It’s been a rough start to the New Year for wrestling legends, as legends and veterans are starting to pass on to the great ring in the sky. On Wednesday, the news was bad once again, as WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson has passed away at the age of 75. While older fans will remember him as a former WWE Tag Team Champion and star of the 1970s, to younger viewers, he’s known as being the father of one of the greatest WWE Superstars of all time, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson has passed away. https://t.co/9uxrICJKxb
— WWE (@WWE) January 15, 2020
Debuting in 1964, the Canadian wrestler born in Amherst, Nova Scotia was trained by Kurt Von Steiger and his future father in law, High Chief Peter Maivia. Rocky Johnson spent the early 70s working with various NWA territories such as Stu Hart‘s Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. For the remainder of the 1970s, he was a popular journeyman who competed for Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), Big Time Wrestling (precursor to World Class Championship Wrestling), Championship Wrestling From Florida, NWA Pacific Northwest, Mid Atlantic, and Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), a rogue promotion in Tennessee.
In 1982, he headed to the WWF, where he became a solid tag team alongside Tony Atlas, capturing the WWF World Tag Team titles off of The Wild Samoans. He remained with the WWF for two years, before departing the company, continuing to work with CWA, Mid Atlantic, and others, before retiring in 1991. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.
The staff of Last Word on Pro Wrestling offers their condolences to the entire Johnson family, friends and peers through this tough time.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.
