The Rock’s family would love to see “The Great One” return to the ring, WWE star Tamina told Insider this week.
“All of us, including his mama, want him to come back,” Tamina said. “I feel like everybody wants him to return.”
The 45-year-old competitor, who performs for the Raw brand, is a one-time WWE women’s tag team champion.
As the daughter of Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka, Tamina is a second-generation wrestler, and is The Rock’s cousin. She is also related to The Usos.
She told Insider that wrestling, competing, and performing under the bright lights for the industry’s flagship brand WWE “is something that you don’t lose.”
Tamina said: “It’s what you were made to do, and born to do. Wrestling is a love.”
Tamina started wrestling because of The Rock’s influence
WWE superstar Tamina. Photo by WWE
Tamina said she didn’t realize it at the time, but she was bitten by the wrestling bug at “a very, very young age” — and it’s all because of The Rock, whose real name is Dwayne Johnson.
Growing up with so many family members in pro wrestling, it would become second nature for a young Tamina to play in the rings before the show started, and to run around the stadiums. “That was our life, our normal, and was our fun,” she said.
“Dwayne’s a huge mentor, you know, because when I first started, it was because of him,” Tamina told Insider. “He’s a huge example.”
She continued: “The way he is in interviews, that’s really him — he’s really that funny person. He’s that loving man, that husband, and he is that father. Like, his girls are crazy about their dad.
“You see him as a character, you see him as a superstar at WWE. It’s all these different things, but he’s an entrepreneur. He could probably become the next president for crying out loud, and I’m proud of him.
“You can never repay anybody back for any of that for the kind of love that they show you.”
The Rock even surprised Tamina last year by gifting her with a house, and a vehicle.
In an Instagram post, The Rock can be seen leading Tamina into the property, and as he unveiled the gift to her, she appeared to break down in tears.
“She deserves a lot more,” he said in a tweet at the time. “Been a single mom, raising two kids all while living the hard life as a pro wrestler — on the road, wrestling nightly for YEARS.
“I wanted to bring a little stability in my cousin’s life for her and her kids.”
“Who freaking does that?” Tamina told Insider. “I could not believe it, I was not expecting that, for sure.”
She said: “But that’s just what he shows — pure, genuine love.”
Living that hard life as a wrestler on the road is not something Tamina would change, she said, as the ride has been awesome.
“I’ve met a lot of amazing people, and I’ve been around a lot of different types of women in the locker room. It’s been a good journey.”
The Rock’s rivalry with John Cena is the subject of an upcoming A&E documentary
The Rock and John Cena in WWE. Photo by Getty Images
From “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to Triple-H, The Rock had many adversaries in the squared circle.
However, one of his most iconic, long-running battles was with John Cena.
Their feud is the subject of an upcoming episode of WWE Rivals on A&E, and it was one that was “awesome to be able to watch back, and know I was there at that time, too, living through that moment,” Tamina said.
She recalled their whole rivalry was so captivating that it “made the whole world watch their magic” and hearkened back to the era of Hulk Hogan and Andre “The Giant.”
“You go back to those days, those magical moments of people who face off because you have to have a great one, and another great one … and then when they battle with all this charisma,” she said.WWE Rivals returned for its second season on Sunday, February 19. New episodes air every week at 10 p.m. ET.
