Ex-WWE Star Reveals Wild Story Involving The Rock: “We Were His Personal Little Crash Test Dummies”

A former WWE superstar shared some interesting tales about what it was like working with The Rock.

It was a big deal when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson returned to WWE in 2011 to be the special guest host at WrestleMania 27, which was about seven years after The Rock’s last match.

That WrestleMania 27 appearance led to a WrestleMania 28 match with John Cena. Before that, The Rock and Cena teamed up at Survivor Series 2011 in New York City to defeat The Miz & R-Truth.

Since The Rock hadn’t wrestled in over seven years, he needed to get in ring shape, so WWE sent Curtis Axel and Curt Hawkins to go train with the Hollywood movie giant.

While speaking to Insight’s Chris Van Vliet, the former Curt Hawkins (now known by his real name, Brian Myers in TNA) reveald that Paul “Triple H” Levesque and former WWE head of talent relations, John Laurinaitis, picked Hawkins and Axel to train with Rock.

“He hosted the Mania, and he was around, but then he was gonna do that tag in The Garden, and they said he wanted to train. Johnny Ace called me on a Wednesday, and I’m like, oh, I’m getting fired, this is it. Then they were like, ‘Please hold for Joe Hennig.’ I’m like wtf? It was the weirdest.

I actually was on the train going with who would become my wife, like, one of our first dates. So I was all like, what is happening? And then Johnny is like, ‘Yeah, Rock wants to train, and we picked you guys.’

It was an unbelievable experience, because, obviously, Dwayne’s schedule is something else, and we were his personal little crash test dummies. You just never knew. A couple times I flew to Miami in the morning, train with him in Miami, and then flew out of Miami, like my commute was Miami and back in a day.”

The Rock Had A WWE Ring Set Up Wherever He Was Filming

To prepare for his in-ring return after 7 years away, Hawkins revealed that WWE would set up a ring for Rock wherever he was filming movies or TV shows. For Hawkins and Axel, that meant flying to different cities, and sometimes having nothing to do.

“They would set up a WWE ring wherever he was filming whatever, in all these different spots. We did New Orleans. We did Miami. One time he couldn’t make it, and me and Joe Hennig had a honeymoon on Bourbon Street. Because they got us there.

We’re supposed to be there for like, the weekend. Maybe TV was like a drive. So they were like, just stay. And they paid for this beautiful hotel on Bourbon Street, me and Joe, and we just went out every night.

It was unbelievable, but he (Rock) couldn’t have been cooler, man. He’s one of those people, I was around him, and you’re like this is why this guy’s so successful. You just see it. You just see it in him, the way he treats people, the way he carried himself, the things he cared about. I just saw it. It was really, really cool.”

The Rock remains on the Board of Directors of TKO Group even though he has chosen to stay off WWE TV this year.

Also Read: TKO Executive Breaks Silence On The Rock’s WWE Status