Dwayne Johnson Once Shared How His Grandmother Unwittingly Embarrassed Her Husband During a Match: “My Grandfather Had to Yell at Her…”

Published 02/05/2023, 12:30 PM EST

Dwayne Johnson comes from a long lineage of professional wrestlers. The Anoa’i family has given the business some of the top wrestlers over the years. Moreover, his grandmother Lia Maivia became the first female wrestling promoter in the business. The Rock once shared a funny incident of his grandmother’s watching High Chief Peter Maivia’s match.

In 2018, The Brahma Bull appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He recalled a story of Lia Maivia’s first-ever experience of her husband’s wrestling match.

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Johnson said, “So as far as she knew it was real and there going to be a fight at this local arena in San Francisco where he first started. So he brings her to the first match, and she is sitting there. He has the match and the match starts and of course he gets beat up at some point. She freaks out, she jumps in the ring. I swear to god.”

The WWE legend added, “She jumps in the ring, takes her clogs off and starts beating his (the opponent) a** in the ring. Then my grandfather had to yell at her in Samoan, ‘No, it’s okay. He’s my friend’. He grabbed her and took her out and put her in her seat.”

However, after not knowing about the business initially, she went on to become the top wrestling promoter in Hawaii. We can see some of her moments in NBC’s series, Young Rock. Surely, this is a funny story, but Lia Maivia had good intentions for the same.

The Rock’s Grandmother Left Him With This WWE Legend While She Underwent Trial for Extortion

Dwayne Johnson also shares the crowd’s reaction

This is a story DJ would have heard from his grandmother or mother. However, the storyteller told him about the crowd’s reaction to this scene and he remembered it properly.

The Great One said, “The crowd was like what is happening right now? You just get up and get in the ring. They had a very interesting relationship. Very loving.”

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Peter Maivia was a top wrestler in the Pacific and also had a short stint in WWE from 1977 to 1981. The Rock inducted his grandfather into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008 alongside Rocky Johnson.

Furthermore, DJ shared about Simone Johnson, aka Ava Raine, joining the wrestling business. He said being comfortable with the same, as wrestling has changed a lot today since he was doing it full-time.

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The Anoa’i has dominated the wrestling business for years now. And certainly, the family will give more stars in the upcoming years, starting with what Ava Raine is on her way to doing in NXT now.

Watch this story: The Evolution of Dwayne Johnson

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Written by:

Tushar Deogharkar is a WWE writer at EssentiallySports. Tushar has done his Master's in Tourism Management and is an ardent fan of pro wrestling. He follows WWE and AEW very closely and wants to learn how the promotions are run.

Edited by:

Sreeda U M

Dwayne Johnson Once Shared How His Grandmother Unwittingly Embarrassed Her Husband During a Match: “My Grandfather Had to Yell at Her…”

Dwayne Johnson also shares the crowd’s reaction

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