*Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shared a touching message to his father, WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson, who died this week at the age of 75.
The Hollywood star took to Instagram to share an old clip of Rocky during his pro wrestling heyday, alongside a lengthy caption that begins with “I love you.”
“You broke color barriers, became a ring legend and trail blazed your way thru this world. I was the boy sitting in the seats, watching and adoring you, my hero from afar. The boy you raised to always be proud of our cultures and proud of who and what I am. The boy you raised with the toughest of love,” Johnson wrote.
Read the full IG post below.
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He added: “Dad, I wish I had one more shot to tell you, I love you, before you crossed over to the other side. But you were ripped away from me so fast without warning. Gone in an instant and no coming back. Im in pain. But we both know it’s just pain and it’ll pass. Now I’ll carry your mana and work ethic with me, as it’s time to move on because I have my family to feed and work to accomplish.”
We previously reported, Rocky, member of the WWE Hall of Fame, was born in Nova Scotia, Canada as Wayde Douglas Bowles. He began his wrestling career at age 16 and went on to win several championships throughout the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, including the National Wrestling Alliance Georgia Champion, PEOPLE reports.
In 1983 he joined the WWE and began wrestling with Tony Atlas. As the first Black American tag team, the duo became known as The Soul Patrol and won the World Tag Team Championship in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
Rocky retired in 1991 but went on to train his son Dwayne to become a wrestler.
He is survived by his sons, Dwayne and Curtis, and daughter Wanda. The cause of death is not currently known.
Two years before his dad’s death, Dwayne paid tribute to Rocky with an endearing Father’s Day post.
He captioned a throwback picture of him and his dad Rocky with: “Happy Father’s Day to this hardly ever smiling OG badass. Little boys by nature, look up to and idolize their old man. They want to be just like em, do whatever they do and are always looking for their approval. Funny thing is the day I stopped looking for that approval was the day I understood what it meant to be man and more importantly, a father,” Johnson wrote.
“That shift lifted me to a new level of gratitude for the tough love he always gave. Years later as a man and father of three girls, I know that tough love, is a helluva lot better than no love at all. I’ll take it. It’s made me who I am today. Grateful to the original Rock. #HappyFathersDay #KingStache #RockyJohnson,” he concluded.
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