The Rock Shares a Moving Tribute to His 'Complex' Late Father

From Oprah Magazine

Update: Dwayne Johnson has shared a moving tribute to his father, wrestler Rocky "Soul Man" Johnson, several days after his death.

" I love you. You broke color barriers, became a ring legend and trail blazed your way thru this world," the actor and former wrestler wrote in the January 17 Instagram post. "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."

"Dad, I wish I had one more shot to tell you, I love you, before you crossed over to the other side," Johnson continues. "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." No official cause for Rocky Johnson's sudden death have been shared as of yet.

The Jumanji 2 star finished his eulogy with gratitude, and a hope that his father is at peace."Finally, I want you to rest your trailblazing soul, Soulman. Pain free, regret free, satisfied and at ease," he wrote. "You lived a very full, very hard, barrier breaking life and left it all in the ring. I love you dad and I’ll always be your proud and grateful son. Go rest high."

Rocky "Soul Man" Johnson, a wrestler who enjoyed a three-decade career in the ring, died this week at the age of 75, the WWE reported.

"He was just under the weather, he thought he had the flu or something," Brian Blair, a fellow wrestler and longtime friend of Johnson, told The Guardian. "I said, ‘You need to get checked out, Rocky.' He said he’d be OK. Then he missed this Sunday, a few days ago. When I talked to him again, he said he still wasn’t feeling good and he still missed church. He still didn’t get checked out. I talked to Sheila and she said he was just being stubborn. He died at home, today."

Johnson, born Wayde Douglas Bowles, "made a memorable impression" on the National Wrestling Association in the mid-'60s, and went on to carve out an illustrious career in the WWE. He became one of the first black tag-team champions in the organization when he and Tony Atlas joined forces as The Soul Patrol and defeated The Wild Samoans in 1983.

Later in his life, he was known to a wider audience as the father of wrestler and movie star Dwayne Johnson, who also carried his "Rock" title during his tenure in the WWE. Following his retirement from the ring in 1991, Johnson trained his son and later introduced him to WWE officials. In a full circle moment, The Rock then inaugurated his father into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.

In March 2019, The Rock bought his dad a house, as a way of thanking him for the years of love and support. "He’s a weathered old soul and like all weathered souls, there’s often a harsh storied path that got them there. Well for my pops that path started at 13yrs old when his mom kicked him out of his house on Christmas day and forced him to live on the streets (very true and fucked up story) so his reality of compassion and love was forged thru pain and toughness," he said.

"He raised me with that tough physical love and used to beat my ass in the gyms and on wrestling mats. I hated it as a little boy, but grateful for it today as a man. It’s shaped my DNA and helped inform how I raise my own babies (minus the ass kickings;) but always instilling the value of hard work and discipline. For that I’m grateful and this one felt good. Crazy how full circle life can come."