So, Dwayne, where are we exactly?
Well, you know how I have my personal gyms scattered across the country?
Your iron paradises, yes.
Forest Whitaker has these beautiful wine cellars.
We have to address this Julien problem.
What do you mean?
I got numbers, baby.
Right.
For those who don't know, Dwayne's best friend, is forest Whitaker.
Oh, come on. Randall is upset
because I didn't invite him
to a private lunch with me and forest.
No, I am not upset.
I just figured I would go with him because we've been through
this whole thing together and I just don't understand
why now he would decide to go off on his own.
I'm uncomfortable.
Well, Jamie's uncomfortable, so I think we should just get back
to talking about why we're here.
Of course. Sorry.
It's okay. So, the election is one day away,
and conventional wisdom says
that you should be pounding the pavement
in key battleground states instead of being here
in forest Whitaker's wine cellar.
I understand that criticism, but I've always been one to forge my own path.
Are you up for a story while we wait?
Always. In 1996, Vince McMahon thought
I had potential, but I was way too green.
So he sent me down to Memphis so I could learn the ropes.
And I was back living
with my old buddy downtown Bruno.
Hey, so about this trailer, I don't know if you noticed, but she moves on purpose.
Not because of a foundation code violation
like that motel back in the day.
Yeah, definitely a step up.
Except for the no roof thing.
Correction. There's a roof, no ceiling.
Lost her to some black mold a couple years back.
I'm sorry to hear that. Me too, brother.
Adult Dwayne: Since I'd lived with him 10 years ago, Bruno had quite the ride.
He had a successful run in the wwf as Dr. Harvey whipple,
one of the best heel managers ever.
Managing guys like kama/a and giant Gonzalez.
Now he was back in Memphis working for Jerry "the king" lawler's
promotion again as a referee and head of the ring crew.
So talked to pat Patterson. Mmm-hmm.
Him and Vince want you to get a ton of reps. Start working on a persona.
You decided on a name yet?
Weighing some options.
Rocky junior. No brainer.
Rocky maivia. That's nice.
Little chief.
Now I'd accept rocky two. Even iprollo creed was actually based on me.
Wild half Samoan. Half wild Samoan.
Don't put too much pressure on this.
Most guys change names a bunch in their careers.
Undertaker used to be commando.
It goes rocky one, then three, then two, then five.
Eventhough ihaventseenityet
call yourself any of those except rocky iv. Too Russian.
It's the beginning of a new chapter, so we're gonna make sure I get it right.
Well, you definitely don't want my opinion.
My name used to be Dr. Lennerd spazzinsky.
Sounded like a guy I wanted to party with.
Adult Dwayne: Though I still wasn't ready for the wwf,
Vince and pat decided to try me out in a tag team.
Wrestling in Jerry lawler's Saturday TV show.
The same one my dad worked years earlier.
Mr. Jarrett.
Who the hell are you?
Dwayne Johnson.
Rocky's son.
Dewey!
Oh, man!
Hey, your dad still owes me 40 bucks.
Well, sounds like him. Try not to hold it against me, though.
Adult Dwayne: I was really trying to be my own man,
and I didn't want my dad's baggage passed down to me.
Sometimes you can't choose how people know you.
Hey.
Billy crane. I book the matches.
Oh, hey.
Announcers need your wrestling name. You got one yet?
Adult Dwayne: But sometimes you can.
Yeah, it's flex.
Flex kavana.
Randall: Hang on.
Your name wasn't the rock?
No, not yet. Not out of the gates.
I wanted to Blaze my own path.
So I decided to create a name for myself on my own terms.
But why flex kavana?
Vveh, easy.
Flex, because you got to flex the muscles.
And kavana, because it sounded like
a badass polynesian name.
Uh-huh.
We”, trust me, you're not the only one didn't love it.
Did he say cabana like some kind of beach bum?
Did you not hear me when I listed all the acceptable rockys?
Whoo! My new partner, flex kavana sure looks
a lot like an inflated version of this Dwayne kid
I used to set up rings with back in the day.
One day it'll be me and you in the ring.
Brian lawler.
Man!
You look a lot different from when we were kids.
I got good looking.
That's why my ring name is "too sexy" Brian Christopher now.
I love it.
Flex and sex.
So we'll do a promo where I introduce you as the next big thing.
You'll talk.
We wrestle. You good on the mic?
The mic is my bitch.
Adult Dwayne: For our first match,
we were going up against Brian's dad, Jerry law/er,
who was the biggest name in Memphis.
So I wanted to impress him with my mic work.
Show him what the new guy could do.
I'd like to introduce you
and all the fans to this man right here.
This is flex kavana, baby!
Me and flex are walking out of here as the uswa tag team champions.
It's very short, quick, and simple.
We 're very naughty by nature and very violent,
by decision.
Man: Yeah... what?
Randall: Very violent
by decision?
Yeah.
Violently awful.
Chilly: I can't believe this dude
said very naughty on the mic.
Jarrett: I lost focus after how many "verys" there were.
Yeah, yeah.
Keep it coming. Everybody rip on the new guy. I can take it.
Hey, you are violent by decision, though,
just definitely not by knockout.
Bruno!
No horsing around with my wrestlers
until you finish breaking down the ring.
Yeah, you bet, boss.
Uh, chilly.
I'm sorry about that.
And it's Max two pumps
of baby oil. Don't take advantage.
Not sexy, bro.
Adult Dwayne: Meanwhile, even though they didn't love my new name,
my parents were still very in vested in my wrestling journey.
You're not selling like I showed you.
When lawler stomps on your big toe,
you gotta act like you may lose your whole leg.
Okay. Got it, dad.
Honey, make sure you tell Bruno to keep sending tapes of your matches.
Okay. Great. Rocky: And I looked it up.
Kavana means
sincere feelings of the heart in Hebrew.
What is that?
Okay, I gotta go. Talk later, guys. Bye.
Rocky: No, dew...
Give the boys space.
No, he needs to know this.
I wish I had someone telling me this stuff when I first started.
He is flex banana now. Because he's trying to find his own way.
Kavana, mom. And that's what we're helping him do.
The more you tell him, the less he will listen.
What the hell?
Leave him be.
Our cord.
Bruno: Here's what I don't understand though.
Is "too sexy" like too sexy, like, it's unrealistic.
No, no. I'm too sexy for the haters.
I'm the perfect amount of sexy for me.
I had a girlfriend once who was too sexy for me.
I ended it before she figured it out.
Hey, Bruno.
What is that crane guy's deal?
That's just a bad case of bookeritis.
You know, he sets the lineup card so he thinks he's the boss.
Power of the pencil.
Dude looks like a pencil.
All right, all right.
Let's not go getting on Billy crane's bad side now.
Why not? What's ichabod gonna do?
You want to showcase for Vince, you want the best match against the best guys.
Billy crane waves that little pencil of his,
the only matches you're getting are in
the cracker barrel bathroom during shift change.
You end up fired.
Oh. Chilly, get down.
What are you doing, man?
You know these little towns around here.
Population under one k, duck and pray.
This town has a black mayor.
Its sister city is San Francisco.
The comptroller is gay.
Sorry.
Old habits.
The town mascot is a panda with an earring.
Okay, I got it.
I'm not even kidding, my dude.
Crane: Yeah! Young Dwayne: You gotta be kidding me.
Crane wrestles too?
Oh, you are in for a treat.
It's time for...
The crane.
Because here comes the claw.
Oh, what am I gonna find?
A cruddy wrestler?
Adult Dwayne: Crane's heel gimmick was terrible.
Get off.
So he picked on Bruno to get a crowd reaction,
and I was getting tired of it.
One, two, and he got him!
Man, look at that.
The last time I saw Steve, he had a full head of hair,
a dud gimmick, and thought he was going to get fired.
Billy: Not no more.
He's going to be the next big thing.
Get that piece of crap out of my ring.
Because lproved, son, without a shadow of a doubt,
you ain't got what it takes anymore.
Look at Jake. He's really milking his exit.
I was at the birth of his snake, Damien.
You talk about John 3:16.
Austin 3:16. Since I just whooped your ass.
Ooh! That was good.
That was really good, brother.
Thatsthelevel I want to get to.
Let's get to it. Right now?
I mean, you know, I have the wings in the oven.
But after that. We can do it after that.
Steve Austin: And I'm fixing to start running through all of you.
You know, I remember watching that moment on TV. Austin 3:16.
Oh. Man. It caught on like wildfire.
Just like that. He sold more t-shirts to 15-year-old boys
than anyone in wrestling history.
Until, "can you smell..."
Both: "What the rock is cooking?"
Do the eyebrow?
Oh, yeah, I can do that.
Are you doing it?
Yeah, right?
Do you have Botox?
That's why.
Ton of it. Anyway...
So you're working in Memphis?
I'm working in Memphis, and, man,
it was a grind.
Eight shows in seven days. Week after week.
Although it did give me a great chance to start
building a relationship with the fans.
My grandma knew I needed some space to hone my craft on my own,
so she kept an eye on my parents.
High chief woke me up from my nap early.
Thank goodness he did.
Adult Dwayne: I was getting a lot better in the ring,
but if! Wanted to get to the next level,
I knew my mic work... Well, needed some work.
So Bruno started playing me cassette tapes of legends working the mic.
Like a 100 megaton hydrogen bomb,
just getting bigger and bigger every day, brother.
Okay, here his pace right there?
How he builds it up to an explosion?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ric flair, my belly's just a little big, my heart is just little big.
But, brother, I am bad and they know I'm bad.
You see how he self-deprecates?
That is being a baby face as an art form.
You're talking to the rolex-wearing, diamond ring-wearing,
kiss-stealing, wheeling-dealing, limousine-riding,
jet-flying, son of a gun.
Kiss-stealing? Come on, flair.
Adult Dwayne: Listening to those greats on the mic really inspired me.
Look what I found.
Adult Dwayne: Now I knew I had to find my own voice.
Hey, hey, hey, hey. That's a foreign object.
Are you kidding me? What's this clown doing? Ring the bell.
It's done. It's done.
You're making a big mistake. No, you can't use a foreign object.
Come on, you're an idiot.
Hey, give me the mic.
Can you believe
this little weasel was a manager in the wwf?
And now he refs for me.
15 bucks a match.
What a loser.
Crane: Oh, you want the mic?
You know what, give me the mic. That's enough outta you.
Take it!
Crane, crane, crane, crane.
There's only one thing worse
than white chocolate in this world, and that's a bully.
And I don't like the way you've been talking to my boy,
downtown Bruno, the Tom Cruise of Memphis.
Oh, and I noticed your little finishing move.
It's really cute. What's it called?
It's called the cri...
It doesn't matter what it's called.
You treat people the way you do because you know your deformed,
bean stalk-looking body, can't compete
with the greatest physique Memphis has ever seen.
Your asparagus-smelling,
Amy Grant-listening,
little baby bird ass
can't measure up to the most athletic, dynamic,
hydromatic wrestler in uswa history.
Hydromatic? Who cares? He's on a roll.
But if you ever do decide, Billy, lanky ass,
candy ass,
son of a bitch, that you want a piece of this,
then come get some.
Flex kavana, out.
Flex! Flex! Flex!
Hell, yeah! Hell, yeah.
Oh, brother. That was fun, you know?
But I...
Dwayne, I'd be lying to you if I said lwasn't
a little bit worried about what crane was going to do.
Hey, whatever happens, happens, okay?
I did what felt right to me.
I can live with that.
Thank you.
As good as it felt to stand up for Bruno,
I was still like, "oh man, did I just screw up my chances to get to the wwe?"
And I promised all of you
that flex would start the party.
But my opponent,
bhidundee,
hasn't even shown up to the party. Hey, flex!
Well, that is not bill dundee.
It looks like the king's been summoned.
And that could
mean bad vibes for kavana.
Flex "cabana"
tried to pick a fight with my man, the crane.
You talk a big game,
but let's see you put your money where your mouth is.
Against the king, with my belt on the line right now.
Oh! Oh! Oh!
On one condition.
If you win, you become champion.
But if you lose, you leave Memphis for good.
And there you have it, folks.
Adult Dwayne: Ldidn't know what was going on.
So in my head, I'm like...
Crane talked to Jerry and now this match
is a clever way to boot me from the whole circuit.
What's going on?
Kid, you got the call.
You're heading to the wwf.
What?
Congratulations.
Oh, thanks.
Now enjoy it while I kick your ass.
Man: Lean on me
when the times are bad
I can't thank you enough, Ken.
Been a pleasure, Dave.
Man: If you're cold, yeah
I'll be your cover
don't have to worry
'cause I'm here
no need to suffer, baby
'cause I'm here
adult Dwayne: It never felt so good to lose.
I'm coming
Wow, that was fast.
You'd only been in Memphis for, what, five months?
Oh, it was crazy.
I couldn't believe it was happening either.
Vince wanted to fly me to Connecticut to have another meeting.
Only this time,
he wanted to talk about my wwe debut.
I just had one thing to do before I left.
I spared no expense.
I got some Miller high lifes.
Nice. Let's celebrate.
Oh, something feels different.
Oh, yeah? What?
I don't know.
Something feels, uh...
Oh what the hell is this?
Well, now you've got a roof and a ceiling.
You're lousy with head coverings.
Thank you for everything, Bruno. I appreciate all you've done for me.
Shoot, I don't know what to say. I love you, brother.
I love you too. Come on, bring it in.
Hey, let's drink these high lifes before I get too emotional.
High lifes make you more emotional.
That's true. That is true.
Vince: We heard about how you won the crowd
over defending Bruno.
It's exactly what we're looking for in a baby face.
The fans need a new hero.
Thank you. Yes, I love the sound of that.
How's this for a debut?
Survivor series, Madison square garden.
Wow. My dad and grandfather both wrestled at msg.
And now you will, too.
Welcome to the show, kid.
It's great to be here.
And I promise you flex kavana won't let you down.
By the way, I hate that name.
You're a third generation wrestling legacy.
Let's own that. Hmm?
What do you think of the name rocky maivia?
Well, my mom actually suggested that.
Smart lady. But I don't know.
I was kind of hoping to forge my own path.
I get it.
You know, I'm a legacy guy too, Dwayne.
But family is what got us here.
You should honor that.
Adult Dwayne: He was right.
So eventually I shortened the name and I made it my own.
But, yeah, I made my wwe debut as rocky maivia.
So you really had your debut at Madison square garden.
I did, and it was a magical night.
But eventually,
things would take a downward turn.
Whoa, who are they?
Adult Dwayne: They're with me.
He's a friend, and I trust him completely. You should trust him.
Yes. He said it in front of him.
Yeah, I want the cameras on anyway.
Seeing me finally face my tormentor would be
an inspirational moment for others like me.
Mmm-hmm. Others like you.
Victims.
The only thing you're a victim of is your own delusions.
Says the actor running for president.
What the hell did you just say? Hmm?
Hey, stop!
We're not in sixth grade anymore. Let's be adults,
and let's talk this out
over a bottle of wine. Okay?
You're absolutely right. I'm sorry. I'm willing if he is.
I'm here, aren't I?
Forest: As I told Dwayne over the years,
there's no problem that can't be solved by the perfect grape.
Uh, what?
So what we have here is a cabernet from a monastery in the Swiss alps,
I know you're wondering, how could you grow
grapes in such a cold climate on a cliff?
The answer is
I don't know.
Maybe caves or something?
This wine will alter your outlook towards the world.
I mean, incredible. I'm changed.
I prefer white.
Julien, you're a tough hang.
That's right.
So like the nature of this wine,
let's try and gain a better understanding of how this all got started.
Dwayne, can you tell us what happened?
How Julien was able to get underneath your skin?
Well, he called me a liar.
And he said my dad wasn't my dad.
I just asked the quest...
Let my best friend talk!
Thank you, Randall.
But why didn't you ignore him? I mean, you knew the truth.
Well,
I love my dad.
We had a complicated relationship,
but the one true thing about him
was he was the champ
and he was the greatest of all time.
And I guess when this kid tried
to take that truth away from me,
I reacted.
Thank you, Dwayne.
Now, Julien,
can you relate to anything that Dwayne just said?
My dad and I had
a great relationship. He was my best friend.
I have a tattoo
on my leg of his face with the words,
"hey, another pizza!" Because that's what he was always saying.
He always wanted more pizza than he had.
But...
I guess my mom and I had a complicated relationship.
She was very successful. Big shot lawyer.
She helped prince turn his name into a symbol to get out of record contract.
I tried to do that once to get out of a movie contract.
Long story short,
it didn't work.
That's why I'm the voice of thumper in Bambi: Return of the hunt.
I knew I heard that voice before.
"Help me, Bambi. Help me!"
That's it.
Anyway, she was never around very much.
It must have been hard, man.
Julien: Yeah. Growing up wasn't easy.
What made it harder
was Dwayne trying to kill me!
I didn't try and kill you.
You tried to kill me.
If anything, you tried to kill me.
Ok, well, forget it.
I appreciate it, forest. Thank you.
This is a waste of time.
I just thought that I'd found the perfect grape.
But I didn't.
Is there any way to squash this public beef?
Yes.
What is it?
Well...