JJ Dillon recently joined Gerald Brisco and JBL as the guest on the latest edition of their official podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During his appearance on the popular pro wrestling program, the WWE Hall of Fame legend and former longtime behind-the-scenes executive for the company reflected on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson dealing with money issues and nearly wanting to quit WWE early in his career.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where the legendary manager of the Four Horsemen touches on this topic at length.
On The Rock nearly quitting WWE due to money issues early in his career: “The Rock was going to get the push of his life, but he couldn’t see, at that point, how big of an opportunity that was going to be for him. He had everything: he was multiracial, he had the size, he had athletic ability, he had everything. I came up there and he said, ‘Can I talk to you privately?’ and I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘You have connections everywhere. So, I’m asking you [to] help me get out of here and find a place for me to go.’ So, I listened to him, then I said, ‘There’s more to this story than what you’re telling me. You need to trust me and open up to me. Tell me what’s really troubling you.’ And after talking about it a little bit, he reached into his pocket and had a $10 bill and a couple of singles. He said, ‘This is all the money I have to my name. I’ve never been in a situation where everybody talks about this great potential that I have. But for me, I have 12 bucks in my pocket, and that’s eating away at me.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m glad that you opened up to me and told me. Because that’s something that can be an easy fix.’”
On how he handled the situation and how that seemed to be a turning point for The Rock in WWE: “So I went, I don’t know where we were, and I said [to someone], ‘Go up to the box office and pull $200 and I’ll sign for it and I’ll work it out,’ and they came to me and gave me $200 in cash. I called The Rock over, and shook his hand, and I palmed him $200 in cash. Then I said, ‘Now you’ve got money in your pocket. You can eat. You’re okay. This is just a little speed bump in the road. I couldn’t do justice to the business by allowing you to not take full advantage of this opportunity because you’re caught in a position where you don’t have any money in your pocket. We’ve all been there,’ and he [The Rock] gave me a big hug, and that was a turning point for him. Just having that money in his pocket so that he could eat and do what he wanted. I was just in the right place at the right time, and I knew what to do.”
Watch the complete JJ Dillon interview from the Brisco & Bradshaw podcast via the video embedded below courtesy of the official YouTube channel of the program.
(H/T to Wrestling Inc for transcribing the above quotes.)
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