Exploring the Alleged Connection Between Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and the Von Erich Family: A Closer Look

Did Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson ever get on the wrestling mat at the Sportatorium in Dallas?

Yeah, but not in a competitive sense. In a recent interview on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Johnson recalled living in Dallas and his brush with the Von Erich wrestling family in the Sportatorium ring.

“I loved Dallas,” Johnson told Rogan, whose podcast is produced in Austin.

Johnson, 51, was a youngster in the 1970s when his “old man,” Rocky Johnson, wrestled for Jack Adkisson, the Von Erich family patriarch known as Fritz Von Erich.

The subject came up when Rogan and the younger Johnson discussed The Iron Claw, a biopic about the Von Erich family. Johnson said spending time with the Von Erich brothers was special for him.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stands on the sidelines before an XFL football game between the Arlington Renegades and the Vegas Vipers at Choctaw Stadium, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023, in Arlington.(Rebecca Slezak / Staff Photographer)

“Every week at this famous arena called the Sportatorium, this tiny little arena the size of a little flea market, I used to wrestle with them in the afternoons. Just roll around the ring,” Johnson told Rogan.

David Manning, a longtime World Class Championship Wrestling referee familiar with Sportatorium wrestling cards as a promoter, recalled when Johnson was a kid, and the elder Johnson would come to the Sportatorium to pick up a check.

“They’d just get in the ring and play around,” Manning said.

Johnson, who expressed admiration of Kerry Von Erich in an Instagram post in 2016, told Rogan: “Kerry was my hero, man.”

Marshall Von Erich, Kevin’s son and a fan of Johnson, shared the Rogan interview on X, writing: “Crazy to think someone I looked up to as a kid looked up to someone in my family when he was a kid.”

Johnson responded: “Fritz. Kev & Kerry used to throw me around the ring at the Sportatorium in Dallas. Wild wrestling history both of our families have together.”

As far as having a residence in Dallas, Manning recalled that the Johnsons stayed at a hotel and got a monthly discount.

The Rock had his own pro wrestling career and has gone on to international fame, becoming one of the world’s highest-paid actors and an entrepreneur. He is a co-owner of the XFL, which has a franchise in Arlington.

Johnson’s late father, Rocky Johnson, whose real name was Wayde Bowles, wrestled under the WCCW banner in Texas starting in 1976. Rocky Johnson and Fritz Von Erich shared the Sportatorium ring several times that year. Rocky Johnson retired from the ring in 1991 and died in 2020.

Jim Ross, the former World Wrestling Entertainment commentator, recalled when Rocky Johnson wrestled in the Texas region.

“He was one of the first African American stars that really broke through and attracted a multicultural audience,” Ross said. “There was his athleticism, and he had a great look. And being Black didn’t hurt him. It made him more unique because most of these territories are run by older white guys.

“A lot of times, the Black athletes didn’t get a shot.”

Rocky Johnson accumulated numerous titles during his multi-decade career, according to SlamWrestling.net.

Rocky Johnson and The Rock didn’t have an ideal father-son relationship. In a Vanity Fair interview, the Rock called it “incredibly complicated.”

Dwayne Johnson and his father shared the ring at Wrestlemania XIII in 1997, rescuing each other in a match. In 2008, the younger Johnson introduced his father into the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

On the NBC sitcom Young Rock, their contentious relationship is touched upon in some episodes.

“They touch on the positive and negative side of growing up with Rocky as a father,” Trevor Edwards, Dwayne’s brother, told Sports Illustrated in 2022. “I respect that they didn’t try to sugarcoat it.”