Dwayne Johnson’s 13-Year-Old Connection With TKO Holding CEO Ari Emanuel Explored

The sheer amount of noise made by Dwayne Johnson this year is totally undeniable. Despite WWE running so many storylines, everything seems to have come to a standstill since The Rock became a TKO Board Member. The recent heel turn made by the Brahma Bull is going strong despite the move having already lost its tag of a surprise element.

The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes was recently slapped by Dwayne Johnson in front of the entire WWE Universe. While this element of the promo seems to have consumed everyone, a key line said by Rhodes sparks a question. Cody noted that The Rock hasn’t been doing any cooking for the past two years. However, what if he had been cooking for the last 13 years?

The time bomb set by Dwayne Johnson several years ago

The explosion set off by Dwayne Johnson seems to be very spontaneous. However, it seems that The Rock had planted a time bomb that had been ticking for several years. The official news released by TKO on 23 January 2024 carried an important detail many people didn’t immediately notice. 

According to that report, “Johnson has been a client of Endeavor’s WME (William Morris Endeavor) agency for nearly 13 years.” Not just this, Dwayne Johnson has been a close associate of Ari Emanuel, the CEO of William Morris Endeavor. 

When Dwayne Johnson joined as a board member, Ari Emanuel said, “I am thrilled to partner with Dwayne and welcome his immense talent to TKO’s Board. Dwayne brings an incredible track record of creating content and building globally recognized consumer brands, and he will play a key role in realizing our ambitions for TKO.” Thus, The Rock had been slowly working his way up from the start. 

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Moreover, he had also envisioned the WM40 takeover in 2014.

Waiting for the right moment to strike

Dwayne Johnson has fought several iconic matches just because the WWE Universe happened to demand one from him. Acting on the wishes of the audience, he headlined two consecutive WrestleMania main events against John Cena. In 2014, fans demanded The Rock to face The Shield’s powerhouse, Roman Reigns.

Despite this, Dwayne Johnson chose to not have a feud with Reigns. When asked about it in an interview with Chris Van Vliet in 2014, Johnson noted that the match wasn’t as big as he wanted it to be back then. Now, Roman Reigns is The Tribal Chief and The Rock is a hated TKO Board Member. 

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Thus, the stakes are as high as they could be right now, than ten years ago. What are your thoughts on this? Let them flow in the comments.