Recently, in a conversation with famous martial arts host Joe Rogan, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shared about thinking about giving up wrestling to switch to MMA.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is not a strange name to martial arts fans around the world.

Before becoming the most sought after movie superstar in the world, “The Rock” had a long time fighting in the WWE arena and became one of the legends of this tournament.

Throughout his life, although he has taken on many different roles, from wrestling superstar performer to Hollywood action icon, fans have always asked questions about a world where “The Rock” will actually face someone in the ring.

Dwayne Johnson once thought about switching to professional MMA competition. Photo: Los Angeles Times

And recently, this possibility was mentioned during Dwayne Johnson’s recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, in which the Hollywood actor confirmed that since 1997, he had considered taking a break from his wrestling career. and moved on to Japan’s Pride Fighting Championship in search of greater glory, and of course, for bigger money.

“In ’97, during that time, while I was still in L.A [Los Angeles]. and training, I met guys who compete in MMA,” “The Rock” shared.

“Pride had just opened up in Japan so I saw all these MMA guys switching to Pride. … At that time, I was making $150,000 wrestling 235 days a year. Let’s try to calculate how much I earn per match. I started listening and found out that the guys at Pride were making 250, 350, 500 Dollars per fight. I was like, ‘Damn, I don’t think I’ll make it in WWE.’ People are screaming to get me out of the stadiums, I’m not myself here, they tell me to smile, I don’t want to smile, that’s not who I am.

The income from wrestling at that time was what made the actor consider switching to MMA. Photo: WWE

I started talking to Ken Shamrock at that time, who also trained with me in wrestling, I met Mark Kerr, I started talking to him. Each person told me a little bit about Pride.

And I started getting this idea in my head, maybe I should train MMA and go to Pride to make money, real money and I wouldn’t need to smile anymore.

I would definitely get beat up there, lose a lung, but maybe I could do something.”

While it’s fun to imagine “The Rock” throwing punches and kicks and taking on Pride’s heavyweight best like Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko Cro Cop and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the truth is that it wasn’t until the 2000s. , these names have just become known to the public.

Not like now, MMA at that time was just an abandoned gold mine that had not been exploited properly.

Meanwhile, thanks to his perseverance and natural talent, “The Rock” gradually became loved by fans and became one of the living legends of WWE.