“Tough Motherf****r.: Vince McMahon’s Right-Hand Introduced Dwayne Johnson to the Wrestling Business 28 Years Ago in Front of “15,000 People”

Everyone now knows Dwayne Johnson as one of the biggest stars that the WWE has ever produced. But the same was not the case 28 years ago when Johnson was just starting out in the world of pro wrestling. He was just another rookie back in the day. In spite of that, Vince McMahon put his complete trust in a 24-year-old Johnson and put him in front of a huge crowd in his first trial match.

Prior to that match, Johnson had never had any professional experience in the wrestling business.

Dwayne Johnson’s first-ever wrestling match was in front of 15,000 people

While now, fans are vouching for Johnson to fight Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40, he flew under the radar nearly three decades ago. Before he could headline the biggest PLE in the WWE, Johnson was just like any other wrestler starting out in the business.

Johnson decided to pursue wrestling or as he calls it “the family business” after not making it to the NFL draft in 1995. He then went on to train with his father Rocky Johnson for 3 whole months. Post that he called Pat Patterson who Johnson described as a “tough motherf****r”. He was the then Vice President of the WWE.

Johnson invited him to come and see him train and decide if he could join the WWE. Patterson agreed to come and see him train. Patterson then went on to coax Vince McMahon to try him out for the WWE.

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McMahon showed initial hesitance as Johnson had never wrestled in a match before, but Patterson told McMahon, “Just trust me”. Johnson was then flown down for his first-ever wrestling match in the WWE at a house show. During his recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, he talked about his experience in detail.

He said, “They flew me out to Corpus Christi, 15,000 people, I go and have my first match and I’m 24 years old. I had my first match, cause usually when you break in you are wrestling at a farm or there is a barn, 10 people. 15,000 people, I wrestled The Brooklyn Brawler, who’s famous in the world of wrestling, and I got backstage, and everyone’s like, ‘Hey great job, great job, keep working’. I see Vince McMahon, he says ‘You did a good job but be prepared, I’m gonna give you a little bit more tomorrow. Thus Dwayne Johnson put on a stellar performance in his first ever match in the WWE.

And just a few months later, Johnson made his debut in the WWF.

Dwayne Johnson made his official WWF debut at Survivor Series in 1996

Johnson made his WWF debut as Rocky Maivia at Survivor Series. This match took place on 17th November 1996. It was in an eight-man elimination tag match as it was part of the Survivor Series PLE.

Hall Of Famer and legendary WWE commentator Jerry Lawler and Goldust were also part of the same match. They were part of the opposite team. Johnson was the sole survivor as he went on to pin the last two members of the opposite team. Thus winning his debut match in the WWE.

What do you think was going through Johnson’s mind when he wrestled for the first time ever?

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