Exactly a Year Ago, Paul Heyman Dropped a Bombshell on Dwayne Johnson’s Fitness: “Not Like Riding a Bicycle”

Published 03/06/2024, 6:23 AM EST

WWE legend and The Wise Man of The Bloodline, Paul Heyman was invited to an exclusive interview with Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated. In the video uploaded on March 4th, Paul Heyman discussed the long-standing rumors of The Rock returning to WWE and having a dream match against Roman Reigns. During a segment, he also talked about the challenges of having The Rock feud at WrestleMania 39 and the fitness challenges that accompany any ask from the promotion.

Paul Heyman explains that wrestling is not like riding a bicycle

Since the interview happened last year, the reference match is for WrestleMania 39 when Cody Rhodes faced Roman Reigns. As rumors spread about a match between Roman Reigns and The Rock, Heyman silenced them with his answer. He backed it up with a rationale while mentioning Dwayne Johnson’s fitness. Heyman said, “It’s just a completely different physical toll that it takes and it’s not like riding a bicycle. It’s not something you can just get back into. It requires you to get back into a specific level of conditioning that is exclusive to the sports entertainment world.”

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Although Dwayne Johnson has garnered a reputation for his stunning physique at the age of 52, Heyman feels that he was not fit for in-ring action. The revered manager even explains that he believes that in-ring conditioning is different and even peak combat sports athletes will have difficulties performing, let alone The Rock.

Paul Heyman explains why The Rock needs training

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Heyman continued drawing an analogy between WWE and other combat sports like MMA. He said, “I’ve seen great mixed martial arts fighters who would have no problem doing 15 rounds of sparring or five rounds in an MMA cage. Get into a wrestling ring and within two minutes of hitting the ropes, they can’t catch their breath. It’s just a different rhythm.”

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Well, in Heyman’s defense, a normal wrestling match would be anywhere between 10 to 30 minutes. So, the intensity required to perform in the ring is higher in WWE. However, Heyman believes that The Rock was good enough to perform for 15 minutes in the ring, due to his great in-ring awareness. But the crowd would be disappointed to see The Great One for such a short match. Hence, he was expected to perform a longer match which would require 6 to 10 weeks of training.

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Do you want to see The Rock in a longer match?

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Written by:

Himangshu Sinha is a WWE reporter at EssentiallySports who is a beast at keeping up with the latest in the wrestling world. He enjoys covering the lives of wrestlers, often poring over interviews, podcasts, and overlooked details to back his writing. While he maintains a respect for Gunther, LA Knight, and The Tribal Chief, in his mind, no one can beat one of AEW’s Best Friends, Orange Cassidy.

Edited by:

Amal Joyce

Exactly a Year Ago, Paul Heyman Dropped a Bombshell on Dwayne Johnson’s Fitness: “Not Like Riding a Bicycle”

Paul Heyman explains that wrestling is not like riding a bicycle

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