you did miss one of our biggest episodes, we're going to replay it for you today here on Memorial Day. And that was a unique opportunity to sit down for one hour with one of the biggest stars on the planet, movie star, one-time college football star, WWAE star, Dwayne the Rock Johnson. Had an awesome time before WrestleMania, sitting down at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, drinking some tequila, talking about life, talking about business, talking about wrestling with The Rock. Here is Dwayne Johnson. Dwayne, 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. All right. I'm looking how far the drop is. Welcome, man. I'm so happy you're here. 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. Perfect. We have more in common. Oh, 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 Tremonta Tequila. This is our Nyajo expression. And, you know, I'd be remiss if I didn't say I wanted to create a legacy brand who wound up breaking, 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 its quality. You got your hand in so many things at this point. You are WWE, and 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 U.S.L. 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 more, 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 too 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 we'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. 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, 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. 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 of how you say that, right? could 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. 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 likeability 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, etc., that really bugs me. And 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, it may piss people off, and that's okay. Well, that's what we've only been able to hang out together twice, but I can sense this, I appreciate 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, Duane, 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. Even if it's not controversial, by the way, they'll make it controversial. But would you say it's 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 a 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. Sure. 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 20? 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'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, 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 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 going to be my president, and that's who I'm going to support 100%. I trust, by the way, I feel the exact same way. I trust Americans. No 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? How do you feel about that? because you're in a position too as well. You're influential. Now 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 boxes. private i mean i'm not going to vote for joe biden yes you know um and i don't have a problem telling you or america you know i will vote for don't sure but i don't know about i've just never made a point yes of my endorsement and that was a big moment and that's why i wanted to ask you about today it was a big moment for you yes 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 foxnews podcast dot com or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast 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. You know, I knew this question was coming. 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 runs 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 pickups 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 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.

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? You know, 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 wrong. and we were gone. We were kicked off the island. And 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, 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. And you are inducting, is it your grandmother into the WWB Hall 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 growing 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 Erickson 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, and 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 WWWF. 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 promoter in the world of professional wrestling. And as you know, and as everybody at home knows, professional wrestling, male-dominated dominated, especially back then, and she came in, and she promoted, I like to say that she's the Griselda Blanco of professional wrestling. 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, and there's no business like professional wrestling, which, by the way, will, is why I come back to it. Do I have to? I don't have to. Certainly not for money. Luckily, thank you. But it's because I love it. Okay, let's talk about you coming back. Not exactly the way it was originally envisioned. You know, the heel turn, the bad guy, the rock. 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 family. 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 Raines,

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 come 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, 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, you also got a guy and 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 back in January, I called Nick Kahn, 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 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 sometime. 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, who 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 there's, 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 i want to i want to yeah i will say the stay the shit say the shit that everyone wants to say but they can't say let you do that i had a boss um duane i had a boss at ESPN i guess i got to work with the the investigative unit the east 60 unit the outside the lines unit and i don't tell me you know Luke skywalker's not interesting that's right vater is interesting that's right set curry's 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 to 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 almost a, 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, you, Nick, WAB, you responded to the fans in this Cody Rose. 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 your gut and you got to 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've got to 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 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 bucks 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 house is why I did 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 thing, 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 just, 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, Sixth, 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 home. hard, getting my cardio right, getting my oxygen right. I got to, 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. Yeah, I don't know if it's a record, but I do that. Are you teasing you're going to beat that hour? 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? Like, 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. So 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. Maybe as present 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. Let's just make our days as long as possible. I want to make our days and our sunlight 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 present, then 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.

cardio in the morning on an empty stomach, then I'll get some work done, then I'll eat breakfast, I'll 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. 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 is like 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. And by the way, I've got to tell you this, the thing that'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

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 it'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. 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 a salesman. What can I say? accept you welcome go ahead and this is gonna 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 walk him in

central park he was gorgeous yeah bought him in hawai 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 okay you go on the mic it's a different level you're you're a different level 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. 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 Fox Newspodcast.com. 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, 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 guys, great on the mic. Paul Heyman, another guy's great on the mic. I will tell you, is you a long-time 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, Roddy, Roddy Piper and... Yes, Randy Savage. 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 dependent 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 only you You get what I'm saying, you know?

Like, for example, those guys in the 80s, Dusty Rhodes, 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 Garden. 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 um both

I think both for sure and well here's well you know right you see it here's the thing you just with in 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 is 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 roads this interesting thing could happen and develop between the rock and roman rains i speak of myself in the third person tequila talking don't lie you've been doing that sober i have i have been so i talk at home all right we'll be watching whichever way it goes let's bring in nick con president of w w let's 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. And we're the ones who get there. Set it up, man. And then he under-true. 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. 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'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 That's number one. Number two, what can you expect?

Look, Duane 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 we, the three of us were watching it as children, think about it. And Duane, it may have been different because your dad was on the road, doesn't that? I didn't go to New York until I was in law school. 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 wrestling. Why is that? Why is wrestling kind of, you talked about it, Dwayne, 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 the best or most thoughtful or sweetest decision, but it's a decision that had to be done.

Even if you look at the final boss character, what seems to be resonating, some of the lines Dway 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 going to 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 use that. You're welcome. Yeah, exactly. It didn't have to be this way, but now it's the only way. I cannot raise one eyebrow. There you go. No, but Nick, it is, I don't know.

It's the quintessential, it's the distilled element. Yes. Of not just entertainment, of in many ways, human interaction. But also, Will, it's, in a way, it's like in politics, 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.

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 for ESPN. Really?

Yeah, that's really. No, no, I just played as... I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised. Will is extremely talented. He had big ambitions. 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, 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 change. 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 got to do it for me. And that's what I was talking about earlier, about your own career. You had shared that with me. And I think that's honestly your audience. Yeah. 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 insight.

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'm 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. I 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, has come to its fruition? This is all right. 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 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. I'm 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. to the conclusion this week. Oh, beautiful. Hey, cheers. Let me, let me do it.

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. 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 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. Easy. 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, the boxing gym needs a couple things, X, Y, and Z.

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 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. How about true, it's true. 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 him 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.

That's the both of you, so you can watch. Hey, 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.

Laina is going to be stronger than ever. But I wanted to give you a special shout out to Duane the Rai. Johnson. Thank you, Uso. Thank you for what you do as well as WWE president and owner, Nick Kahn. You know, thank you guys so much, as well as UFC President Dana White. I'd like to give a shout up and 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, this community, in this town, and this nation. Thank you guys so much. Aloha.

Aloha, brother. Awesome. Wow. That's real Lahaina 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, it'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 ancestors are buried there in those mountains and Diamondhead. 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, $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. 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. Hope you enjoyed that conversation with Dwayne the Rock Johnson. Enter it into the canon. Enter it into the library. Along with Tony Robbins, Jordan Peterson,

Stephen A. Smith, Dave Portnoy, and many more who have now become friends here of the Will Cain Show. I'll see you again next time. Listen 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. Listen to the all-new Brett Bear podcast featuring Common Ground, in-depth talks with lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle, along with all your Brett Bear favorites like his All-Star panel and much more. Available now at Fox Newspodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts.