Below are videos of The Rock appearing on “Live with Kelly and Ryan” to promote the Hobbs & Shaw movie that opens today.
Rock spoke with hosts Ryan Seacrest and Maria Menounos, who was filling in for Kelly Ripa. Rock was asked if he misses pro wrestling.
“I miss wrestling, I love wrestling. Yes, I do,” The Rock answered.
Menounos, who is no stranger to the WWE Universe, asked Rock how much he misses the business, and if he wishes he could do acting and WWE.
“I mean, no. I quietly retired from wrestling because I was lucky enough to have just a really wonderful career and accomplish what I wanted to accomplish, but there’s nothing like a live crowd, a live audience, a live microphone as you both know. Plus, I grew up in wrestling. For a lot of you guys that don’t know, my grandfather wrestled, my dad as well, my whole family. And I actually had my very first match ever in the WWE, was in Madison Square Garden and it was a big pay-per-view, and it was funny because I credit my time and my journey in pro wrestling to getting me to where I am at today,” he said.
Rock talked more about his WWE in-ring debut at the 1996 Survivor Series pay-per-view from New York City. The fourth match on the card, Rock teamed with Marc Mero, Jake Roberts and “The Stalker” Barry Windham to defeat Crush, Goldust, Triple H and Jerry Lawler in a 4-on-4 Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match.
“So, I’ll break it down for you,” Rock began. “Very first match ever in the company, the WWE, and generally you have your very first match in a small town, small crowd, not televised. This was Madison Square Garden, sold out, one of the biggest pay-per-views of the year, Survivor Series. Sold out Madison Square Garden, 22,000 people. I was in one of the main events. No one knew who I was and there’s that saying, ‘If you can make it here in New York, you can make it anywhere.’ Because it’s the toughest crowd and they really test you, especially in the world of wrestling. So, I went out and I had my match and at about the 15 minute mark of my match, 22,000 people were chanting ‘Rocky! Rocky!’ and it just set me on a path on my career, that I’ll never forget. So, right here in New York state.”
Rock also talked about meeting his fans, calling it the easiest part of the job. Rock admitted that he can’t just “go out and hide” in public because of the fame, but said that’s OK with him, and he has no problem with taking pictures with fans and meeting them.
“I mean, really it’s the easiest part of my job,” Rock said. “I think to be kind, take pictures, sign autographs, literally it’s the easiest thing. And plus, I heard this quote I might’ve shared with you guys at some point before in the past is, when I was 15 I heard a quote that was, “It’s nice to be important, it’s more important to be nice.'”
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