{"id":90676,"date":"2025-07-25T06:26:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T06:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/90676\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T06:26:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T06:26:11","slug":"dwayne-the-rock-johnson-pays-tribute-to-hulk-hogan-nbc-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/90676\/","title":{"rendered":"Dwayne \u2018The Rock\u2019 Johnson pays tribute to Hulk Hogan \u2013 NBC Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rock cooked up a heartfelt tribute to Hulk Hogan.<\/p>\n

Millions of Hulkamaniacs mourned the loss of the wrestling legend on Thursday, and Dwayne Johnson was one of them.<\/p>\n

The WWE star turned actor made a social media post to honor Hogan, who died at the age of 71<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Rest in Peace, Terry Bollea aka The Immortal Hulk Hogan,” Johnson wrote in his post, which included a video of his match against Hogan at WrestleMania 18 in 2002. “To millions of little kids you were a childhood hero – myself included.”<\/p>\n

Hogan paved the way for Johnson in more ways than one \u2013 first by helping wrestling reach its pinnacle and then by creating a path for wrestlers to make their way from the ring to the big screen.<\/p>\n

Long before turning heel as Hollywood Hogan, Hogan went Hollywood by starring in movies. He was the lead in \u201cNo Holds Barred\u201d in 1989, \u201cSuburban Commando\u201d in 1991 and \u201cMr. Nanny\u201d in 1993 \u2013 and he, of course, made a \u201cRocky III\u201d cameo in 1982 prior to the rise of Hulkamania.<\/p>\n

Johnson, after becoming one of the biggest stars in wrestling during the WWE\u2019s Attitude Era that began in the 1990s, became one of Hollywood\u2019s highest-paid actors.<\/p>\n

Hogan and Johnson squared off in the ring at WrestleMania 18, which was Hogan\u2019s first match at the event since 1993. The Rock defeated Hollywood Hogan in what is considered one of the most iconic matches in WWE history.<\/p>\n

“When you kick out of my Rock Bottom finisher – just listen and FEEL that crowd go ELECTRIC\u2026
all for you,” Johnson wrote in his post. “I\u2019ve never felt anything like that in my entire wrestling career. It takes two to tango, but that historic crowd reaction was all for you.<\/p>\n

“You may have \u201cpassed the torch\u201d to me that night, but you, my friend\u2026.<\/p>\n

“\u2026 you \u201cdrew the house\u201d meaning you sold out every arena and stadium across the country in your prime as Hulk Hogan, on your way of becoming the greatest of all time.<\/p>\n

“From deep in my bones, and on behalf of this wild and crazy world of professional wrestling that we love, I say to you now, and forever\u2026<\/p>\n

“Thank you for the house, brother\u2026”<\/p>\n

Hogan praised The Rock during a 2023 interview with Sports Illustrated<\/a> amid Johnson\u2019s return to WWE.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rock, he\u2019s one of a kind,\u201d Hogan said. \u201cHe\u2019s on another level. That was noticeable right away. But one part stood out to me \u2013 and I thought it was very clear. Rock still has wrestling in his blood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hogan recalled rehearsing for their WrestleMania match while Johnson\u2019s father \u2013 Rocky Johnson, a former wrestler \u2013 looked on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d known Rocky Johnson for a long time, even before I started to wrestle,\u201d Hogan told Sports Illustrated. \u201cHe was someone I looked up to. And that day, I can still remember standing in the ring talking with Dwayne, and all we could hear was Rocky Johnson yelling, \u2018Dwayne, listen to Hogan!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hogan and the Rock again shared the ring in 2014 at the opening of WrestleMania 30, this time with Stone Cold Steve Austin, uniting three of the biggest stars in wrestling history.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHulk Hogan kicked a lot of a– for a long time,\u201d Austin said while in the ring with Hogan. \u201cWe\u2019ve been very protective of our legacies. Sitting next to you, watching all the dues you paid, what you did for the business, I got nothing but respect for you. I\u2019m here to say I appreciate the living hell out of what you\u2019ve done for this business.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rock then joined them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look across this ring, I don\u2019t see just two of the biggest legends of all time. No, no, no, no,\u201d The Rock said. \u201cWhen I look across this ring, I don\u2019t see just two of the biggest icons of all time. No, no, no, no. When I look across this ring, I see my good buddy Stone Cold Steve Austin, and I see my childhood hero the immortal Hulk Hogan. And without a shadow of a doubt, and I mean this from the heart, I look across this ring and I see, without question, the two biggest names in the history of the WWE.\u201d <\/p>\n

The three then exchanged their iconic catch phrases, shared an in-ring toast and chugged some beers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rock cooked up a heartfelt tribute to Hulk Hogan. Millions of Hulkamaniacs mourned the loss of the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":90677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,172,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-90676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-celebrity-news","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}