Dwayne Johnson Once Revealed How His Family’s Tradition Nearly Cost His Grandfather His Life

It has always been important to Dwayne Johnson to embrace his history and culture. Recently, he was spotted by admirers singing and dancing with his mother to celebrate the Samoan custom of his mother’s birthday. He never forgets his roots and proudly shares many values from them and also makes an effort to teach his children things about them.

Notably, one thing that fans often find is that nearly every Samoan wrestler had a tattoo, including The Rock, Roman Reigns, The Usos, and many more. During his chat with Playboy magazine, Johnson brought up the significance of a tattoo in Samoan culture. It’s interesting that he claimed that for maintaining this ancestral custom, his grandpa endangered his life.

The subject of his arm tattoo and Samoan culture came up during his 2005 interview with Playboy. Replying to that, DJ shared the importance of it and talked about how even his grandpa has several traditional tattoos on his body.

He added that tattooing is a significant emotional and spiritual thing in Polynesian culture, therefore he also wanted to share the tale of his life with them. His tattoo, therefore, includes all of his experiences, hardships, loyalties, family, ancestors, and god. Furthermore, he describes how his grandfather’s life was almost lost due to the tattoo.

The tradition that Dwayne Johnson followed wasn’t easy for his grandfather

Following his disclosure of his grandfather’s tattoo, he was pressed as to whether the same artist has inked both him and his grandfather. DJ replied, “No, another Samoan tattoo artist did my grandfather’s work in Samoa in the 1970s. My grandfather had it done with a bone, tap-tapping. That was very painful, and he almost died.”

The Rock stated, “Ink poisoning and the fact that the process typically takes about a week and my grandfather had to get it done in two days. He had to get back into the ring, so it was done around the clock. He ended up in the hospital.”

Read More: Legendary Samoan Wrestler Brought Up Dwayne Johnson During Turbulent Times, Not His Father

Well, his grandpa had a tattoo done using bone tapping that was really painful and resulted in ink poisoning, and it led him to end up in the hospital. However, he ultimately recovered and picked up wrestling once more. And the Samoan generations who came after him continued the unique custom.

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