Rocky Johnson won the World Tag Team Championship in 1983, along with his partner Tony Atlas, to become the first black champions in WWE history.
29 Facts About Rocky Johnson
2.
Rocky Johnson is the father of actor and former WWE wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and the grandfather of Simone Johnson.
3.
At the age of 16, Rocky Johnson moved to Toronto, where he began wrestling and worked as a truck driver.
4.
Rocky Johnson began his career as a professional wrestler in 1964 in Southern Ontario; soon after his debut, he legally changed his name to his moniker.
5.
Rocky Johnson chose the name Rocky Johnson as a tribute to two of his favorite boxing greats: Rocky Marciano and Jack Johnson, the latter being the first black heavyweight boxing champion.
6.
Rocky Johnson was a top contender in the National Wrestling Alliance in the 1970s, receiving title matches against then-World Champions Terry Funk and Harley Race.
7.
Rocky Johnson was well-suited for tag team wrestling, winning several regional tag team championships in the NWA.
8.
Rocky Johnson wrestled off and on in the Memphis promotion, often feuding with Jerry Lawler, winning Lawler's crown at one point.
9.
Rocky Johnson wrestled under a mask as "Sweet Ebony Diamond" in the Mid-Atlantic area.
10.
In 1982, Rocky Johnson feuded with Don Muraco, Greg Valentine, Mike Sharpe, Buddy Rose, and Adrian Adonis.
11.
Rocky Johnson was then paired with Tony Atlas as a tag team.
12.
In early 2003, Rocky Johnson was hired as a trainer for the WWE developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling, but was let go in May He made a return to the ring, and defeated Mabel in a boxing match at Memphis Wrestling on November 29,2003.
13.
On February 25,2008, Rocky Johnson was announced as an inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame along with his father-in-law, "High Chief" Peter Maivia.
14.
On December 20,2019, Rocky Johnson joined the board of directors of the International Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame.
15.
Rocky Johnson recounted in his autobiography Soulman that he met his first wife, Una Sparks, at a dance while he was training to become a boxer.
16.
Peter Maivia disapproved of their relationship because Rocky Johnson was a wrestler.
17.
Rocky Johnson stated that, in order to provide for his two families, he adopted a frugal lifestyle on the road; he subsisted on beer, sliced cheese, and bologna, and was not a "partier".
18.
Rocky Johnson did not reveal if Una knew about Ata and Dwayne, but stated that she gave him an ultimatum to quit wrestling, or they would have to separate as Jehovah's Witnesses "didn't believe in blood sport".
19.
Rocky Johnson stated that he and Una parted amicably and remained good friends.
20.
Rocky Johnson obtained a divorce in Texas, then filed for a marriage license in Florida on December 21,1978, to marry Ata.
21.
Rocky Johnson was married to Sheila Northern, a speech pathologist, at the time of his death.
22.
In 2019, Johnson co-wrote an autobiography alongside Scott Teal, Soulman: The Rocky Johnson Story, released October 15 of that year.
23.
Rocky Johnson claimed he was "set up" by rival wrestlers.
24.
In 2000, while working at the Pine Island Community Center in Davie, Florida, Rocky Johnson was investigated for several cases of misconduct, including unwanted groping of female coworkers.
25.
Rocky Johnson later faced charges of battery and theft after he allegedly took home a piece of athletic equipment, as well as allegedly inappropriately grabbing a female coworker.
26.
The Broward State Attorney's Office, while noting there was "sufficient evidence" that Rocky Johnson had groped his coworker, declined to prosecute because the woman feared the publicity it would bring her.
27.
On January 15,2020, at the age of 75, Rocky Johnson died of a pulmonary embolism at the home his son bought for him in Lutz, Florida; the embolism was caused by a blood clot that traveled from a deep vein thrombosis in his leg.
28.
Rocky Johnson is portrayed by Joseph Lee Anderson in the show Young Rock, based on his son's life.
29.
The series, which was green-lit for production by NBC four days before Rocky Johnson's death, dedicated the pilot episode in Rocky Johnson's memory.