Since early on in his professional wrestling career, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has been
a fan favorite.
With his charming appeal, his shift to Hollywood superstar appeared to go off without a hitch.
However, there have been some who don't buy it.
These are the stars who can't stand The Rock.
While filming Fast & Furious 8 in 2016, Dwayne Johnson shared an Instagram post criticizing
some of his male co-stars.
Vanity Fair transcribed the since-deleted post, quoting Johnson:
"Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don't.
The ones that don't are too chicken s--- to do anything about it anyway.
Candy asses."
It was reported that the target for The Rock's criticism was Vin Diesel, something Johnson
all but confirmed when he thanked pretty much everyone from the Fast & Furious franchise
on Instagram except for Diesel.
While The Rock later told Entertainment Tonight the feud was the result of, quote, "different
philosophies," Diesel, who typically seemed eager to shut down any talk of their beef,
shed light on their relationship.
He told USA Today, before explaining how he paved the way for Johnson as, quote, "the
first multicultural megastar in Hollywood.":
"Dwayne has only got one Vin in his life.
Dwayne Johnson only has one big brother in this film world and that's me...I'm always
rooting Dwayne on."
By the summer of 2019, Diesel sent what appeared to be an official olive branch to Johnson
on Instagram, speaking appreciatively of his work on the spin-off, Hobbs & Shaw, and congratulating
him on his wedding.
The Rock thanked Diesel in an Instagram video that said in part,
"I appreciate it, brother, as you know, and what a wild ride this is and what a wild ride
this has been."
Showbiz feud or not, it seems these two will always be family.
When Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel threw shade at each other, Fast & Furious' Tyrese Gibson
made it clear that he wasn't involved.
Entertainment Tonight reported that in a now-deleted post on Instagram, he explained how he felt
about The Rock:
"He's my brother we have NEVER had a problem and will never have a problem."
But that all changed when Fast & Furious 9 was pushed back a year.
It was revealed that Johnson had scored his solo spin-off, Hobbs & Shaw, but not before
Gibson slammed Johnson on Instagram for, quote, "making the fast and the furious franchise
about YOU," and questioned whether it would, "be another Baywatch," a Johnson-led flick
that flopped.
While Hobbs & Shaw would take the top spot at the box office, Gibson took another public
shot at Johnson for the movie's less-than-stellar opening weekend numbers compared to the mainline
Fast & Furious movies.
According to MovieWeb, Gibson wrote in part in a since-deleted Instagram:
"He tried.
Breaking up the family clearly doesn't have the value that one would assume it does.
Hobbs & Shaw Has Lowest Fast & Furious Box Office Opening Since Tokyo Drift."
But Johnson made sure to let certain people know by tweeting:
"Remember, the best way to shut the mouth of a [clown] is to flex with success and a
smile."
"Are you serious right now?"
Gibson later admitted regret over how he'd aired his grievances, but has yet to publicly
apologize.
It's not exactly clear what happened between Shawn Michaels and Dwayne Johnson, but there
are a couple of different accounts that suggest these wrestling legends never really liked
each other behind the scenes.
According to Johnson's dad, Rocky, the beef allegedly started because Michael's threw
a stiff kick to The Rock's face during a match against fellow wrestler and Michaels' best
friend, Triple H. Johnson's father told The Hannibal TV:
"Shawn threw the karate kick, and I guess he kicked him a little bit too hard.
So Dwayne came back into the dressing room and told him, 'Hey man, you hit me too hard.
Calm down.'
But then [Michaels] got smart with him.
He said, 'If you can't take it, you shouldn't be in this business.'
And then, next thing you know, he's on the floor and Dwayne's on top of him."
As Johnson was rising in the WWE ranks, Michaels reportedly worked hard to keep him down.
But when The Rock became the WWE's biggest star and got to wrestle whomever he wanted,
Michaels was never considered.
Johnson told WWE.com:
"I was never ever interested in working with him, to be honest with you."
John Cena and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson have become quite close in recent years, but things
weren't always peachy between the wrestlers-turned-actors.
In fact, Johnson told Jimmy Kimmel that before Cena became one of his best friends that:
"Our rivalry was, now we can look back on it, it was so real.
Like we had real problems with each other."
After Johnson made his transition out of wrestling, Cena became vocal about how he felt about
The Rock.
Cena told The Sun in 2008:
"He, at one point, loved wrestling and wanted to do this all of his life.
Explain to me why he can't come back for a 15th Anniversary show or why he can't make
an appearance at WrestleMania.
Simply put, it's because he wants to be an actor.
Just don't f--- me around and tell me that you love this when you are just doing this
to do something else.
That's the only thing that gets me really pissed off."
But that was before Cena himself began focusing on acting.
He was asked about this retrospective hypocrisy in an interview with Gorilla Position a decade
later.
Cena admitted he was wrong, stating:
"This is a very tough balancing act and...I called [Johnson] out because of ignorance.
I called him out as someone who had tunnel vision in WWE and didn't understand the process
that when you make a movie, you are not allowed to do anything else."
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is one of those stars who don't often let things go on social
media.
If a fan shouts out to him on Twitter, there's a chance he'll respond.
If a wrestler mentions him by name, it's almost guaranteed to lure him into a rebuttal.
That was the hard-learned lesson that professional wrestler TJ Perkins received after he took
a bit of a shot at The Rock on Twitter.
When Perkins was asked if there was a motto he lived by every day, the WWE's first Cruiserweight
champion gave an more vulgar version of the "Just do it" Nike slogan.
Another follower then suggested a quote from Johnson himself:
"Always be the hardest worker in the room."
It was here that Perkins appeared to give Johnson a jab, tweeting alongside a wink emoji:
"That goes without question.
But real ones don't say it out loud."
Johnson didn't love the remark and made sure Perkins knew it.
He tweeted in response:
"Yeah that Rock fella has a big mouth.
I never heard of you CJ but I wish you the best of luck in the wrestling biz champ."
Perkins accepted the chirp as good as one can, but also jokingly replied:
"Damn, now I gotta change my name to CJ.
Those are the rules."
Even though he took his supposed public shaming well, it's unlikely Perkins became a bigger
fan of Dwayne Johnson after that.
After WrestleMania 27 drew in more than a million buyers on Pay-Per-View in 2011, many
were quick to give Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson credit.
After all, that was the night when he would make his return to WrestleMania after seven
long years.
According to the Bleacher Report:
"The success of this show hinged on one man and one man alone: the Rock."
But not everyone was as convinced that Johnson was responsible for the historic numbers.
CM Punk, one of the stars of the event, felt that The Rock's impact was mightily overblown.
He said on Mark Madden's radio show:
"I have no personal problems against Dwayne.
It's very frustrating being here and watch a guy come in and get credit for a WrestleMania
buyrate when he didn't do anything on the show.
He certainly didn't do anything entertaining."
Punk also went on to suggest that The Rock's whole bit was outdated:
"There's a line he crossed at some point where I think he is just as out of touch as the
Vince McMahons and everybody else.
I'm not calling Rock old, he's still obviously a young physical fit guy but his ideas are
old and his shtick is corny in my opinion."
The Rock defeating Punk in 2013 to win the WWE Championship title following Punk's hold
on it for over 400 days probably didn't help matters.
There's a long-standing legend in wrestling that Kevin Nash wasn't thrilled with Dwayne
"The Rock" Johnson after he went off-script during a promo.
According to rumors, Johnson improvised the famous line, "Big Daddy b----," which caught
Nash off guard.
More importantly, Nash allegedly felt that the insult made his character look weak.
It's possible that The Rock's unscripted shot was his way of returning some ill treatment
from Nash dating back to their WCW days.
While neither Johnson nor Nash ever verified this story, Nash has addressed their relationship
in other spots.
He said in an interview with Title Match Wrestling in 2012:
"I'm sure I rubbed him the wrong way...He had already p---ed all over his territory,
and I went in there and said, 'Dude, I'll knock you the f--- out.'"
Nash has more recently said that he respects Johnson, telling the Daily DDT in 2019 that
he credits The Rock for being the wrestler-turned-actor who, quote, "opened the door for all of us"
to Hollywood.
To say that Tony Norris, a.k.a. Ahmed Johnson, can't stand Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson wouldn't
be entirely accurate, but the former wrestler certainly hasn't been shy about sharing gossip
about his colleague.
During a lengthy 2013 Perfect Plex Radio interview, Ahmed Johnson stated:
"The Rock is the best in history on the mic.
You will never find another guy like that…on the mic."
But then Ahmed Johnson claimed that he and The Rock once got into it backstage, stating:
"He made the statement that his mother had an affair with a white guy and got pregnant
with him...So, he was denying his black heritage all the way around."
Ahmed Johnson added that he confronted The Rock over the matter, saying:
"That led to a fight between me and him in the locker room.
A fist fight."
In another interview with Workin' Punch Productions in 2016, Ahmed Johnson shed more light on
this locker room scuffle:
"I didn't like the fact that he was getting a little too cocky for me, and we had a match
coming up, matter of fact that same night.
We was going to the match, and I was willing to do his high spots, but he wasn't willing
to do all mine...We got into a little confrontation back there."
It's safe to say that Randy Orton isn't the biggest fan of The Rock.
The wrestler made that known when he was asked about an upcoming WrestleMania match between
The Rock and John Cena during a 2011 ESPN interview.
After initially using the question to slam Johnson for stepping away from wrestling and
focusing on acting, Orton criticized The Rock's abilities as a wrestler and entertainer.
Orton stated:
"I think Cena will own The Rock.
I think Cena is wittier and can go off the cuff.
Cena writes his own stuff, while The Rock has stuff written for him.
It just all comes down to who you are in the ring and what kind of performer you are in
the ring, and I think Cena is 10 times the performer in the ring that The Rock is."
Recalling this infamous interview on KUPD Radio, Orton revealed that he was put on notice.
Orton stated that:
"I heard [WWE Chairman] Vince [McMahon] was mad.
And John Laurinaitis, the Vice President of Talent Relations, pulled me aside and had
a little talk with me and told me that Vince was upset and I shouldn't have said this going
into WrestleMania.
Basically, Rock called the office and he said, 'Yeah, you know, Randy Orton did an interview
and he buried me.'"
According to Orton, he later confronted Johnson and asked:
"Is that what we do here?"
"You shouldn't have told them that."
WWE fans have always kind of felt that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Triple H weren't friends.
There was just an energy between the two that screamed hostility.
And according to wrestling industry legends Bruce Prichard and Ric Flair, there was definitely
some friction there.
While chatting about the two wrestlers on the Wooooo!
Nation podcast, Prichard claimed:
"The Rock and [Triple H] didn't really care for each other."
At this point, Flair interjected with a laugh, saying, "I don't think they do right now."
In response, Prichard said:
"I don't know now.
I'll tell ya, at the time, there was a professional jealousy.
I mean, it was brutal...The audience, man, they felt it because it was real.
There was animosity there.
There was professional jealousy there.
And these two guys didn't like each other."
According to Triple H, whose real name is Paul Michael Levesque, while the two men battled
for their entire careers, it was always professional.
He said during a Facebook Live session the previous year:
"It's always competitive with Rock and I from the very start of our careers.
He and I, over the years, we've had this interesting rivalry at a time in our lives when we were
really trying to establish ourselves and make something."
At the very least, it seems like it worked out well for both of them.
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