‘I’m In Pain’ – ‘The Rock’ Pens Tribute To Late Father, WWE Hall Of Famer Rocky Johnson

Duane Chapman / Twitter, The Rock / Instagram

On January 15, WWE Hall of Fame wrestler Rocky Johnson passed away. WWE confirmed the passing with an article detailing his legendary career.

He began wrestling with the National Wrestling Alliance in the mid-60s and worked his way up to the WWE in 1983, where he teamed up with Tony Atlas as “The Soul Patrol.” Tony and Rocky became the first African-American World Tag Team Champions in WWE history in 1983.

Know as “The Soul Man,” Rocky retired from wrestling in 1991 and began training his son, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who has since become one of the most successful names to come out of professional wrestling. He is now the highest paid movie star in the world.

Rocky was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008 by none other than his son, which made the moment all the more special. The two men shared quite a bond, something Dwayne often shared on social media.

At the time his passing was announced, a cause of death was unknown, but now that Dwayne has broken his silence, we now know that it was sudden and unexpected.

Dwayne shared a vintage video of Rocky being introduced during a fight. The camera then cut to a certain spectator in the crowd, his young son Dwayne. In the caption, Dwayne wrote an emotional note to his father, who he says was ” ripped away from me so fast without warning. Gone in an instant and no coming back.”

“I’m in pain,” he says.

He ended the note by saying, “I want you to rest your trailblazing soul, Soulman.
Pain free, regret free, satisfied and at ease.
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.”

See Dwayne’s tribute to his father below.

View this post on Instagram

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. The intense work. The hard hand. The adoring boy who wanted to know only your best qualities. Who then grew to become a man realizing you had other deep complex sides that needed to be held and understood. Son to father. Man to man. That’s when my adoration turned to respect. And my empathy turned to gratitude. Grateful that you gave me life. Grateful you gave me life’s invaluable lessons. 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. Finally, I want you to rest your trailblazing soul, Soulman. Pain free, regret free, satisfied and at ease. 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. #ripsoulman #rockyjohnson ?

A post shared by therock (@therock) on

And watch him explain a sweet story about his dad in the video below.

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