Young Rock features a pivotal scene where a young Dwayne Johnson refers to wrestling as fake, but the true story is even more surprising. Co-created by Johnson and Nahnatchka Khan, the series features the title character at different ages and sheds some light on the often unbelievable moments that helped to form Johnson’s perspective. One of those moments factored heavily into the show’s premiere episode.
The episode, titled “Working the Gimmick”, includes a scene where a 10 year-old Johnson (played by Adrian Groulx) is hanging around while his father Rocky (Joseph Lee Anderson) talks shop with a group of other grapplers. Overhearing their conversation, and their spirited back-and-forth about the intricacies of the wrestling business, Johnson mumbles that it’s all fake anyway. This brings the lively debate to an abrupt halt and, eventually, Andre the Giant (Matt Willig) picks the boy up and firmly warms him against using “the F word” to describe wrestling. There’s reason to believe that the scene, as it’s depicted in Young Rock, didn’t happen in the way it was presented on screen.
The sitcom isn’t particularly strict with its timelines regarding the supporting cast of wrestlers Young Rock features. For example, the aforementioned scene includes Junkyard Dog (Nate Jackson), in spite of the fact that the scene takes place in Hawaii during 1982. Around that time, Junkyard Dog was part of Mid-South Wrestling and wouldn’t join other WWF grapplers like Andre for another two years. Still, even though Andre’s caution might not have played out exactly as Young Rock envisions, it is based on an actual experience that Johnson went through growing up.
Specifically, it draws from the fact that the WWE legend once performed a wrestling move on a fellow student that made the mistake of referring to wrestling as fake. According to LADBible, Johnson confirmed the story after he was asked about it on social media. “Unfortunately, that’s a true story,” Johnson revealed. “His name was Randy E and I piledrived him on the gym floor and got in huge trouble.” An overreaction by all accounts, Young Rock stresses why the accusation of fakeness might be regarded as the ultimate insult for many wrestlers.
The sport takes skill, discipline, and years of training. While it’s true that matches are predetermined, and promotions like WWE and AEW feature both dramatic and comedic storylines between competitors, there is no faking the craft and the pain that results from it. Wrestlers have lost their lives after struggling with addictions that stem the grueling physical toll of a supposedly fake occupation. Even beyond those grim truths, however, Young Rock shows the financial and personal sacrifices that come along with a professional wrestler’s career.
Still, given that the piledriver is one of the more dangerous moves in wrestling, to the point where it’s generally banned by WWE, hopefully Randy didn’t end up too hurt. With only the premiere episode having aired so far, perhaps viewers might actually get to see The Rock perform an ill-advised piledriver before Young Rock wraps its first season on NBC.