There's nothing like paying it forward ... especially towards family.
That's exactly what Dwayne Johnson did on Christmas, thanking his Uncle Tonga for helping him prepare for his very first tryout match with the WWE years ago by gifting him with a brand new Ford F-150 pickup truck.
The box-office superstar and former WWE great took to his Instagram account Sunday to explain how his uncle, who was feared as the most-legit toughest wrestler in the business,helped him back in the day when Vince McMahon called him for a tryout match.
At the time, The Rock was a mere pebble, as Johnson wrote that he was "broke as hell" and totally unprepared, having not even owned any wrestling gear — "no boots, knee pads or most importantly ... wrestling trunks."
"I went to Sports Authority and bought some bright a** white volleyball knee pads, called my Uncle and asked if he had ANY trunks I could use for my tryout," Johnson wrote in part of his lengthy IG post. "He said all I have is a pair of shiny purple trunks (purple was his signature color), I told him I don't care if the trunks are all the colors of Skittles, I'll happily wear them. When I picked the trunks up from him, I'll never forget the monster hug he gave me, look me in the eyes and said, 'I'm so proud of you. Go get 'em nephew!' Here's the picture of me wrestling my FIRST MATCH EVER in Corpus Christi, TX in front of 15,000 people — proudly in my lucky purple trunks. And the rest ... was history."
A photo posted by therock (@therock) on Dec 27, 2015 at 1:50pm PST
Sure was. That tryout match paved the way to The Rock becoming arguably the biggest sensation in WWE history. As a 'thank you,' Johnson rolled out the big wheels for Tonga, who also went by the wrestling name Haku, having grappled with everyone from Andre the Giant to Hulk Hogan in a who's who list of WWE Superstars.
"So we walk outside and I said 'Uncle how do you like my truck?' He said, 'Whoooaaa nephew it's beautiful ... I love it! I said, 'Good 'cause it's yours.' He was speechless. Thru tears (manly of course;) we monster hugged 'cause I'll never forget what he did for me when I had nothing. Merry Christmas Uncle and ofa atu. #LuckyPurpleTrunks."
Great story. Classy gesture.
For those who don't know, Tonga might be the toughest Superstar outside of the wrestling ring that the business had.
