Browsing: Rock

WWE’s latest united duo has recalled receiving advice from multiple legends, including The Rock.

Last week, on the October 9th episode of SmackDown in Perth, fans witnessed Aleister Black unite with real-life wife Zelina Vega for the first time on WWE television. In the main event of the show, Black defeated Damian Priest before coming together with Vega.

Recently, appearing in an interview with Robbie and Carly, Vega and Black opened up about their personal and professional life, before recalling some of the great advice and mentorship they received from some of the industry’s legends.

Sharing how The Rock helped Vega come out of a dark phase in her life, the former women’s United States Champion said,

“Every year I had a tryout, and it was always like, youâ€re too small or youâ€re too this, or not enough of this. By the time I had that conversation with him [The Rock], I was like, I think this is it, I think Iâ€m done, Iâ€ve reached my end with this, and heâ€s like, just give me three days, Iâ€m working on something, and thatâ€s when he called me and told me and said, ‘I want you to be my Divas Champion, I donâ€t just see you as a girl who is part of WWE or just a girlfriend, or just a brown girl, youâ€re the girl. So Iâ€d like you to be my Divas Champion.’â€

“So Iâ€m like, what the heck is that. That was the craziest call I ever had. I think when it comes to that, itâ€s cool to look back and feel there was a reason I was on this path.â€

Aleister Black further opened up about receiving advice from The Undertaker, Paul Heyman, and a few other legends.

“Terry Taylor, William Regal, Robbie Brookside, Hunter himself. Undertaker is someone who, he graciously took time to sit me down and talk to me about a bunch of stuff, kind of give me his perspective on certain things. To be honest, there are so many great minds, even like Paul Heyman, obviously Paul was always a big proponent of me and still is and will give me great feedback and Iâ€m very thankful to these gentlemen to be in my corner the way they are.â€

H/t 411mania

WWE Couple Aleister Black And Zelina Vega Open Up About Their Married Life

In the same interview, the couple also shared insights into their married life,

Aleister Black: “I think in order to be successful in any discipline, you have to be completely absorbed in it. And also, our school is attached to our house, our training center is attached to our house, so weâ€re always busy with wrestling. Sure there are other things we do, but for the most part, we are very good at having the wrestling but then also saying, alright, now weâ€re gonna do so and so, has nothing to do with wrestling. We have a normal life outside of being professional wrestlers or working with WWE.â€

Zelina Vega: “Our 10 cats help with that.â€

In other news: Jon Moxley has been hailed as AEW’s locker room leader.

Source link

The Rock’s prime years in WWE saw him compete with a variety of wrestlers who offered him different challenges. However, “The People’s Champion” preferred facing off against a particular type of wrestler, naming a few legends who fit the bill.

The WWE legend recently sat down with Mark Kerr, whom he portrayed in “The Smashing Machine,” and the two discussed a Hall of Famer they each faced in their respective forms of entertainment: Kurt Angle.

“Kurt was one of the most incredible athletes, right?” said The Rock to Kerr during their conversation on “Sports Illustrated.”

Kerr recalled his duels with the Olympic gold medalist, remembering how their record against each other in college was four wins apiece. Kerr said that Angle’s wins against him came at the right time, as it was just a while before selections for the Olympics. The former MMA star lavished praise on Angle, saying that wrestling him required stepping up a gear. The Rock latched on to that topic and detailed the various wrestlers that he stepped with in the ring, who were incredible athletes, naming a few who he loved getting in the ring with.

“You know, I felt that when you talk about his gears, like, there are guys I wrestled with, and this is why I always loved wrestling guys who were just insane athletes with a pedigree in other things. And that was always Kurt Angle — insane athlete, pedigree in wrestling, gold medal at the Olympics, wins the gold medal with a broken neck. I mean, it’s just wild,” said The Rock. “You know, Brock Lesnar was the same, incredible pedigree, athlete. You could go anywhere in the ring with him. And, you know, who else was an amazing athlete? Booker T, who I love. Amazing athlete.”

Like Angle, Kerr was also an amateur wrestler and competed against him before turning his attention to MMA, where he became one of the sport’s legends.

Source link

Manchester United coach Marc Skinner was quick to shut down an obvious line of questioning around his match-winner Maya Le Tissier after the club’s Champions League debut.

“Your next question is probably ‘should she start for England’,” he said. “I am not here to answer that.”

Despite becoming one of the most consistent defenders in the Women’s Super League, making a record 71st consecutive appearance in last week’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea, central defensive anchor Le Tissier has had limited exposure at international level.

Marshalled by Le Tissier, United had the WSL’s second-best defence last season, conceding just 16 goals in 22 games.

The United captain was rewarded with a place in Sarina Wiegman’s Euro 2025 squad, but did not play a single minute in Switzerland as the Lionesses retained their European title.

Eight caps since her first call-up in November 2022 is scant reward for a player of her ability. In the WSL this season, Le Tissier tops the rankings for most clearances (34) and most touches (444).

Wiegman has said she prefers Le Tissier at right-back, despite her playing at centre-back for United.

But injuries to England captain and centre-back Leah Williamson, plus right-back Lucy Bronze, must give Le Tissier a chance of playing when Weigman’s side take on Brazil and Australia later this month, with the Dutchwoman naming her squad next week.

Skinner was not keen to get involved in the debate but he was happy to extol the virtues of the 23-year-old, who kept her nerve to convert the first-half penalty that secured victory over Norwegian side Valerenga in Leigh in their league phase opener.

“She is [at the top of her game] and has been for a long time,” he said.

“I start her for a reason. She is an incredible footballer and a driven personality. When she gets her opportunity, she will be an incredible England stalwart and someone who will give the country pride.

“She is a fantastic player. I won’t answer the other question.”

Source link

The Rock commands a high price in Hollywood but reportedly took a major pay cut to star in A24â€s The Smashing Machine.

According to Anthony Dâ€Alessandro of Deadline, Dwayne “The Rock†Johnson took a massive pay cut to star in his latest movie. While heâ€s typically used to scoring around $20 million plus per movie, Johnson took only $4 million to star in The Smashing Machine.

Sources tell Deadline that Johnson even gave a portion of his pay to Emily Blunt and Mark Kerr. So, how much he earned for this movie is probably even lower than reported.

While there has been awards talk for The Rockâ€s performance in this movie, it didnâ€t bring fans to the movie theaters to see the film. The movie only grossed 5.9M on its opening weekend domestically, the lowest of Johnsonâ€s career.

The Rock wasnâ€t focused on box office earnings for ‘The Smashing Machineâ€

Fortunately, it appears The Rock isnâ€t too concerned about the box office earnings for this movie as he recently told The Guardian that he hasnâ€t thought about it once.

“You know, Iâ€ll share this with you. This is the first time in my career that Iâ€ve not thought about box office once. And I like that. I appreciate it,†The Rock said. “With the other films, the big ones, the four-quadrant movies, itâ€s pressurised.

“Sure, I love making the Jumanjis and Moanas. But thereâ€s something so freeing about this process. We want this movie to open well and hope a lot of people like it. But for that not to be the thing … What a difference.

“Itâ€s a scary time because so much effort and money goes into the opening weekend here in the States. Then itâ€s: ‘How will it hold up? What will it do internationally? Maybe we should change that scene because itâ€d play better in Asia …†I make all these big movies, and some have been really good and some not so good at all. But this was one for us.â€

READ MORE: The Rock Reacts To The Smashing Machineâ€s Underwhelming Box Office Opening

What do you make of this report? Are you surprised The Rock took such a large pay cut to film this movie? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.

Source link

John Cena and The Rock will always be synonymous with pro wrestling. Cena and Rock have limited their in-ring careers following successful transitions to Hollywood, and now a controversial name is revealing more on how unfortunate circumstances surround a failed last chance for Cena and The Rock to work together.

Vince Russo and Big Match John never really got the chance to do creative work together. However, the one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion has made several claims over the years about how he was responsible for a few of Rock’s unique identifiers and catchphrases that set him on a path to success early in his career.

The Never-Seen Seventeen and The Final Boss battled each other more than anyone else in the late stages of their careers, while also standing together at times such as WrestleMania 32 against The Wyatt Family. Cena and Rock reignited their rivalry in the main event of WrestleMania 40 in 2024, but earlier this year Cena aligned with The Great One to shockingly turn heel on Cody Rhodes, which led to Cena’s Undisputed Championship victory at WrestleMania 41.

Sources have gone back-and-forth on why The Rock did not work WrestleMania Vegas earlier this year and why his involvement in Cena’s farewell tour has been extremely limited, among other questions and theories surrounding Rock’s ongoing run. In talking with Dr. Chris Featherstone on The Wrestling Outlaws, Russo commented on how Cena got caught up in some of Rock’s behind-the-scenes drama.

“A lot went sour with Rock. A lot went sour with Rock and people not being on the same page, and Cena got caught right smack in the middle of that, and since that happened, they have not been able to recover from that,” Vince Russo said.

Russo dismissed any idea of Cena potentially extending his WWE farewell tour to WrestleMania 42. Among the reasons Cena would decline such an offer, Russo pointed to how Cena likely has had a negative creative experience over the last 9 months, and has a much better gig on-set with The Peacemaker series.

Vince Russo Speaks On John Cena’s WWE Creative Control Amid Farewell Tour

Vince Russo continued discussing John Cena’s farewell tour with Dr. Chris Featherstone on The Wrestling Outlaws, and thinks a WWE contract extension for the 17-time World Champion would not be ideal at this point. Russo then defended The Rock against accusations of bailing on plans with the Cenation leader, and dropped a scoop on Big Match John’s creative control for the retirement run.

“I think that’s where Cena’s head is at. I would just love to know, bro, like, man… if we were a fly on the wall, what really, really, really happened? I don’t think the Rock, the Rock that I knew, I don’t think The Rock would make a commitment to John Cena, and then The Rock would pull out, and bail out, on Cena. I don’t believe that about Dwayne Johnson, not for a minute. If Dwayne Johnson made a commitment, then he made a commitment, and when you watch that WWE Unreal, he was into it. Rock was into it with the [cuts neck] and the whole 9 yards. We saw he was into it. I was also told this, bro… I was also told by an active person on the roster that Cena is calling all his own shots in this run,” Vince Russo said.

He continued:

“I was told that Cena definitely has final say. So, Rock and Cena at one point were on the same page, there’s no question about that, Rock committed to that. Something happened, and when that something happened, and Rock is pulled out of the equation, now they have no idea what to do with John Cena, and what’s John Cena doing? He’s trying to book himself against the best opponents he can. Brock Lesnar’s a good opponent, there’s a history. He’s probably a huge supporter of AJ Styles, probably loves AJ because everybody that knows AJ loves AJ. So, why wouldn’t Cena give AJ a shot? But man, I would just truly love to know because nobody is going to tell me that freakin’ The Rock bailed on John Cena. Nobody’s going to tell me that,” Vince Russo said.

Cena is set to wrestle AJ Styles at WWE Crown Jewel this coming weekend. He’s then booked for RAW at Boston’s TD Garden on November 10, RAW from Madison Square Garden in NYC on November 17, and the 39th annual Survivor Series on November 29 in San Diego. Cena will work his last match on December 13 at Saturday Night’s Main Event in Washington, DC. Gunther is rumored to be Cena’s final opponent, while Dominik Mysterio has also been discussed for a match.

Source link

A new report from Deadlinehas revealed that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took a substantial pay cut for his new A24 drama, “The Smashing Machine,” a project he has been passionate about for years. The news comes as the film, a biopic about former UFC fighter Mark Kerr, experienced the lowest box office debut of Johnson’s illustrious acting career.

The film, which had a production budget of $50 million, grossed only $6 million in its opening weekend, falling well short of its projected range of $8 million to $15 million. According to the Deadline report, Johnson’s compensation for the film was a fraction of his typical asking price, and he even shared a portion of his earnings with his co-star and the man he portrayed.

“[Dwayne] Johnson took a $4M fee, significantly below his historical $20M+ paycheck plus points. Sources say he even gave a portion of his paycheck to Emily Blunt and [Mark] Kerr.â€

The film finished third at the weekend box office, behind a new Taylor Swift documentary and the war drama “One Battle After Another.” The $6 million opening was lower than the $8.5 million debut of his 2010 film, “Faster,” making it a new career low for the global superstar. Following the disappointing opening weekend, Johnson took to his Instagram account to post a message to his fans, acknowledging the box office results but remaining proud of the film and the story it told.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dwayne Johnson (@therock)

Source link

The Rock fought through injury to finish his WrestleMania 29 main event against John Cena for the WWE Championship.

Dwayne “The Rock†Johnson and John Cena had a storied rivalry in the early 2010s. The Great One made his in-ring return at Survivor Series 2011, his first since 2004, teaming with Cena against The Miz and R-Truth.

Despite working together and picking up the win, Rock ended the show by delivering a Rock Bottom to John Cena. The two later headlined WrestleMania XXVIII in a match billed as “Once in a Lifetime,†only to main-event WWEâ€s biggest show again the following year.

The Rock on his WrestleMania 29 injury

The Rock put his WWE Championship on the line against John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania 29. Unfortunately, The Peopleâ€s Champion suffered a serious injury in the early stages of the match, but he refused to let the setback affect the outcome.

During a recent appearance on NPRâ€s Fresh Air to promote his latest movie, The Smashing Machine, Johnson explained why he chose to finish the match despite tearing his abdominal, adductor, and quadriceps tendons off his pelvis.

“In this WrestleMania match, if he would have asked me, ‘Hey, are you okay?†And I say, ‘No, there is something wrong,†and he says, ‘Okay, letâ€s go home,†we would know where to pick up,†he said. “Itâ€s almost like you go right to the third act of the script, and we would go home. That would be the end of the match. I didnâ€t want to tell John that because I knew the match would end, and I didnâ€t want the match to end in that way.

“Not only was it important to me to go out on my shield, I knew this was my very last match of my entire career. My career was going to end on this night. No one knew, but I knew. The other reason, and maybe more important than my career ending, I was doing the honors.

“That means youâ€re passing the torch to someone who is going to carry it from here on out. That was to John, and that was the finish to our match; me doing the honors for him and him beating me in the middle of the ring to become champion. Thatâ€s why I didnâ€t want the match to end right away. I wanted him to have his moment. Thatâ€s important.†[H/T: Fightful]

READ MORE: The Rock Got A Concussion While Filming The Smashing Machine

What do you make of The Rockâ€s comments? Do you think he shouldâ€ve told the referee to stop the match in the aftermath of the injury? Share your thoughts with us by sounding off in the comments section below!

Source link

Kurt Angle praised The Rock during a recent interview, mentioning that it’s “really cool” he plays Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine.

During an interview with Sports Illustrated, Angle spoke about how when he first got to WWE, Rock made sure Angle know he was accepted.

Angle said:

“The cool thing about him is he was really giving. I was an Olympic gold medalist, it wasnâ€t like I was a nobody coming into WWE but when you go in there with an ego youâ€re going to get in trouble very quickly. So I never had that ego and I always felt that these stars that I was going to wrestle like The Rock and Stone Cold, I put them at a higher level above me. But Dwayne always brought me up to that level and said, ‘Hey, youâ€re with us. Youâ€re up here with us. Youâ€re not down there with the rest.’”

He continued:

“He was always very generous with the way he wrestled. He was my first world championship match where I won the world championship. He didnâ€t have to say yes, but he did. So Iâ€m just very grateful. I think The Rock has done so much for my career and Iâ€m so grateful that heâ€s in the movie The Smashing Machine, that he played Mark Kerr. Itâ€s all coming back, itâ€s going full circle and I think thatâ€s really cool that heâ€s playing my biggest nemesis Mark Kerr.”

Angle defeated The Rock at No Mercy on October 22, 2000 to win his first world championship. Rock won it back from him that February at No Way Out. In total, they wrestled against each other on 7 pay-per-views between 2000 and 2002.

Also during the interview, Angle gave an update on the movie being written about his life, saying that the script is just about finished.

“Weâ€re almost done with the script. We already got the investors, so weâ€re in a good position right now,” Angle said.

In a previous interview on Talk is Jericho, Angle noted that the film will cover the story of his Olympic gold medal win in 1996. The project will be directed by the Nelms brothers, who directed Red Right Hand (2024) and Fatman (2020).

The full interview is available below:

previous story

Source link

Kurt Angle has explained how The Rock helped his career.

The WWE Hall of Famer recently had an interview with Sports Illustrated. He talked about things such as making a movie about his life, his start in WWE and more.

During the talk, the former world champion was asked if he had any stories he wanted to share about The Rock. Kurt Angle said that he can’t remember a story but he remembers The Hollywood star being very generous during their interactions:

“Rock and I had such a blast. I don’t have any stories, but the cool thing about him is he was really giving. I was an Olympic Gold medallist. It wasn’t like I was a nobody coming into WWE.

But when you go in there and you go in there with an ego, you’re going to get in trouble very quickly. So I never had that ego. I always felt that these stars that I was going to wrestle like the Rock and Stone Cold, I put them at a higher level above me.”

You’re With Us: Kurt Angle

The wrestling veteran explained that The Rock always treated him as an equal despite his limited experience in the business. Kurt Angle also recalled pinning The Great One to win his first world title in the company:

“But Dwayne always brought me up to that level and said, ‘Hey, you’re with us, you’re up here with us, you’re not down there with the rest.’ So, he was always very generous with the way he wrestled.

He allowed….he was my first world championship match where I won the world championship. He didn’t have to say yes, but he did. So I’m just very grateful. I think the Rock has done so much for my career.”

Source link

The Smashing Machine premiere saw a shared moment between The Rock and former WWE star Baron Corbin.

The Rock is making a buzz in the Hollywood scene recently due to his newest film, The Smashing Machine.The A24 film is a sports drama that follows the life of mixed martial artist and former UFC Champion, Mark Kerr. The film is arguably a major change from Dwayne Johnson’s usual action films, and the change of genre has definitely benefited him.

The Smashing Machine is set to be released on October 3, and The Rock decided to celebrate the premiere with a former WWE star. In a recent Instagram post, former superstar Baron Corbin shared that the movie viewing the previous night was incredible, praising the main cast, like Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, along with A24, for “crushing it.”

The former Baron Corbin added that he has always been a fan of the documentary surrounding Mark Kerr, and The Smashing Machine did the former UFC Champion’s story justice. He then advised fans to watch the film, then watch the original documentary.

Iâ€ve been a huge fan of the original @markkerrtsm documentary, and this film did his story justice in the best way possible. Markâ€s journey is unbelievable, and heâ€s an amazing human being. If you havenâ€t yet, do yourself a favor: go see this movie, then go back and watch the original documentary.”

The Rock Invited Former WWE Star To The Smashing Machine Premiere

Continuing with his post, the now Bishop Dyer thanked A24 and The Rock for inviting him to the premiere, noting that he enjoyed every bit of his experience.

Big thanks to A24 and The Rock for having me out — I truly enjoyed every second of this experience. You canâ€t beat great people, a great film, and great food all in one night. Huge shoutout to my guy @chefjohncreger and @lotusroomnyc for filling our bellies (or as Mark Kerr would say, our tummies) before the premiere.“

In other news: The Rock Mentions Brock Lesnar While Making a Very Honest Confession.

Source link