Highly celebrated movie actor Dwayne Johnson popularly known as “the Rock” has lost his father.
Wayde Douglas Bowles was known by his wrestling name Rocky “Soul Man” Johnson passed on on Wednesday at the age of 75.
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) through a statement said they were 'saddened' by the passing on of the former star of wrestling.
"WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson has passed away," they said through a tweet.
According to WWE, the deceased kick-started his wrestling career in the middle of 1960s. He, however, found his best form and great success after he joined WWE.
He made history in 1983 after he teamed up with Tony Atlas to form a two-man-team dubbed "The Soul Patrol", which made them be the very first African-American World Tag Team Champions in WWE history after they managed to win against another team, The Wild Samoans.
New York Times reports that it was the deceased who trained his son, The Rock, boxing skills.
However, being black, the deceased was also faced with racism challenges during his wrestling career as he moved around the world. He was once quoted saying he was treated like a slave
“I was headstrong. I kept myself in shape and the stuff they were doing in the South, I wouldn’t go for. They wanted to whip me on TV like they used to do with the slaves and all that. I said, ‘No. I came in as an athlete, and I’ll leave as an athlete.’ And they respected me for that," he said in past interview.
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