Famous gimmicks and catchphrases in wrestling add flavor to a wrestler’s character. Aside from building the character of the performer, it builds a huge fan base. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is, unmistakably, one of the most significant attractions in WWE who rose to fame because of his trash-talking skills, bravado, and on-screen persona. Not to mention his famous catchphrase, “Can you smell what The Rock is cooking?!”.
Turns out, the Hollywood icon did not come up with the catchphrase that is synonymous with him today.
During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, the five-time WCW Champion, Booker T, revealed that The Rock stole most of his catchphrases. During the early 2000s, after WWE acquired WCW, The Rock and Booker T were pitted against each other.
While The Rock may have outshone The WWE Hall of Famer as a competitor, he owes Booker T big time for being allowed to claim his famous catchphrase.
Booker T says The Rock “stole” his famous catchphrase from him
Speaking on Chris Van Vliet, Booker T was asked by the host, who came up with the Bookend/Rock Bottom. Without hesitation, T stated that it was he who had the move first.
Booker further revealed that the wrestling move was later stolen by The Rock and rebranded. Not just that, he also disclosed that The Rock stole “a bunch” of his catchphrases.
On being asked to name the stolen catchphrases, Booker refused to spill the beans and stuck to the unwritten rule of letting the locker room stuff remain a secret. However, he did allude to the “If you smell what The Rock is cooking” catchphrase.
“I was the first one to do the Book End.” Booker T revealed. “I didn’t call it the Book End, then The Rock stole it, just like The Rock stole a bunch of my catchphrases. I’m serious. He really did.”
Although The Rock stole Booker’s genius idea, he is still a once-in-a-lifetime entertainer. Thankfully, Booker did not let him have the Spinaroonie.
The Rock regrets not having more classic matches with Booker T
During an interview, host Brad Gilmore told Booker T that he had the chance to chat with The Rock briefly. According to him, Booker T was one of the topics of their conversation. Gilmore revealed that The Rock told him that he wishes he had had more classic matches with him during his tenure in WWE.
The ten-time WWE Champion was on his way out of the promotion when Booker T arrived in WWE after WCW. Though the fans saw the duo rubbing shoulders a few times, The Rock says he wasn’t satisfied and believes they could have had “banger after banger” had he stayed.
Gilmore paraphrasing The Rock stated-
“He was so gifted, so talented I was just kind of going to Hollywood at the time when he came in, he said if I would have stayed man, we would have banger after banger.”
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