Rikishi Discusses The Rock Growing Up, Opening Doors, Possibly Running For President

WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi recently was interviewed by Brandon Robinson of Bally Sports, during which he discussed his cousin, The Rock and how “The People’s Champion” was destined for the NFL rather than professional wrestling. Check out the highlights below (per Wrestling Inc.):

On growing up with The Rock: “Well, the Rock was younger and we weren’t really around each other that much, you know? I’m from the West Coast, he was out there on the East Coast,” Rikishi explained. “We all knew him and his father and they flew all over the place, but when we finally did get together, it was all good! A young kid from Allentown, Pennsylvania going to high school; he was always in the gym… I for sure thought that he was going to play NFL Football, you know? Like, really be that because he was jacked up, if you see some of the documentaries, you know? That’s real! At 13 years old, he was a grown adult size! He was a BEAST! But you know, with everything, God has a plan for everybody and I’m so grateful to be able to see what Dwayne has done with his life, you know?

On The Rock opening doors: “He came into the family business, and went out there and opened the doors in Hollywood not only for himself, but opened the door for a lot of the wrestlers in our industry to be able to adapt and go into Hollywood, and that too, they can do just by seeing what Dwayne did –, you got a wrestler coming from our industry into Hollywood and pretty much took over the whole Hollywood! I mean, that’s that work ethic as a professional wrestler… we know nothing but the grind hard, we figure things out and we see things coming from a mile away. When you’re on TV, shooting things live, there is no pre-tape. You just give me your pointers and we put it in our own words and we make it happen! And by the time you see the Rock in Hollywood, we all knew unless something happened to him, that dude is going to take over Hollywood! Years later, there it is.”

On The Rock possibly one day running for President: “I’m voting for him! I don’t know about being the Vice President… [laughs] I’ll be voting for him though because I’m not the political cat; I’m just the cat who supports the people!”