MVP Recalls Training With Rocky Johnson, When He Knew He Wanted To Wrestle For a Living

MVP recently recalled how training with Rocky Johnson led to his wanting to wrestle for a living. The AEW star has had a lengthy career with stints in WWE, NJPW, TNA, MLW and now AEW. He recently signed a new deal with AEW that he said will keep him with the company for “quite a while.”

MVP spoke with CHGO Sports and was asked when he realized that this was what he wanted to do. He recalled how he did some special sessions training with Rocky Johnson which led to him going to his first WWE show. That was when he knew it was his chosen career. You can see highlights below:

On Training With Rocky Johnson:

“My trainer, Soulman Alex G, he was — at the time I was training in South Florida. And The Rock’s father, Rocky Johnson, he started coming around to our school and would just contribute here and there. And then it became more of a regular thing where he picked the guys that he liked and would have private workouts. And fortunately, I was one of the guys that that he liked. As a matter of fact, he used to tease people all the time and tell people that I was his other son, Wayne.

On Johnson Pretending He Was His Other Son:

“As a side note, funny story. We were at a gym one time. And Rocky Johnson was one of those old school grifters. He’s always working. So we would go to the gym for free and work out for free, because that’s The Rock’s dad. And one of the guys that worked at the gym was an aspiring actor… Rocky Johnson brings me over to this guy and says, ‘Yeah, this is this my other son. You know my son Dwayne, this is my other son, Wayne. He just came back from Tunisia. He was on set working a movie with his brother. You be real nice to him and maybe might put a word in with his brother.”

“And then he walks off and I’m standing there with this guy. I never even met Dwayne yet. He’s like, ‘Yeah, man. I’m an aspiring actor.’ I’m like, “Uh, yeah sure. Next time I see my brother, I’ll mention–‘ Every time I go there to work out for free, ‘Hey, you talk to your brother yet?’ ‘No, not yet, not yet. I haven’t seen him, man. He’s real busy. Next time I get back over to Tunisia.”

On Attending His First WWE Show:

“But yeah, he would come around, and he started training us. And then when WWE came, the handful of us that were in his special group, we all got to go backstage. And it was my first time being at a WWE show. I’d never been to a live event, I’ve never been to a show. And me and Soulman Alex G were standing just to the side of the old ramp. And I’m listening to the audience and the energy in the crowd. And I remember it was around Thanksgiving. And when The Rock came out and that hit, ‘If you smell!’ The electricity and the energy in the crowd, it was tangible. Like, you could feel it. And you know, I’m watching him and just through that, I remember looking at Alex G and I said ‘This is what I want to do. I want to do this.’

“And you know, kudos to to Alex G. He said, ‘You can. If anybody can, you can.’ And he didn’t give out many — he was one of them old school trainers. He didn’t give me any compliments. But he said, ‘If anybody can, you can.’ I remember it was at that moment that I decided, ‘This is what I want to do for a living.'”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit CHGO Sports with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.