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There aren’t many men in the entertainment world who can claim to be bigger than Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson over the last few years. The Rock has turned everything he’s touched into gold, after being a success in WWE.
The Rock became an 8-time World Champion during his time in the company, and along with a few other wrestlers helped WWE scale new heights.
After leaving WWE to venture into Hollywood, The Great One did not forget his roots and continued to make sporadic appearances in the company. The Rock created some lifelong friendships while in the company.
While he had some intense rivalries in the company, his opponents became some of his closest confidants who have continued to share stories about their friendship whenever given the chance.
Let's take a look at 5 former and current WWE Superstars who are good friends with The Rock.
#5 The Rock is friends with the Chairman of WWE Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon has perhaps been the hardest working person in WWE. From announcing to taking to the ring himself, McMahon has done several things to entertain the WWE Universe.
While McMahon is no longer an active WWE wrestler, he is still one of the biggest driving forces of the company backstage. The Rock and Vince McMahon have partner up on several occasions on-screen to get the better of Stone Cold Steve Austin, and the two even found each other on the opposite side of the ring a few times.
During an Instagram Live earlier this year, The Great One called Vince a “very close friend and confidant.”
“You never say never to Vince McMahon, who has been one of my mentors in the business for a very long time. [He’s] a very, very close friend and confidant. You never say no.”
Vince McMahon has helped the rise to prominence of several of his biggest Superstars, and The Rock was someone who he believed in from a young age.
#4 The Rock is friends with current WWE Superstar Billie Kay
The Rock has inspired many young wrestlers to make it big in the industry, and Australian Superstar Billie Kay is one Superstar who has been inspired by The Great One.
During a chat with Wide World of Sports, Kay opened up about her friendship with the 8-time World Champion who’s left a huge mark on the pro wrestling world. She claimed that meeting The Rock was the greatest moment of her life and she cried as soon when the two came face to face.
“We were able to talk for a few seconds and he had mentioned he watched our IIconcis stuff and that we were doing great and to keep going and a couple of other little things.”
“I had people reaching out to me from high school after I posted the picture of him and I, people that I hadn't spoken to for 8-10 years were saying how proud they were. We are friends, we're mates. We have little Twitter and phone messages here and there. I'm fortunate enough to have him in my life as a friend which is absolutely absurd and very surreal, but hey I'll take it.”
It’s great to see The Rock meeting those who looked up to him in their childhood and he has managed to create some close bonds with them.
#3 The Rock is friends with former WWE Champion Chris Jericho
In 1999, Chris Jerico got his big break when he interrupted one of the biggest WWE Superstars of the time, The Rock. Jericho entered WWE for the first time and proclaimed that ‘RAW is Jericho”.
Jericho and The Rock shared the ring several times after that iconic debut, and they’ve given the WWE Universe several big matches to remember. Outside the ring, both men have shown the utmost respect for one another, and Y2J has even spoken about how he’s backing The Rock to run for the presidency of the United States.
Earlier this year, The Great One answered some questions on Instagram, and spoke about one of the most meaningful matches of his entire WWE career:
"So I headline that show. We went to Hawaii, and I wrestled a guy by the name of Chris Jericho, a very good buddy of mine today, and I gotta tell you guys, I've had the honor and the privilege. I've been a lucky son of a b--ch to have the career that I've had in professional wrestling. I've wrestled around the world in very major arena in this country, every major arena around the world, and the most meaningful match I've ever had was to go back to Hawaii at the Blaisdell Center in the main event. Sold it out by the way. Faster than Elvis did. I'm just saying,"
The Rock has called Jericho his friend and brother on a few occasions and has fond memories of competing against one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
#2 The Rock is friends with former WWE Superstar Mark Henry
As The World’s Strongest Man, Mark Henry didn't need to step on anyone’s toes or stand on their shoulders to make an impact in WWE. In fact, he was willing to help out anyone who approached him, and that has helped him become a backstage WWE producer and mentor.
While Henry developed many friendships during his in-ring career, one person he is very close friends with is The Rock. Henry had a conversation with Vlad TV where he spoke about how the two WWE Superstars became friends after Henry offered The Rock a place to stay.
“When he signed with WWE. He didn’t have a place to live. So me being already at the training facility, I said man you can move in with me till you get on your feet. Once you get on your feet, you get your own place. And he moved in with me and ended up never getting a place.
“We just lived together, trained together, and ate together. You know we traveled around, entertained ourselves together, and then we both ended up getting sent together to Memphis to Jerry Lawler’s territory, to you know own our craft and perfect it.
The World's Strongest Man and The Rock have a lot of respect for each other, and they helped each other out outside the ring in whatever capacity.
#1 The Rock is friends with WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
WWE has had some iconic in-ring rivalries between two Superstars who are good friends in real life. Triple H and Shawn Michaels, Kane and The Undertaker, Sasha Banks and Bayley, and John Cena and Randy Orton are a few combinations who have managed to create intense rivalries thanks to their great chemistry.
However, The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s rivalry has arguably been the best in WWE’s history. The two men are the greatest sports entertainers of all time, and whenever they entered the ring together, they created magic.
This was possible because the two men were great friends, which helped create fantastic feuds.
“He’s a very good friend of mine. We headlined three WrestleManias together. No one ever has done that,” Austin told CinemaBlend.
“But me and that guy…he brought out the best of me. I brought out the best [in him] and, you know, there was that instant chemistry that drew tons of money.”
Thanks to the rivalry between The Rock and Austin, WWE were able to change pro wrestling during the Attitude Era.
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