The Rock Told an Incredible Story About a Childhood Run-In With Hulk Hogan

Lots of respect between these two wrestling legends.

Adam K. Raymond

Dec 1, 2017

When Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was a kid, he had something in common with every other wrestling fan who came of age in the ’80s: He loved Hulk Hogan.

But unlike just about every other wrestling fan, The Rock had a dad who worked alongside the Hulkster. That’s the set up for an incredible story The Rock told film critic Kevin McCarthy on the set of Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle.

This is an amazing story!

When I interviewed @TheRock for JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, I brought him my original JUMANJI ticket from when I saw it in January of 1996.

I asked Johnson if ever collected anything special as a kid and he told me this amazing @HulkHogan story. pic.twitter.com/o3sDERNfGn

— Kevin McCarthy (@KevinMcCarthyTV) November 30, 2017

To sum it up, The Rock caught Hogan’s headband at a WWE even at Madison Square Garden in the early ’80s. When The Rock went backstage with his dad, Hogan asked for headband back because it was his last one.

“Two or three weeks later, he had thousands [of headbands] made,” The Rock says. “Went to my dad, he goes, ‘Hey, I signed this for your son. He gave me my only one back, and I needed that one, as one to make a thousand other copies. Give this back. Give this to him.’”

“And I have one of those. Isn’t that the coolest thing? So Hogan, if you’re watching, I appreciate it, brother. I still have it.”

The Rock later tweeted the video of his story and added some more plaudits for the Hulkster, who responded in a tweet of his own.

Amazing vid below on two fronts.

#1. My good bud Kev here brings me his ORIGINAL movie ticket stub from #JUMANJI.

#2. Thank you to the “brother” @HulkHogan for being so cool to me when I was a 12yr old nerdy, awkward huge Hulkster fan backstage at Madison Square Garden. 🤙🏾 https://t.co/xkQ4mDXfAu

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) November 30, 2017

Yo Rock, your dad took care of me so that is just how I was taught to treat people, my brother. Only love HH https://t.co/vDdmrdlzSV

— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) November 30, 2017

Nearly two decades after Hogan made The Rock an incredibly happy 12-year-old, he met up with him at Wrestlemania 18 in a match billed as Icon vs. Icon.