“No One Can Stop Me” - Dwayne Johnson Opens Up On Trump, Hollywood, Vince McMahon & Father

Were you prepared for it would call him Rocky his name should be rookie was it like something you were afraid of was it something you mentally and emotionally were getting ready for or was it like I'm never going to be ready for this state and we never had a chance to reconcile that so that time has come the man is in the arena Hollywood conform conformed to you to me when I became authentic and when I became myself at This phase how much leverage power credibility do you have where they know they can't screw with

you cuz you're going to do it no matter what do you have that kind of Leverage yet or not yet I wasn't prepared for it because it's the people you don't meet the ones behind the scenes those are the ones who are trying to hold you down president there's a thought of dude I don't want to F and mess with that at all that job Will take me away for you to come out and say Here's who I'm voting for could catastrophic for your career yes what was your reaction when you saw the president being

assassin a dark new turn or a deeply divided nation I mean I just I felt like you know what the run is cooking when I wake up in the morning I have got to be running towards the thing that I want to do your father pushed you away from being a wrestler and the ultimate Compliment to your dad is bro I want to do do what you did I'm going to continue your legacy and tell the world you're my hero as of now the most important thing is to be a daddy to my little girls

how are you going to get here by being the hardest worker in the world if you smile what The Rock is cooking give it up to the one the only the way The Rock [Music] Johnson man wow wow good to see you guys yes let's go how you feeling I'm feeling great brother thank you for that we've been waiting for this we've been waiting for uh you to be here at the event everybody's been asking thank you so much good to see you guys here we go by the way just so you guys know he

is I don't know if you can tell him what you're working on and how you got here It's not like you were in Florida you have to get on a flight come here get on the flight go back to where you're at maybe you want to share that with them yes absolutely so we're shooting uh liveaction Moana which will be out yeah it's exciting uh which will be out I believe next summer and of course as you you guys know many of you may know we have Moana 2 uh the animated version will come out

uh this holiday season so I shot last night probably till about 9 10:00 wound up getting to bed after I put the babies to bed I have all girls um got a couple of hours sleep got my butt on a bird flew here with you and with you and we're going to have a great time I love it I love it so you know one of the things maybe we can open it up with this because you know this room is filled with business owners small business owners some brought their executiv some brought their sales

folks some can range from a small business to A million year some just raised a few hundred million dollar in the front they're maybe valued at a unicorn right now some are doing a billion dollars in Topline Revenue with a few thousand employees and the conversation comes about going on a run or work ethic and how hard you work sometimes when somebody follows you on social media and Instagram you kind of see the videos you're posting and hey just got back to this and I got here at 2 o'clock I'm Training and I see you

7:00 in the morning how hard do you actually work what meaning what the audience doesn't see it how hard do you actually work DJ hard I mean you you have to work hard everybody in this room knows um if it's worth something to you you got to put in the effort and you know the tricky thing as we know with social media is you let people in a little bit you let them in on what you want them to see but at the end of the day I always feel like social Media maybe the TI

of the iceberg that you allow people to see but it's everything underneath the water that they don't see and I always like to say it's the work we put in when nobody's watching that really matters it's easy I think when you go to work you got a lot of people around you Galvanize everybody you could feel the momentum and the energy start to go it's and not to oversimplify the work but it it leads to work beg gets work so if we're all Together in a room we're going to work but it's the stuff you

do on your own away from everybody really that matters so you got to put in the work how hard do I work I I work hard like we all work hard I like to say that but I guess the followup for that would be the followup for that would be you know that's my family thank you Rock's family is here uh but the the the the followup for that would be on working hard there's different reasons For it right uh some people work hard because they're just like that my dad's a hard worker he's just

wired like that he's not doing it to any he's not doing it to make money he's not doing it to build a business from the day I've been young enough to remember my father till today he works you met him in the back 82 years old he's always moving he's always working doesn't have any excuses for it but then there are certain people that work hard for Different reasons you obviously are very super hyper competitive type of guy how much of the working hard is just because that's how you're wired how much of it is

because you want to suffocate your competitors for them to say yeah I'm willing to go here I can hang with him he went here I can hang with him he's willing to do this [ __ ] all right I'll hang with him but he went here I'm going to the club right how much of it is that additional Intimidation factor of your competitors that you're going up against I think it's a combination of of of a few things for me I I can trace back my um my work ethic to we were evicted out of

our we had a little efficiency apartment in Hawaii um and we were evicted out of there couldn't pay the rent the rent was $280 a month we eventually got kicked out when we got kicked out I was 15 years old I'll never forget it I was standing there at the door there was not The padlock but the notice and if any of you have had this fortunate unfortunate experience you get evicted they tell you in a week you got to go if you don't then the Honolulu police department will come and they'll escort you out

in that moment I saw my mom crying and I just CU I'm a mama's boy and that kind of pain really impacted me and I thought then I want to do everything that I can to make sure we never get EV victed like this again and make sure that she is never This upset again thank you you know and that then I thought I didn't didn't even know what that meant at 15 years old it just meant I have to work I have to work I have to do something with my own two hands so

I have a philosophy these days that you got to put in the work with our own two hands because this is the stuff that you can control we control the controllables as we say the other part is a Competitive nature that is in My DNA and it's in my blood just like it runs in all of our Constitution and our makeup here in this room and yours included where I love the competition I love to win and I also love to I love to learn I don't say lose I say I love to learn so

I would say it's a combination of that for me the work ethic comes from uh I never want to be evicted again which is probably why I need therapy and then the other side to that you're not Alone the other side to that is a competitive nature and that that competitive nature that never goes away do you think do you think that is in you do you think that's maybe pops behind closed doors would say certain things to you that you remember do you think that's somebody offending you that you said you're going to say

that to me watch where do you think that comes from like is it duplicatable or is it you either have it in your DNA or you Don't I think there's versions of it that are duplicatable and I think but we all go through our own journey and process so there's something I think that we all can um tap into that becomes our juice and our wiring for me you bring up my old man my dad was was uh a professional wrestler at a time when professional wrestling I think wasn't as globally renowned as it is

today my my dad was paycheck to paycheck kind of guy and when I decided to get into Professional wrestling we had the biggest fight about it and ultimately he said look I I I'm not too sure if you have anything to offer I mean it got to that level how old are you at this time I was 22 years old 23 2 2 23 and I understand what he meant in in his limited capacity to love he meant look I live in this little apartment in Tampa right up the road I75 I don't want this

life for you I think there's more for you out there and I said yeah but I got To follow my gut and my instinct so I bring that up to say along the road of life we always have these moments that are seminal moments where somebody sometimes it's a loved one like my old man sometimes it's a friend sometimes it's a boss some sometimes it's a stranger who says you can't do it you're not good enough don't even try pack your stuff and go home same thing happened to me in Hollywood when I got to

Hollywood for the first time um this when I got to Hollywood I was coming out of the world of professional wrestling WWE and I was really determined hopefully to have a career that had longevity and I was willing to put in the work and commit but what I realized at that time was there was a lot of naysay and there was a lot of cynicism as I was getting into Hollywood and I get it because you were successful in another place and now Hollywood comes knocking and now you Want to try and come in and

make a name for yourself in Hollywood it was a little tricky because I was coming out of the world of professional wrestling that's just a unique animal at that time and machine so when I got there a lot of people around me at that time who were my um part of my management team said listen if you really want to make it in Hollywood and even those who weren't part of my Team uh you know now looking back I could see the chess that they were trying to play back then they said if you really

want to make it in Hollywood then you can't call yourself the rock you got to lose weight uh don't talk about wrestling you have to and you have to look and walk and talk and act like these guys and these guys are the biggest stars in the world at that time Johnny Depp Will Smith Etc if you don't know any better you buy into that stuff Like I bought into that back then but then you start to realize something starts to eat at your gut about well this just doesn't feel right because I'm not being

authentic I'm not being myself so finally I said um a few years later I said I can't do this anymore I have to be myself had a big meeting at the agency I said I'd like to have the same career as these guys only bigger and different and I mean it respectfully and they all looked at me Like I had three heads and I have a big enough head as it is so it looked at me like I had three heads and I said listen just because it's never been done doesn't mean it can't be

done just means we got to figure out y a different path so ultimately I wound up saying look I'm I the rock is a pretty cool name and I love wrestling and I'm also proud of where I came from uh from this world of pro wrestling where it's my dad and my grandfather and I have a lot of family In pro wrestling and then this unique thing happened when I was myself and we can apply it to all of us here business life Etc is Hollywood conformed Hollywood conformed conformed to you to me when I

became authentic and when I became myself and then I went ah I got it this phas close your thought finish your thought yeah at this phase how much leverage power credibility do you have where they know they can't screw with you because you're Going to do it no matter what do you have that kind of Leverage yet or not yet not at this moment but they felt the passion and they felt a little bit of momentum I feel like there's a word that I use out called mana and it comes from in here it's like

Chi it's it's like a power like you could feel it when we walked out we all came in here like you could feel the Mana in the room I think they felt that at that time and at that time I had not had the credibility of Any box office big hits or anything like that but I did have what I felt Clarity and how important that was I'm not these guys I'm not a Johnny Depp I'm not a Will Smith I'm Not A George Clooney those guys who were big stars at that time I'm me

and the most important thing I could be is authentic and be myself and Hollywood then conformed so absolutely and and this is this is after when you first got into Wrestling and you know Rocky sucks Rocky sucks Rock and you're like grab the mic you know like there's a lot of things rock is but sucks ain't one of them maybe I'm not saying the right a line properly but was that that kind of like you don't get to determine my reputation who I am I'm taking control of this right up front is that like have

you always been like that like hey I'm I know who I am I'm not going to let you turn me into who I am or was there a Moment in your life where you conformed and you're like I feel like I'm in a cage I don't want to be in a place like this I know who I am I'm going to go out and show it to the world was it that kind of a moment you had yes yes there you you know I I you'd like to be able to say I'm wired that way

and we're all wired that way but the truth is we're humans beings with big emotions and big swings that we take ups and downs and there was a moment where I did conform To the idea that oh I shouldn't go to the gym as much and I need to lose weight and I need to I started getting insecure I mean yeah imagine that and in terms of Hollywood right where they said you have to be like this and don't call yourself The Rock and don't talk about wrestling and I thought God none of that felt

right so I did conform for a few years until I said I'm not doing this anymore so the same thing happened what Patrick Is referring to when I first started my wrestling career uh I got there in the WWE and I have a meeting with Vince McMahon and Vince says okay we're going to bring you in and we're going to um he said what's important to you and I said well what's important to me is learning the business even though I grew up in professional wrestling still so much to learn and and I want to

be good I want to be really good at what I do and put in the time And put in the work and I would like to not I'd like in a way and I mean this respectfully I said I'd like to do it on my own I don't want to I don't want to be handed anything or given anything just because my grandfather wrestled for Vince McMahon's dad in the 70s my dad wrestled for Vince McMahon in the 80s and I said I mean that respectfully I just so maybe it's a it's a different name

change I said but I just feel like I want to do it on my own He said okay got it so your name is going to be Rocky myva which is your dad's first name and your grandfather's last name and I went that's not what I was hoping for which again the name is the name you know and in people change their name all the time in in entertainment but the interesting thing to your point Patrick is that what he did say to me was I want you to go out there and smile you got

a pretty good smile I want to leverage That I want you to go out and smile all the got the best smile in the world some people have it he's got it and he he said I want you to go out there and smile I want you to be grateful that you're here every night made made debut at m b Is Telling You Vince is telling me this and I understood the logic at that time he goes look I plan on it seems like you have potential it seems like eventually we're going to create an

opportunity to give You a push I would like for you to come in and not feel entitled not feel I want you to feel I want I want the audience to feel that you're grateful so I want you to smile all the time so I would go out every night and my music would hit just like this happened here and I would come out and I would smile but then when I would get beat I had to smile like coming back to the locker room and you know eventually People just started to feel like well

that's that's not real it's not authentic and I started to feel that too it started to really eat me up inside so what Patrick's referring to about Rocky sucks eventually this this Wild Thing Happened happened in professional wrestling where I was given a push became intercontinental champion in the world of WWE and in every Arena across the country the whole Arena was chanting Rocky sucks but I was a good guy and I Was a kid I was 24 years old and I knew every night this has something has to happen it's like when you're holding

a ball underwater that analogy eventually you got to let it go and I said something's going to happen here and I don't know what's going to happen but this doesn't feel right and I'm not being myself you would walk out and I would hear people go you suck and hey thank you appreciate it like it was that kind of thing very Inauthentic and then um I wound up getting hurt that summer of 1997 sent home did Rehab on my leg came back when I was coming back Vince said I'm going to turn you heel which

is wrestling par lands for a bad guy and I said okay and he goes and if if you don't work as a heel and it doesn't work out then I don't know if you have a future I went okay who's in the room just you and him me and Vince yes it's Always straight up we had that Dynamic always straight up always always open and real and I said okay I said I have one request what you were referring to I said we have a live show Monday Night Raw two hours of live television can

I have the microphone for two minutes I just want to express myself and he went oh boy I don't know about that to you know I said just give me one minute he said fine so I take the mic and I get on And this is live TV and I said you know and the whole crowd is chanting Rocky sucks and I said okay I got to tell you something uh I'm a lot of things but sucks isn't one of them and me joining this faction as a bad guy I said it's not a black

thing it's not a white thing it's a respect thing and a respect that I'm going to earn every single night and within two months I became the hottest bad guy in the company and then turned into the Rock and years later I'm Sitting here with you and sitting here with you unfreaking believable unbelievable so now um now just one thing just to underscore the most important thing I think the takea away there is being real and being yourself and that's what I had shared with Vince I said look I can't smile why would I smile

I'm coming out of the University Miami we were dogs man we were Bad Dudes yes the you I said and this is th this is wrestling and this is my blood and I Love it and I want to talk [ __ ] and I'm going to raise my eyebrow and I'm going to drop fools on the people's elbow and said and so it's like that kind of thing I said you got to be real and be authentic when you said skinny you just took me somewhere because I'm trying to see which movie you were skinny

in the one movie you did and this is going to sound weird that I even seen this movie 10 plus times it's with you and uh Vince vaugh is it is it twinkle twinkle You know whatever cool yes oh be cool cuz you were skinny in that movie right would you would you is that kind of when you're like I'm going to go skin mode it was it was during that time where I went on these crazy diets and I who's seen that movie anyone seen that if you've seen that movie you're good people I

love that movie so that's when you're like I'm going to go to the skinny you know Hollywood model type cuz big guys won't make it nowadays well I was told That and then you start buying into it if that's if you have no point of reference or experience but you have people around you who are telling you hey we know this business this is what you need to do to become a leading man and to become a movie star you you you can't be what you were you have to be what they are then you

realize well actually the most important thing is to be what I was and M and will be tomorrow and that's real and again that's when Everything starts to conform Hollywood conformed and I find like and what I have found and I'm sure you guys will agree is that when you take that kind of action that kind of Step of following your gut and your intuition taking that step whatever it is Universe has a funny way of meeting you halfway so absolutely DJ I love how you're speaking in a way where we're all in the same

level including yourself you know because in Life there's levels to life okay levels to the and I'm sure there's levels to the game but let me kind of walk you through the levels and I think it's important for everybody to realize this so let's say a guy starts off with only $7 in his bank account let's just pick this case study let's whoever this guy may be starts off with $7 in his bank account goes recreates his identity becomes the biggest name in wrestling right most electrified man in wrestling Goes into movies makes it highest

paid actor I think four out of the last seven years I don't know what the number is I think three or four out of the last 7 years I have the data 84 million 87 million 270 million in 2021 I think it was whatever it was I'm not counting your money but you made a lot of money right I made a bucker yeah then you got zoah then you got this then you got that and then social media following you know 1 million oh my God the guy's Got a million followers 10 million watch 10

million followers 100 million and then there is the 600 million Community there's lot of people in the 5600 million community and that's one of one then uh I don't know if you guys saw this s years ago or I'm trying to figure out when this came out and it was saying who is the most recognizable face in the world like when you go out there they're going to recognize your face I think you were at like 56 54 percentile that means 54% of the world no matter where you go they're going to say I know

this guy from wrestling from movies from this from that so some people may go up and they'll compete man this freaking wrestling thing is great I'm partying I'm drinking the girls [ __ ] awesome we're going to Japan we're going to this what a freaking hardcore party and stuff I'm doing I got nice jewelry I got nice clothes and I'm happy where I'm at and So now that's not enough for me I want to be this no it's not going to be easy to transition to movies I'm going to do it and you go this

I'm okay and then in the movies oh listen just be happy that you're an actor no no I'm not just I'm going to go and then that's and then you know I'm going to start a drink and I'm going to do ter I'm and I'm going to go do this to get to the highest of the highest of the highest level where it's not 1% or 0.1% or 0 1% it's one of one you're a oneof one Camp tiger is a one of one Michael's a one of one in their Camp right Tom Brady last

year r on stage I asked him a question cuz he's another one of those oneof ones I said generally when I look at guys that go to that level I have I see there's three things that have in common they have one person in their lives that gave them unconditional love you have to experience that to tolerate the pain but All you need is one person you need one person to give you unconditional love Mom you need one person in your life that no matter what you do you will never win them over it's like

it's never enough I can go get this I can go make this money I can go win this award they're always going to be like yeah but yeah but yeah you know it's kind of like he hasn't done enough yet then there is those who have those two but then they choose their enemies wisely for whatever Reason some people don't choose their enemies wisely they choose an enemy Lord in them they choose an enemy that produces the bad feelings but they choose their enemies wisely to become one of one and to go for as many

years as you've gone and the highs and the lows and the losses and the injuries and the setbacks and all this other stuff that you go through what drives you MH you you mentioned about choosing Enemies wisely which I love that and we've heard that term certainly you've embodied that term is I always like to say you choose your en enemies up I choose up for the enemies but also what drives me is I'll take it back there was some cheers in here the University of Miami when I stepped onto that campus in Coral Gables

we were hungry dogs but also it was there that I started to understand number one it's was really challenging To be a student athlete um back then and certainly now it's almost like having a pro career at the same time as being a student especially today but what Miami allowed me to do none of us had money we were broke but we were hungry and we put in the work we always like to say we were the hardest workers in the room that's where I got that term from but also that place and that culture

that winning culture winning culture that we all want and that we're all part of And want to continue to grow the winning culture what Miami it was almost like a forcing mechanism what it allowed me to do was realize there's more and think more think for more you don't have to be just this especially when there's a lot of people who are against you and at that time University of Miami uh we were the bad boys of the game at that time and we play ball won national titles Etc but at our core it was

no we could still be dominant but we could still go for More so I learned that there that you don't have to stay in something like this you could do more and then I started to understand as I started to get down the road that oh you don't do it by yourself because I used to be very Hands-On micromanaging and it served me for a little while then I started to realize it started to um be counterproductive for me oh you don't do it by yourself bring in a team of people Uh choose your enemies

up choose your partners up people who are a lot smarter than I am which isn't hard to be uh at what they do uh and then and then you can continue just to fortify this idea that let's do more so for example I you get when you we talk about levels right and everybody has achieved some sort of level of success in this room massive growing to be massive ambitious Etc so I like you we've talked about this we're lucky boys to be able to get to do what We do but man the work ethic

the drive that hunger to compete it never goes away reached this point in my career where I started to realize oh you know I've done pretty good and we're sitting up top on this mountain and I realized this happened probably it was a it was a big Revelation for me about a year ago where I thought okay I'm on top of this mountain a few things can happen from here I reach this point in my life we could either stay here and enjoy the View and bask in it or we could go back down the

mountain right off into the sunset and I thought well the first two don't seem like it's in my DNA I know what we should do let's go build more mountain not only let's go build more mountain but the difference is for me is now bringing everybody with us to build more mountain as well so everybody can get a not only so everyone can take accountability for the work ethic that we're going to put in but Everyone can enjoy building this mountain too as well cuz what happens is you ultimately as we go along the road

of life you become so uniquely focused myopic on the thing that you want to attract and compete for and accomplish you and I were talking backstage about that about you know just everything that you have done and continue to do it's funny I said to David backstage I said so is there is there going to be a moment if you don't mind me sharing this He went where'd you go to The Hamptons yes he said he said I looked around it just felt so good and I said so is that going to be part of

a lifestyle for you one day where you kind of just unplug and it was as if I said um hey do you mind if I slap you in the face cuz he looked at me went no not at all and I went that's my guy that's right so I think it for me the drive just comes from wanting to do more so let's go back to that this is great But I want to go a little little deeper on this so so for for from a fan standpoint you know Arnold his enemy was Sly yeah

they went up against each other right and you you know that story about when Arnold made it seem like he was interested in this one movie I don't know what the Oscar what Throw Mama From the train yeah what was the movie called Throw Mama From the train is that what it was it's okayy I'm want no yeah you know slide biggest flap right you know For Michael maybe it's the Isaiah you know being left off the Dream Team or magic or bird or later on maybe a Malone maybe a you know a Keem or

you know maybe even in the past of trying to out the wilt or you know whoever it is David Thompson all these other guys as the greats you know you go into business you have certain names that mus keeps going and he's not stopping it's constant like how much more money do you need to make you're worth a quarter of a trillion Dollars you're still going who were some of those enemies throughout that brought in the best in you some names like I can drop some names but I'm curious to know if you have any

names sure so for example maybe would you consider John Cena as one of them would you have considered Stone Cold Steve Austin as one of them would you have considered maybe a Will Smith as one of them to overdo to outdo were they some of the guys that drove you to Compete against them uh those guys I I know all those guys and we competed on a great level but you know the truth is you in in wrestling it's a little different you still compete you still have to keep your head on a swivel and

I always like to say you're it's shark infested waters in that world in in this world too business Entertainment Sports sports entertainment um I here's what I will say when I got to Hollywood you mentioned Arnold Arnold Schwarzenegger Sylvester Stallone Clint Eastwood and Bruce Willis those four men were so good to me when I got to Hollywood and they didn't have to be they were biggest stars in the world at that time 20 years ago they were welcoming I would see them out they would come to me or say hey I want to see The

Rock and I meet him say hello we all stayed in touch became friends and I never forgot that because they were in Positions where they didn't have to be and I realize though to your point Patrick is the ones who are confident in themselves confident in their success and want to see not only the business grow but want to see people do well and especially I feel like I'm a decent guy you want to see somebody who's a pretty good person do well it's the people you don't meet the ones behind the scenes those are

the ones who are trying to Hold you down so I realize instead of searching for those and also those guys are really they're and you guys will find this in business too as you know the ones who are confident quiet in the room it's like in a board meeting The Quiet Ones will sit and they're really the powerful ones in the meeting who make all the decisions The Quiet Ones the the ones who are behind the scenes trying to hold you down those are the ones who are chicken [ __ ] anyway who Will never

come to you you'll never see them and I realized instead of me trying to find them or try to figure out well who made that call and why did this happen I thought okay I'll always remember the people who were good to me and then I realized um the person I compete with most is just me it's you versus you and I think that's something we can all yeah test to you versus you I want to believe you okay but and that's very Nice what you just said fantastic but I'm not convinced I think you're

a psycho competitor and I I'll say one am I think I think you're a psycho competitor but I think I think like uh uh I'll give you an idea when I was watching Brady speak while he's playing and they would ask him questions he would give his answers in a very interesting way it would be yes they were the better team today and the reporter's job is to ask a question to Have a story right and Brady was a pro he wasn't going to give him [ __ ] right yeah and he knows the game

cuz you also know this right while we're going back and forth and then I'm like but I would watch Brady in the game he playing against that Kansas City Chiefs who was the the cornerback or the or the safety that he went in his face afterwards and he bumped him who what was the guy do you guys know what I'm talking about number 32 what is number 32 is uh uh Name in the what was his name who oh the badger what's his name that's that's what it is yes so he goes in his face

like this guy's freaking 40 look at this and then he comes after the interview I shouldn't have done that I lost control it's not how you behave I'm like dude stop it that's exactly how you behave as a crazy competitor but then you know we had bill bich at our event a month ago in MGM and he comes In he's no longer coaching so he can talk a little bit you know you know what I'm saying it's like listen I don't give a [ __ ] right now Freedom he's got some Freedom he's got a

25y old girlfriend he really doesn't give a [ __ ] what you think about him right now right like dude say whatever you want I'm freaking bill bellich right but I got a flavor of it with uh with uh uh uh Brady last year and even with Kobe because when Kobe came and we did the late great Kobe to Me Kobe is just you know I have a very unique relationship with Kobe I love Kobe my father and I I mean it was a whole different thing when he came to the event at Mirage and

we did the interview it was after he had retired and guess what he was a little bit more loose I said hey you know if Shaq had your work ethic what would have happened he said we would have won 11 12 Rings right then Shaq got pissed at me he blocked bled me you and your little Company who the hell you think you are for 2 and a half years he's blocked me then I invit him to the event and we had a great conversation together do you think a part of you with where you're

at in your mind it's I don't want to give the media nothing so the next day nothing's going to be written about me and you are so great of a natural Communicator that you know how to give an answer but the Lev of the answer of uh uh you know not Necessarily vanilla's here you'll go here but this is 2448 hour news cycle you play right here right now this phase of your life would you say that's kind of where you are yeah I think as you go down the road of life you start to

realize you you like to think you get a little Savvy little media Savvy but also to you go down the road of life and you experience what you experience where you're always in front of the media um you either go this way at the work of The road and this way is I never want to talk to them again or this way where you say look we all got jobs to do we're all in this business together um I'm an open book you can ask me whatever you want to ask me I always tell that

to anybody who I sit down with the the thing that I realized is I have to be very clear and concise with my answers depending on the subject because as we know clickbait time that's all Every everybody wants and they'll take the answer they'll spin it clickbait and then just move on when you you realize oh wait that's actually not what I said you're taking it and you're spinning it so the balance is I I don't want to not speak to Media I got a lot of friends in media as you do too as well

um and again we're all in this thing together so I can control the controllables about what I say and how I say it too as well and and the reason why I'm asking this Question from you on the enemy side is because at some point you got a beautiful house you live in a beautiful place you got your place that you told me in the back that you like to go to you know family fishing I love your fishing videos when you're doing your fishing videos go out there you know you're doing your thing and

you put them out and then boom next um you know you've had the success the fame the recognition the accolades all this stuff Eventually it gets to a point where it's kind of like you know what's going to drive this guy to go to the next level so if you're saying enemy up maybe I'll ask this one question on this one let's see if we'll get anything out of you on this specific topic is there a next enemy for you where you're kind of a and and maybe we don't even it's to say enemy it's

the next you're saying enemy up like compete up is there a next Target for you where you're like this Would be interesting for me to play in the space I'd like to be able to do XYZ is there anything like that or no well there's always stuff like that I think that um I've gotten really lucky and fortunate over the years to have accomplished what I've been able to accomplish but again the hunger doesn't go away I like to say I got a full plate but I could always make room for the stuff I love

and I've reached that point in my life where when I wake up in the morning I have got to be running towards the thing that I want to do and not walking towards it not I really don't feel like doing this or God why did I agree to do this or why did I get into this business with somebody Etc I got to be running to it and I realize that if I'm able to do that get up in the morning and run to it then I'm in that place of joy and happiness uh doesn't

mean that the work goes away the work Ethic goes away you work even harder but so I got to run towards it so the second part to this to answer you directly is I don't know if there's anything that I could point to and say I've never done that therefore I want to do it but I can tell you that what I do these days I run to I love and also so for example and I feel like it could tie into everything we're doing in here we all rely on the product the brand the

consumer the customer the people the audience for A long time what I used to do is think audience first that was important and it served me very well consumer first customer first guest first however we qualify our audience and it served me very well I started to realize though but I'm not running towards this particular thing so what I realized is now it has to be the thing that I do has to be the thing that I love to do and therefore almost like Hollywood conformed years ago I found that if it's The thing I'm

running to and I love to do then everybody comes with me got it okay so that for answer well I I again what you call Professional right but no I get it so so I guess let me let me transition into this one for uh uh For Me pbd podcast on pbd podcast we're shooting the [ __ ] talking [ __ ] you know we're doing talk current events whatever we're talking we'll talk about a bunch of different things right and just couple boys guys sitting down talking Hey today this happened let's talk about this

today the S we'll give it our opinions right and you're a Family Guy you got three girls I'm family I got four kids and you know of course you have to kind of figure out the future and you know where the future is going to go in your gym I think you got a flag in your gym right don't don't you have like a big flag in your gym keep an American flag everywhere I go right everywhere you go there's always an American flag and you're a patriotic guy you're a guy that loves this country

you have a military following you have guys that look at you from that standpoint and today America is a little bit kind of weird politically we're in a very weird place right now in America um from the left to the right and the divisiveness the last four years I feel like politics has always been nasty and ugly but in old one you went and spoke at the RNC it wasn't crazy you just Spoke boom out hey DNC boom boom boom you've done a couple of these things but the last four years nasty today election nasty

assassination attempt 7 weeks ago July 13 I don't know what today's date is today's what September uh 7th just seven eight weeks ago right um and your name is always on the Vagas odds of running for president always and you'll see it 40 to1 100 to1 80 to1 all these other things right and you're looking at this and you Know I have my own people on the list on who I think will be running 28 20 uh 32 but how do you look at this as a guy that has been in a lot of boardrooms

you're dealing with Aries right you're dealing with no we don't want to pay this and we don't want to do this and then they negotiate the contract and then you have to do the movie and the people that may be overpaid or underpaid or whatever they do you still have to figure out where to get along with them You've been in a lot of tough meetings behind closed doors that nobody knows about it's not been written about but you've been in it and you have to find a way to do this right you have to

find a way to do this to the two parties if the Rock's president today how do you figure out a way to synergize and bring back America to being united instead of a little bit divided that we are [Applause] Today I think that um well first of all let me just say I I when it comes to stuff like this I I I never speak declaratively I'm always open and flexible and I think you got to be that when it comes to the divisiveness you talked about it's the main thing that really eats away at

my gut I know you too we've talked about this and I know for a lot of you as well I think if the main I always like to say keep the main thing the main Thing and if the main thing is to bring our country together for anyone in the presidential leadership space there's a few things I think that are important and I'm going to take a crack at this is for Unity I'll start with guidance and what I mean by that is this the ability to listen and pay attention to everything And everyone around

you regardless of where they at and where they sit on whatever side of the aisle or other side of the fence the other thing I think would be the other thing I I think would be um would be grit because I feel like if you if the goal is Unity amidst this crazy division that we have today that we can all agree on and if the goal is this as you said bring everybody together there's going to be a Lot of bumps in that road and there's going to be a lot of people who are

cynical about this idea and this ideology of bringing people together as one never going to happen they'll have their Knives Out so I feel like as you go down that road if that's your goal is to bring people together um you got to have a lot of grit to get through all those knives and all those bumps but it can be done I believe that the other thing would be um I think humility in That you're probably not going to know all the answers to these questions and that's okay and I always like to say

and I know you guys feel this way in the room too look like just because something's never been done doesn't mean it can't be done it just means we haven't figured out a way to do it yet doesn't make it impossible so I would say humility and um and strength got to have strength uh to stand up in the face of this kind of adversity and to stand Up and say it is that time to bring everybody together oh and I'll say one more thing too I think you got to be positive I think it's

important positivity I think is important and be good to people do you think that should be the goal do you think the goal should be Unity do you think that should be the goal because I I like the way you said it you said if that's the goal right so maybe that that's like you almost like like my Parents when I was a kid my parents got divorced twice to each other right since 11 years old when the divorce papers came into the house was a very difficult six months mother crying every day it was

just tough right like oh man you know my dad would always when he would come home we had a class in Iran in Iran and we were on the fourth floor and the moment I would see my dad's head go like this I knew he saw I'd run up it was the happiest moment of my day and at 11 Years old I realized that's never going to happen ever again and my entire goal as a kid young boy was what can I do to get these guys to come together no joke by the time I

was 16 years old I said that's no longer to goal it's just never going to happen mhm and I stopped trying at 16 they're better off not together and you have to find a way to coexist in these two different philosophies that's out there my dad on one end looked at World in a Complete different way than my mother did do you think progress for us to get to the next level is try to unify or do you think you have to find a way to lead and have policies in a chaotic environment what do

you think I think the key is before Unity is the desire and the openness to listen to each other and it's okay if you have a difference of opinion that's Okay it's okay if because ultimately I do feel like we're all looking towards the same North Star so whoever that leader is and becomes for us whoever the president is I'd like to think and hope that they can hold that same Northstar for all parties and all people and how important that is so I think probably the path to unify is the openness to conversation like

if you you bring up 01 I think it was or or 2000 with the RNC even back then so even Say 10 years ago you can have a conversation about oh I voted for this person voted for this okay today nothing no way you cannot do that especially in your world sure I would say in your world there probably the highest score out of everybody yeah would you agree like in Hollywood and a celebrity for you to come out and say Here's who I'm voting for that could be catastrophic for your career yes okay what

what was your reaction when you saw The president being assassinated do you remember where you were and what happened and what was the immediate reaction to you the assassination attempt yes I was up in Vancouver Canada and we were filming a movie and I got home and Vancouver there you go again my family they beautiful beautiful place I love that City I got home turned on the news and well first it hit my phone turned on the news and I saw that my reaction Was this is not who we are and I hated that this

is who we have become on this day that was my reaction what what was the the when you saw the blood hand up American flag did it give you any like did you get any feeling of you know this is great to see a leader standing up after that did you get any kind of Mojo like that or yes I mean I just I felt like like you know if a centimeter in a different direction or Less that would have been a different story and the fact that he came up out of that that was

a big deal and that was a big I think regardless of who it was whether you love Donald you don't love Donald it doesn't matter somebody tried to assassinate him and there's no room for that and yes and despite it being who we were in that moment I still believe in my core that Is not who we are as a country so him standing up in that moment you wanted to see that and it was also um it was an important moment for everybody to see regardless of who it was for that person to stand

up we were half an inch away from having chaos all it would have been yes we would have been in shambles if that that shot would have hit him uh do you have a Donald Trump story with wrestling everybody has a do you have a Trump story or yes what's your Trump story well oh Trump he used to come watch me wrestle all the time Madison Square Garden yeah and it was great last last time I first time I saw him though said let me see the eyebrow I said you got it there it [Laughter]

is that's cool so he used he was a fan he he watched you as a fan coming yeah that's cool used to come to the master Square Garden all the time big sports Fan yeah so so question I this is my prediction side okay let's play a game of predictions okay uh and I always love to play prediction game it's just it's good for you know shooting the [ __ ] in conversation right so I think there's a handful of people that either Auto considerer running 2028 and I think the timing would be 2028 is

more important than 32 my opinion and I know in the movie Young rock your first episode interview is It's 2032 we have President Dwayne dck Johnson here and I don't know who's interviewing you the Asian whoever the other uh uh what's his name uh who's interviewing you anyways yes yeah somebody's interviewing you and it's 2032 so I think 2028 these are my opinions okay I could be fully wrong and I'll go take my loss at Vegas okay I think Mark cubin is flirting with wanting to run 2028 I think he wants to be part of

the trifecta community and to Me the trifecta Community is winning in media Mark hat Shark Tank you know have many years uh wealth Sports billionaire he's won he's only missing one thing to be a trifecta and that's the political to winin politics like being a triathlete in Hollywood singing dancing and acting right like a JT JLo some of these guys I put Jamie Diamond on that list because I think he's gradually stepping away from Chase and I think Jamie could be one hell of a president If he chose to run MH um I got a

few other guys I think Viv would be formidable in 2028 because some of the crowd would go to Viv from the magga side and I have you on that list on the prediction side and I'm asking this from you because it would it be a wise choice to take 50 to1 odds in Las Vegas for 20 28 but no listen if it got to a point would you would you entertain the idea if your fan base if people came back Said rock you got to do a lot of private conversation why don't you do it

2028 is a time would you entertain the thought and the idea I've been asked and I feel like my honest answer is I have little ones at home I'm a girl dad uh uh and right now the most important thing and I've said this is and I I will say that whether it's a poll that's come out that a lot of people would vote or a conversation like this it really moves Me I mean I was a kid who I had seven bucks in my pocket in 95 1995 to this the potential of this or

even the idea and the conceit of this so it it's really humbling and I'm a patriot like all of us are in this room um [Music] [Applause] he's shifting he's like this guy's not answered my question 50 to one um I think that uh as of now the most important thing is is For me to you know you have little ones too is to be a daddy to my little girls truly and I'm not you know being Savvy out of my out of the by the way I would I don't know about how many guys

say it's probably 50 to one our good odds to take in Vegas who would say all right so I mean that's what I received from this but this last topic on this before we move on because I got I want to tell you about what's the most uh the one video Of yours I've watched the most and I think it's going to surprise you what video it is I've watched it so many times bro it's not even funny but let me finish the thought here do you do you sit there and think about like for

example if I'm your your agent I'm your manager I'm not Brad is but if I'm your agent I'm your manager and by the way Danny and I had a call I freaking love Danny I don't know if she told you about she our call was sick Like I told her I I'll get to that topic here in a minute I don't want to digress but uh she's a monster she's something else of course you know that but to me it was kind of interesting watching her but if I was your agent if I'm your manager

do I want you to run for office hell no I lose that 10% on 100 million every year whatever I don't want to keep that up you know what I'm saying hey let's go 2032 maybe 36 but wait till the kids are 18 years old right like there's A part of it but if I'm like a guy that's an adviser and I'm sitting there you know uh on the inside and we're having conversations we're chopping it up we don't have that kind of a relationship we're just starting a relationship the last you know 3 four

months that we've started I'd probably would do a couple research data we just talked about data a few minutes ago my step number one will be the following and I Think there's a way of doing this I would run an analysis to see what percentage of your following lean right lean center right lean Center lean libertarian lean Center left ring left left like you know whatever I'm not I'm not saying far left I'm saying left right of course there's the likability factor and the fame Factor everybody loved Trump before 2015 and it's it's like he's

the worst human being in the history Mankind and So he goes through that phase I'd run that report and I wonder if if you think a bigger percentage of your audience is conservative or liberal I would lean towards a bigger percentage of your audience as probably conservative because WWE conservative you know big BMF bad mother you know what you are a BMF hands down conservative you go to UFC UFC is as conservative as gu Dana's you know at are you know every time pumping up Trump right yeah you Give me The Vibes of somebody that

um wants to be a good father wants to be a good husband wants to be a good son wants to be a good citizen I think that stuff is very important to you I feel that I don't know I'm just that's the vibe I get from you right when I watch you but I wonder if the thought in your mind is that if I get into this space the amount of like you have to take positions you didn't take positions You're like great this this that those are nice like valuable positive listening all that's great

but if you do run you have to say if you're Pro this or anti- this if you run you have to be we're doing this or we're not doing this if you run does the thought of dude I don't want to F and mess with that at all that's exactly why I don't ever want to get into politics cuz it's very different than rocky sucks Rocky sucks now it's like no Rocky is I used to like Him he's the worst worst human being in the world do you really want to go through that like does

that thought I don't ever want to touch that do you ever go there yeah you think about that all the time of course because that kind of energy that's a cesspool and it's hard for people to navigate through it's hard for us to watch it on TV it's hard for us to absorb the news it's hard for anybody to Be in that uh politician especially politician or not so you think about that I think about it but at the end of the day there's two things that I'll say here and I want to double down

on it because it is the undeniable truth which is I've got a 8-year-old and a six-year-old and school drop offs and pickups are so important to me and being daddy is important and I and I also have a 22-year-old daughter and I like to say We grew up together because I had her when I was in my late 20s and where I was on the pro wrestling wrestling 250 dates a year for years so I missed out 250 dates a year for years different city every night it was a brutal schedule this is why we

all get divorced in pro wrestling so I I missed out on a lot of her childhood and I know what it's like to have a job that takes you away and I do Believe that president that job will take me away now I'm not saying can't be done of course there were presidents in the past who had little kids of course but when they're eight and six and I'm the male figure that they're going to compare other men to the rest of their life this critical time I'm home with them that's the most important thing

so that's one thing I want to [Applause] say just to underscore that but the part That you just brought up about that stuff that you think about of course you think about it CU it's hard to navigate your way through it because it's so venomous and it's so declarative and it's so this is the right way that's the wrong way you're wrong we're right don't talk to us I'm aware of it like we're all aware of it but it doesn't scare me and I think that's the important thing awesome no Shouldn't that's very good to

know bro no that doesn't scare me respect yeah because I think it's going to come and it'll be overnight yeah and when it does I'd like to see you run one day I'd be curious to know what you're going to run on I'd be curious to know what what levels you're going to be run on I would encourage you to run that analytics on your audience and kind of feel how they view you I don't think it's going to be hard to do you just got to hire a couple Bi $100,000 $200,000 year people to

do that you probably already have that on your team and you can kind of put that on the back of your head that if you ever go you know what things will will that happen would I appreciate you taking these questions I know it's not the most comfortable questions to take because you're still in the game you're still in the arena um you're still kind of you know mo doing your movies doing your things and again thanks for taking These questions let me transition into uh another part here the the part that by the way

thank you for thanking me on that and acknowledging that but let's underscore this because this is the stuff that's important if something's uncomfortable it doesn't mean we run away from it it means we sit here and we talk it through yes right my man yes respect so let me share with you what What video of yours i' I've watched a lot bro I watch a lot I'm wondering if you can even guess like in your mind like what video is talking about I have watched your your eulogy speech of your father oh yeah bro over

and over and over and over and you go up and you know you're really trying to hold it together and you know and I see the pictures when you're you know that one video is the best video is the one that like your dad is out there walking over his chest and Shoulders and then you're you're on the sideline young rock you know that's the best that's the best when you're seeing that right and then the day comes and I know how important it is for you to be a father were you mentally ready for

that day many many years prior to that where you're like trying to prepare for that day to come where it's your hero because your father pushed you away from being a restler and the ultimate compliment to your dad is bro I want to do what you Did I want to do what you did I'm going to continue your legacy and tell the world you're my hero that's the way I saw that and I saw that young like oh brother I just want to watch this thing on repeat over and over again were you prepared for

it was it like something you were afraid of was it something you mentally and emotionally were getting ready for or was it like I'm never going to be ready for this day no I wasn't prepared for it because my dad uh died Suddenly just like that um an embolism traveled up and uh ended his his life so it happened suddenly I didn't get a chance to say goodbye and here's the thing and brother this is just it's life and a month before he died we got into the biggest fight we have ever gotten into and

we never had a chance to reconcile that H it was brutal it was brutal and It was during Christmas time too as well so Christmas was just tainted and I felt like [ __ ] he felt like [ __ ] and my mom was involved and and um I admittedly I was angry and 3 weeks went by we didn't rec reconcile he died and that was it and so you asked me if I was prepared no one's ever prepared for that even if God forbid you have a loved one who is transitioning out and You

can prepare as best you can for their transition or in my case um you know they say goodbye just like that without saying goodbye so I never had a chance to say goodbye and never had a chance to write that thing that I wish I did and so that was a tough one that was and and the lesson though I realized is we hear this all the time you never know what's around the corner hug your loved ones hug your little Ones I do a lot of work with make a wish and every time I

do it y thank you so important and when when you leave those meetings with make a wish you see these kids who are so strong and you see the parents who are being so strong too as well you go home you hug your kids tighter that's just what you do and so we hear it all the time hug your kids take care of your Lov on hug hug your loved ones you never know what's around The corner but until you go through something like that that's when those words really hit home and I realize that

man I thought I wish I had a shot just to hug my dad one more time or say or hug and say maybe he's listening now so hug and say it's all right it's all right we're good you know I never had a chance to do that H [Applause] how that's why it was so cool meeting your dad backstage I love that yeah how how big of a role did Faith play in you like cuz that's pretty heavy that's not easy that's a very heavy thing that you carry as a man with your father how

big of a role did Faith play for you to be able to continue with your life to be a good father to be a good role model was there a big role there or yes Faith before my dad passed away has played a Very important part of my life Faith after my dad passed away played a very big part in my life because a lot of times you go down the road and you know there's that there's the phrase you have to walk by faith and not by sight a lot of times you walk by

faith not sight nor experience and you just don't know so you got to have that Faith the faith is the thing for one of the many things that can anchor us and that should anchor us so yeah when and it's Funny yeah it's true faith is the Anchor Man uh it's funny when my dad because we had a complicated relationship he when I was 5 years old our bonding was come with me to the gym sit in the corner but that was our bonding and then as I got a little older at 9 10 he'd

let me work out a little bit he'd take me on the wrestling mats he'd kick the [ __ ] out of me in a good way um and so we his capacity to love my dad was kicked out of the house when he was 13 I tell you a Quick story about my dad so my dad's dad died when he was 13 that Christmas my dad's mom had another boyfriend the boyfriend got drunk urinated on the turkey my dad's 13 small town um up in Nova Scotia my dad at 13 grabbed a shovel and he

drew a line in the sand and said if you cross that line to the drunk boyfriend who peed on the turkey I'm going to kill you and so the drunk crossed the line my dad hit him in the head knocked him out cold didn't kill him cops came when the cops came at that time the cops told my grandmother my dad's mom when this man uh becomes conscious again one of these two are they're going to kill each other so one of them should go you know what's next so my grandmother said to my dad

you got to go wow so he was kicked Out at 13 my point is that's his capacity for love right there so that's the man that raised me respect is given when it's earned no one's going to give you [ __ ] go out and earn it work hard get up with me before the sun come to the gym so all that stuff I got from my old man and the reason why I'm telling this story is because even though I didn't reconcile with my dad I I think one of the saving Graces when we

talk about faith Is if you have a complicated relationship with your dad and you grow up you start to look at the world differently like I don't I want to be the opposite of my dad I I don't want to have that quality I I want to have my own quality I I don't want to do it like that I want to do it like this I don't know if I like that i' do it like this but then when he when he died and you really start looking at the stuff that Was really important

and the stuff that really matters then you realize man I got a lot of great qualities for my old man thank you Dad and that's the thing that helps me in a way reconcile with my old man and that today I can say hey thank you Pops for you know se you know powerful so meaning a lot of the signs are still through you even though at one point my pastor one time told me something I always talk about this he Said you know one thing uh Patrick you need to know about your relationship with

your father every father and son goes through three phases first you idolize him two you demonize them three you humanize them and he says those three faces are evident when you're going to go through it the sooner you can go into humanized the more you can enjoy life in your relationship with them are you there now with 100% yeah oh him and I my dad's my best friend in the World he him and I have been there uh in a big way but it's a he's everywhere I go he's with us he lives with us

but I love the story you Shirt By the way so so if it with that upbringing with that kind of a father that's just grinding driving like nothing's ever in a boom then you come in and you're telling stories about you and Vince and Vince is also a little bit of a complicated guy right Vince mcmah is not the S there's a Lot of weird and I'm not even going the weird side I'm just talking he's a complicated guy on how he is what what was it behind closed doors with your relationship with Vince that

made it work because this guy's a big personality Larger than Life I don't know what he's worth today I think he's 78 billion I don't know his Network because he sold it for 10.6 billion or $ 11 billion when he sold it yes and it's funny Endeavor bought both of them right They bought UFC and debot you know WWE which what a longterm if they do it right and I know AR's a brilliant guy so he'll do it right but how was your relationship with Vince and what things did you pick up from him specifically

with the relationship behind closed doors the relationship with Vince and I was a great relationship because it was based on I'm willing to work for for every dollar I'll tell you a story about Vince too as well that really helped Expand the aperture of my brain in terms of business uh but our relationship with Vince and I it was about the work I'm willing to put in the work and I have a tremendous boundless respect for the business of pro wrestling that is so deeply important to him that's his life it's his world it's his

blood and I grew up in the business of pro wrest wrestling my grandfather wrestled for Vince's dad In the 70s my dad wrestled for Vince in the ' 80s so I went into this with a tremendous amount of respect and reverence willing to put in the work let's get to work um and I I had shared this with Vince when I became the Rock and things started to take off for me um he said what's next I said I feel what's next is to take this brass ring and take it to places it's never been

he he said where's that I said I don't know let's figure it out together So she this one story with you guys and you'll appreciate this too I was coming up and my very first contract with the WWE with Vince that I signed with him was a 5-year contract for $150,000 a year how old are you at this time 24 okay okay 150 Grand a year so 750 is what you're signing 750 however keep in mind not only taxes but also in that world of pro wrestling um I had to pay for everything so I

pay for hotel and food and transportation wait so when You're on the road 250 he's not covering the rooms and trans not then okay not the it's different now so and again 150 Grand per year is great when you're wrestling 250 dates a year do the math broke what you're getting per match right and it was what it was it was it was an opportunity for me look I came from seven bucks so this great it was time to renegotiate and a couple of wrestlers at that time about 3 years later after as I became

the rock Newly minted the rock it was time to he wanted to renegotiate my contract about two to three years in a couple of wrestlers at that time had their own agents I chose not to have an agent he said are you going to have an agent are you looking for an agent I said I'm not I'd like to negotiate with you directly and how we met was with a handshake and I believe how we're going to do this is with a handshake this handshakes are very Important to me as I know everybody in this

room so I always say my handshake is better than anything I ever signed it's right here so he said great I love that I respect it he said what are you thinking and I said who's the highest paid if you don't mind me asking between us who's the highest paid on the roster he said um he said Stone Cold Steve Austin I said okay I said said if you don't mind me asking what's his guarantee he said a million dollars I Okay I want [Laughter] two so oh I know the balls of that kid so

he said 2 million I said yes guaranteed yes and he said I'm just curious where do you get that from like what what what are you figuring out in your mind and I said well I love Steve I respect him but if he's getting a million dollars where I see myself going is past a million Dollars I think it should be two and he went okay I understand that logic he said here's what I want you to do I'm going to put you in contact with one of our Executives and I need you to take

a couple of months if it takes that long cuz I was on the road he goes I need you to understand the business I need you to understand the business this side of the business from top to bottom all the economics wow I Want you to understand that I want you to understand our cost overhead I want you to look at what's allocated to the bo I want a great thing to do yes I want you to take the time yeah and put in the work that you say you're committed to in the ring yes

I expect that from you but now I want you to learn the business once you learn this business then you come back to me and then we'll talk about what the re renegotiation who was the executive was that a CFO it was like A CFO yeah so you learned the money aspect of the business yes got it exactly what the overhead costs are what the costs are every venue we go into what the cost of the venue is what the state tax is what the allocation for all the wrestlers is going to be that percentage

of what the um of what the gate is that particular night I didn't take three months I I mean maybe it was just two weeks and it was baptism by fire and I learned to absorb As much as I could about the business I went back to Vince and I thanked him I gave him a big hug I said I understand now uh I'd like to match it at a million dollars what Steve is getting thank you for taking me through it and we had a great conversation and he said 'h how much do you

think you're going to make this year I saidwell my guarantee is a million I've been going averaging about 50% over my Guarantee so maybe 1.5 he went okay now that you've taken yourself through that now you understand the business you're going to make $15 million a year are you kidding me yes you're not expecting this no but he already did the math he could see where it goes wow you make 15 million life Chang what was your reaction when he says that holy [ __ ] [ __ ] that's I mean from 150 a year

to 15 million that's 100x in income that was crazy but that was by the by the time we Hit about 1999 2000 wrestling had a boom period at that time um yeah by the way you know wrestling I think if I'm not mistaken wrestling's YouTube channel for sports and entertainment I think it gets the most views it's number one it's number one right it gets the most views I don't know how many subscribers they have but you'll see videos 288 million views 263 million views it's not like it's a easy thing to do that's pretty

interesting I got another question for You this part of it maybe it's a little bit for us some of you guys may not be interested in this but I'm asking this question so I'm a I'm a fan of bodybuilding I'm a fan of Mr Olympia I'm a fan of all the bodybuilding stuff that's going on years ago I'm um interviewing Ronnie I I I went through the whole pH of interviewing all the Mr Olympia so Ronnie comes Dorian Yates comes Phil comes Dexter Jackson comes I bring everybody one by one by one we're Interviewing and

they're going really good so I get a call from uh the CEO of uh Mr Olympia he says I'd like to meet with you at Prime at Diplomat which is like 30 minutes 40 minutes away from hour away from here cuz we're in Palm Beach so I meet him over there and I'm like hey so tell me blah blah listen I'm noticing some of the stuff you're saying you're calling us out with Mr Olympia on the way we're doing this and you know I Understand that but what can we do to collaborate I said forget

about collaboration are you guys for sale I'm interested no we're not for sale you're not for sale no at all no well what is the brand in well it's muscle and fitness and P it's really this you know the whole breakdown of the business and then 3 months later they announced Jake Wood bought Mr Olympia okay and I think this is the time where you were going to Mr Olympia you were involved you were Going there and obviously Danny is somebody that is an ambassador yeah of course how close were you guys of buying Mr

Olympia we were close super close we I don't know about super close but the discussions were there and Danny who Patrick is referring to she's my business partner I've known her since I was 18 years old University of Miami uh she went up becoming my first wife we have our child together we got a divorce Still stayed together uh even through the divorce we thought well we've we've been building this company over here should we continue to build it um we don't hate each other we just wound up getting a divorce so let's continue to

build it so that's who he's referring to with Danny who wound up becoming uh a a competitor and getting her Pro card in in bodybuilding and we grew up just loving working out and training and so we were with the Mr Olympia uh we were In discussions at that time there were a lot of discussions that were happening and you know at that time it was really interesting and I think for you too as well I think we were probably sensing it there's something interesting there at that time but it never had it wasn't so

and is there any interest now or not really like no interest in mran I think it's tough to scale I think it's challenging but you know you know what I thought about and I was telling the Bodybuilders I'm like dude if Rock buys Mr Olympia and say Danny would run it and she would crush it right if she she ran it and somebody who wins I'm doing a movie they get a part you're able to get that recognition and the eyeballs oh my god look how this guy is playing this and that guy's playing this

part I thought it was a very smart move for them to sell it to you guys I'm surprised they didn't my opinion it's it's their loss but still I'm I'm a I'm A fan of the game I'm a fan of the sport I just don't think it's what it was 10 15 years ago 20 years ago I think '90s to me was '90s 2000 Mr Olympia was a very unique time for that sport they were also coming out of the 80s too as well and out of the 80s aesthetically the bodybuilders they they aesthetically their

bodies just look different like the Arnolds of the day and guys of Frank Zayn you know it really had like some pretty impressive physiques yeah who's Your favorite physique wise of of all time Frank Zayn is like waste 29 I don't know what his waist was but physique wise I would say Arnold in his Heyday I thought he was had a phenomenal physique One of a Kind which by the way you're no little guy either I don't know if you guys have seen Patrick up close he's a big guy is we're taking a picture and

I'm looking at him I'm like how tall are you we kind of go I'm like you're 6'5 he's Like yeah I'm tall guy you're talking to him so business we got a uh 10 minutes and about 10 minutes we'll go to questions so if some of you guys want to line up by the mic we'll go there here in a minute great but question you've in a lot of rooms that that you've done negotiations with right uh oh look what just fights are going to break out guys just we're not we can't we can't do

like 50 of them but just going to be a couple we go to but you've been in a lot of Rooms that you've negotiated with right negotiation rooms you know even the story you just told right now Vince of what happened from hey 155 years 750 to hey I want to take 2 million how is your you well I want to make two times what stone makes I'm about okay now you know what I'm actually willing to do a million and I make 15 you know million five oh you know what you're going to make

this year what actually 15 million bucks holy [ __ ] life changing right what Have you learned from being in negotiating rooms movies contracts terms shortterm midterm long-term do you have two or three things from maybe mistakes being made we should have done this differently that you could say these are three things we follow when it comes on to negotiations sure I think when it comes to negotiations I like to try to remember that we we want the same thing let's get to a good place again it goes back to What you and I talked

about earlier about let's have the conversation let's have the dialogue sometimes it gets tricky in Hollywood because there's a lot of managers and there's agents and there's people involved there's business Affairs you have a lot of people doing the talking for me when and they're all qualified but too many conversations and too many people in the room can start to stunt the progress of of where you Need to go so it's much easier for me now out of the gates let me call either business Affairs let me call the head of the studio here's what

I'm thinking let's make this let's cut away the fat at first in terms of negotiation here's what I'd like to get what do you think does this work here's where we're going to bring it in we'll be fiscally responsible we're these kinds of Partners Etc um what I realized in the past Is what I've realized in the past for me today is at the end of the day no one can talk on your behalf better than you and how important that is so are you are you really negotiating like are there many cases where you're

doing the deals like well I don't have to get into the nuts and bolts of it of that part I say here's my goal I think this feels right and everyone else can then talk but let me something so so for example If you if if we were making a deal together value entertainment say seven bucks i' come to you directly and say what do you think about this what do you think you and I would go back and forth and then we would call our guys to come in and handle the details I I

want to give a compliment to he's the only person that's done this and and by the way when I we've booked a lot of people over the years you name them Kevin Hart you know Kobe Bryant Tom names names That are like you know in their space they're big When Brad and I were talking one day Dana White calls me says hey Pat I'm in Abu Dhabi it's 3:30 in the morning you got a minute call me great what's happening Dana hey do you know this guy named Brad Slater oh yeah of course I know

Brad Slater he's yeah of course I'm like yeah I know who he is he's a fan he wants to talk to are you okay if I put you guys in a group text great guy let me tell you a story about Brad one time I went in there we started off rough but we have a very good relationship now so great no problem so I talked to Brad hey would' love to meet with you I go in La we have that three-hour lunch together at one of the hotels I got a story about Dana too

I want to tell you great I'd love to hear it so then Brad and I walk away so what if we do this what if we do that what if we do this nothing's going on it's like well you represent the rock yeah I do he Represents a lot of different he he represents the rock I said Brad what about the rock coming to the VA conference he says let me talk to him and I'm like all right cool next thing you know on a Sunday you reach out to me yeah hey what do you

think about this and what do you think about that and what do you think about this I'm like I'm telling you no one does that ever and in that moment I'm like this guy is A freaking involved guy in the deals in the trenches and you rarely see that and then even throughout the process even throughout the process of doing hey interview we're going to go to this angle hey Rock I want to talk about this but what about this and what about that we're going back and forth normally this guy's one of one it's

like hey handlers you guys handle this we're not going to no it's just right here yeah that the the way you approached that was a lot of Respect to you because I would have expected our team to just communicate all of it but we went through it and it ended up being unbelievable experience yes and it has to be like this this is the way it should be like I was just saying earlier like you yeah every no one can speak on your behalf better than you period and so I feel like because when it

starts to go through other people it starts to get filtered through their lens and perhaps What their agenda could be and so and I'm not knocking it's not an indictment on anybody else who is on my team but everyone serves their purpose and they're all really really good at what they do a lot better than I could be at their job but this kind of conversation is this is where the magic happens when it's like this that's very impressive because you know what it makes me think about here's what it makes me think about I

know you don't want to go there I'm just making St making a statement making a statement it tells me later on if if let's just say you do run and [ __ ] hits the fan I think you're the guy that's going to call the president and say Hey listen all the [ __ ] everybody's talking about what are we going to do I foresee you being the kind of guy that's going to call the guy directly not hide behind closed doors and have wired phone ear whatever to claim like they're busy but you know

they don't want to answer Conver you know have the con anyways that was a forget about what I just said there but you guys understand what I'm saying I think you'll make the phone call I think phone I think you make that direct phone call you had a Dana story St so I'm very fortunate to you know be in this position that I in terms of social media so about 10 years ago as social media a little bit before that was hitting um it was a um it was a section and a vertical of our

world that I that I didn't understand and I didn't get it wasn't clicking with me I thought well who cares what I'm having for lunch or what kind of catchup I'm going to put on that's the way I saw it back then and I thought I just don't see the value of this and I had a conversation with my team you should join social media and I went God just not too sure if we should do that I I don't know if it's for me I go see Dana I've been great friends with Dana for

15 20 years now and I go see Him and we're in the back and at this time he was just he was on Twitter King at that time you know very engaged and he goes um he goes dude are you on social media went no he's like you have to get on and they're calling him out to the event by the way he's got to get out there cu the show is live the pay-per-view and he goes tell them I'll be out there in a second hold on this is very important you have to you

know how determin he gets when you talk to him About of you have to and I was like brother I don't know if it's for me man I just I said you do it well on Twitter and at that time Instagram I don't even know was uh was up and running yet and then he goes I'm telling you you have to but here's why he said you will engage in ways that fans in ways that nobody's doing and in your what's important to you is to connect with people I said it is it's the most

important thing this will allow you to connect with people Because you you will control everything that you do years later I wind up fortunately becoming the most followed American man in the world all thanks to Dana whites wow shout out to Dan there you go yeah fantastic give it up Dwayne Rock Johnson I got a gift for you I got to give you this gift man I got two gifts for you appreciate you oh man hold on it's all good it's all good this was great let me give you these two gifts hang on you

want up do you have both Where's the other one the okay so I got two things you're a movie guy anything I give you you can go buy it or you probably have it anyways but you may not have these two so this is a sign script of Godfather Francis Copo wow I know you're a Godfather guy and I I think you're an Elvis guy if I'm not mistaken you're an Elvis guy so am I big fan of Elvis this is Elvis he wrote this Christmas card in 1959 when he was in the Army this

is Signed by Elvis I wanted to give this gift to you as well as somebody that's an Elvis fan I think I hope you appreciate this gift wow thank from us brother coming out yes wow and we'll ship this to you this is amazing yes right here signed by him wow so uh first of all thank you so much for this brother I appreciate it thank you for this I'm a big fan of The Godfather I always say The Godfather so many life lessons in the movie The Godfather but also love Elvis and um I

was at graceand two years ago and and in the Elvis uh museum is one of the Elvis costumes that I wore for an event that I that was called Rock the troops and it was the largest gathering military personnel on us soil for our troops and families dude and it was awesome and and it was Elvis themed so thank you so much we're going to ship this to you appreciate you Sam if you want to if you want to grab this I don't want to drop It we got pictures yes Malik right there awesome thank

you Sam you want to grab this once again give it up Dwayne The Rock Johnson thank youate phen thank you guys apprciate it thank [Music] you if there's one thing you going to get from this interview with The Rock and I we both love America we had two big flags at our event he's got a flag In his gym and everywhere he goes this is the USA gear limited edition for the rest of the year if you love America support this USA gear on the side of it says future looks bright on the back it

says value team and on the side it's got the American flag we got the shirts we got the flip flops these are the only flipflops I wear when I'm at the house and walk in the dogs it feels amazing with the gel in it so if you love America if you believe the future looks Bright if you love value tment click on the link above or below go where some of the gear and tag us because we share the pictures on the podcast all the time so go to vt.com and place your order [Music]