The WWE locker room was once a nightmare to be in. There was a lot of toxicity between the wrestlers regarding their spots. Everyone was always looking for themselves and this led to a number of altercations. One of the most popular backstage fights took place between Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and former WWE Superstar Ahmed Johnson.
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Ahmed Johnson joined the WWE back in 1995 and spent three years with the promotion. He was part of the Nation of Domination before the faction betrayed him and replaced him with the up-and-coming Rocky Maivia. This led to a feud between the two on screen.
Their rivalry eventually poured into real life as well, with the two famously squaring off backstage before a match.
Ahmed Johnson recalls argument with The Rock
During a recent appearance on the Pounding The Meat Podcast, Ahmed Johnson revealed that there was a lot of jealousy between the Nation of Domination members. He recalled arguing with The Rock regarding the finish of their match.
“Well, we were arguing over basically our finish and, you know, who was gonna do what in the ring. Back then, he wasn’t The Rock, you know, he was Rocky Maivia becoming The Rock. But it was basically, you know, him not wanting to take my finish, me not wanting to take his finish. It was kinda back and forth argument from there,” Johnson said.
This is clearly oversimplifying the nature of the business at the time. It is true that the argument may have been borne out of neither wrestler wanting to take each other’s finish, but there was much more at play here.
The nature of the locker room at the time was such that no one wanted their characters to get devalued in the ring, which led to this and many more arguments between several other superstars.
The Rock replaced another Nation of Domination member
Rocky Maivia completed his transition to The Rock during his time with the Nation of Domination. As mentioned before, he joined the group after replacing Ahmed Johnson. In time, he went on to replace Farooq as the leader of the group before he broke out as a singles star.
The Rock became one of the biggest stars in the company and often rivaled Stone Cold Steve Austin for the loudest cheers of the night, despite regularly being portrayed as a heel more often than a face.
The Brahman Bull has since moved to Hollywood, where he is among the highest earning actors. However, none of this would have been possible without him joining the Nation of Domination when he did.
As Rocky Maivia, he was being booed out of the building. With a group around him and freedom on the microphone, the once young upstart is now one of the greatest of all time.
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