Young Rock 2x11

1. So Dwayne,

2. where are we exactly?

3. - Well, you know how I have my personal

4. gyms scattered across the country?

5. Your Iron Paradises, yes.

6. - Forest Whitaker has these beautiful wine cellars.

7. - You have to address this Julien problem.

8. What do you mean?

9. I got numbers, baby.

10. Right.

11. For those who don't know,

12. Dwayne's best friend is Forest Whitaker.

13. - Oh, come on. Randall is upset

14. because I didn't invite him

15. to a private lunch with me and Forest.

16. No, I am not upset.

17. I just figured I would go with him

18. because we've been through this whole thing together,

19. and I just don't understand why now he would

20. decide to go off on his own.

21. I'm uncomfortable.

22. Well, Jamie's uncomfortable.

23. So I think we should just get back

24. to talking about why we're here.

25. Of course. Sorry.

26. - It's okay. - So the election is one day

27. away, and conventional wisdom says that you should be

28. pounding the pavement in key battleground states

29. instead of being here in Forest Whitaker's wine cellar.

30. I understand that criticism,

31. but I've always been one to forge my own path.

32. Are you up for a story while we wait?

33. - Always. - In 1996,

34. Vince McMahon thought I had potential,

35. but I was way too green, so he sent me down to Memphis

36. so I could learn the ropes,

37. and I was back living with my old buddy, Downtown Bruno.

38. - Hey, so how 'bout this trailer?

39. I don't if you noticed, but she moves on purpose,

40. not because of a foundation code violation

41. like that motel back in the day.

42. Yeah, definitely a step up,

43. except for the no roof thing.

44. Hm?

45. Ah, correction. There's a roof.

46. - No ceiling. - Oh.

47. - Lost her to some black mold a couple of years back.

48. I'm sorry to hear that.

49. Me too, brother.

50. - Since I'd lived with him ten years ago,

51. Bruno had quite the ride.

52. He had a successful run in the WWF

53. as Dr. Harvey Wippleman,

54. one of the best heel managers ever,

55. managing guys like Kamala and Giant González.

56. Now he was back in Memphis

57. working for Jerry "The King" Lawler's promotion again

58. as referee and head of the ring crew.

59. - So talked to Pat Patterson. - Mm-hmm?

60. - Him and Vince want you getting a ton of reps,

61. start working on a persona.

62. - You decided on a name, yet? - Weighing some options.

63. Rocky Jr, no brainer.

64. Rocky Maivia. That's nice.

65. - Little Chief? - Now, I'd accept Rocky II,

66. even if Apollo Creed was actually based on me.

67. - Wild Half-Samoan.

68. - Half-Wild Samoan.

69. - Don't put too much pressure on this.

70. Most guys change names a bunch in their careers.

71. Undertaker used to be Commando.

72. - It goes "Rocky" I, then III, then II, then V,

73. even though I haven't seen it yet.

74. Call yourself any of those except Rocky IV,

75. too Russian.

76. - It's the beginning of a new chapter,

77. so want to make sure I get it right.

78. - Well, you definitely don't want my opinion.

79. My name used to be Dr. Lennerd Spazzinsky.

80. - Why? - Sounded like a guy

81. I wanted to party with.

82. - Though I still wasn't ready for the WWF,

83. Vince and Pat decided to try me out in a tag team,

84. wrestling in Jerry Lawler's Saturday TV show,

85. the same one my dad worked years earlier.

86. Hey, Mr. Jarrett.

87. Who the hell are you?

88. - Dwayne Johnson. - Hm?

89. Rocky's son.

90. - Dewey! Aw, man.

91. Hey, your dad still owes me 40 bucks.

92. Well, sounds like him.

93. Try not to hold it against me though.

94. I was really trying to be my own man,

95. and I didn't want my dad's baggage passed down to me.

96. Sometimes you can't choose how people know you.

97. - Hey, Billy Crane. I book the matches.

98. Oh, hey.

99. - Announcers need your wrestling name.

100. - You got one yet? - But sometimes you can.

101. Yeah.

102. It's Flex.

103. Flex Kavana.

104. - Hang on. Your name wasn't the Rock?

105. - No, not yet, not out of the gates.

106. I wanted to blaze my own path,

107. so I decided to create a name for myself on my own terms.

108. But why Flex Kavana?

109. - Well, easy. Flex because you got to flex the muscles,

110. and Kavana because it sounded like a badass Polynesian name.

111. - Uh-huh.

112. - Well, trust me, you're not the only one

113. who didn't love it.

114. Oh.

115. - Did he say "cabana" like some kind of beach bum?

116. - Did you not hear me when I listed

117. all the acceptable Rockys?

118. - Whoo! My new partner, Flex Kavana, sure looks

119. a lot like an inflated version of this Dwyane kid

120. I used to set up rings with back in the day.

121. One day it'll be me and you in the ring.

122. Brian Lawler.

123. Man, you look a lot different from when we were kids.

124. - I got good-looking.

125. That's why my ring name is "Too Sexy" Brian Christopher now.

126. I love it, Flex and Sex.

127. - So we'll do a promo where I introduce you

128. as the next big thing.

129. You'll talk, we wrestle.

130. You good on the mic?

131. The mic is my bitch.

132. For our first match, we were going up

133. against Brian's dad, Jerry Lawler.

134. He was the biggest name in Memphis,

135. so I wanted to impress him with my mic work,

136. show him what the new guy could do.

137. - I'd like to introduce you and all the fans

138. to this man right here.

139. This is Flex Kavana, baby!

140. Me and Flex are walking out of here

141. as the new USWA Tag Team Champions.

142. - It's very short, quick, and simple.

143. We're very naughty by nature

144. and very violent by decision.

145. What?

146. Very violent by decision?

147. Yeah, violently awful.

148. - I can't believe this dude said "very naughty" on the mic.

149. - I lost focus after how many "verys" there were.

150. - Yeah, yeah. Keep it coming.

151. Everybody rip on the new guy. I can take it.

152. - Hey, you are violent by decision though,

153. just definitely not by knockout.

154. - Bruno, no horsing around with my wrestlers

155. until you finish breaking down the ring.

156. - Oh. Yeah, you bet, boss.

157. Uh, Chilly? Yeah, I'm sorry about that.

158. - And it's max two pumps of baby oil.

159. Don't take advantage.

160. Not sexy, bro.

161. - Meanwhile, even though they didn't love my new name,

162. my parents were still very invested

163. in my wrestling journey.

164. - You're not selling like I showed you.

165. When Lawler stomps on your big toe,

166. you got to act like you may lose your whole leg.

167. Okay. Got it, Dad.

168. - Honey, make sure you tell Bruno

169. to keep sending tapes of your matches.

170. - Okay, great. - And I looked it up,

171. Kavana means "sincere feelings of the heart" in Hebrew.

172. - What is that? - Okay, got to go.

173. Talk later, guys. Bye.

174. - No—don't—

175. Give the boy space.

176. - No. He needs to know this.

177. I wish I had someone telling me this stuff

178. when I first started out.

179. He is Flex Banana now,

180. because he's trying to find his own way.

181. - "Kavana," Mom. And that's what we're helping him do.

182. - The more you tell him, the less he will listen.

183. - The hell?

184. Leave him be.

185. Our cord!

186. - Here's what I don't understand though,

187. is "Too Sexy," like, too sexy, like, it's unrealistic?

188. - No. No, I'm too sexy for the haters.

189. I'm the perfect amount of sexy for me.

190. - I had a girlfriend once who was too sexy for me.

191. I ended it before she figured it out.

192. - Oh, hey, Bruno, what is that Crane guy's deal?

193. - Ah, it's just a bad case of "booker-itis."

194. You know, he sets the lineup card,

195. so he thinks he's the boss.

196. Power of the pencil.

197. Dude looks like a pencil.

198. - All right. All right, hey, let's not go

199. getting on Billy Crane's bad side now.

200. - Why not? What's Ichabod gonna do?

201. - You want to showcase for Vince,

202. you want the best matches against the best guys.

203. Billy Crane waves that little pencil of his,

204. the only matches you're getting are in the Cracker Barrel

205. bathroom during shift change.

206. - Man, if I—

207. oh, Chilly, get down!

208. What are you doing, man?

209. - You know these little towns around here.

210. - "Population under 1 - K, duck and pray."

211. - This town has a Black mayor.

212. - Its sister city is San Francisco.

213. - The comptroller is gay. - Sorry, old habits.

214. - The town mascot is a panda with an earring.

215. Okay, I got it.

216. - I'm not even kidding, my dude.

217. - Yeah! - You've got to be kidding me.

218. - Crane wrestles too? - Oh, you are in for a treat.

219. It's time for The Crane

220. 'cause here comes the claw.

221. Oh, what am I gonna find?

222. A cruddy wrestler?

223. - Crane's heel gimmick was terrible...

224. - That's right!

225. Get off.

226. - So he picked on Bruno to get a crowd reaction,

227. and I was getting tired of it.

228. - There it is! - It's over!

229. One, two, and he got him!

230. Man, look at that.

231. The last time I saw Steve,

232. he had a full head of hair, a dud gimmick,

233. and thought he was gonna get fired.

234. - Not no more. He's gonna be the next big thing.

235. - Get that piece of crap out of my ring,

236. because I proved, son, without a shadow of a doubt,

237. you ain't got what it takes anymore.

238. - Look at Jake. He's really milking his exit.

239. - I was at the birth of his snake, Damien.

240. You talk about John 3:16.

241. Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!

242. Ooh, that was good.

243. - That was really good, brother.

244. - That's the level I want to get to.

245. - Let's get to it. - Right now?

246. - I mean, you know, I—

247. I have the wings in the oven,

248. but—but after that.

249. We could do it after that.

250. - And I'm fixing to start running through all of you.

251. - You know, I remember watching that moment on TV.

252. Austin 3:16.

253. - Ah, man, it caught on like wildfire, just like that.

254. He sold more T-shirts to 15-year-old boys

255. than anyone in wrestling history.

256. Until "Can you smell...

257. What The Rock is cooking?"

258. - Do the eyebrow?

259. Oh yeah, I could do that.

260. - Are you doing it? - Yeah.

261. Right?

262. Do you have Botox?

263. - That's why. - Ton of it.

264. Anyway, uh, so you're working in Memphis.

265. - I'm working in Memphis, and man, it was a grind.

266. Eight shows in seven days, week after week.

267. Although it did give me a great chance to start

268. building a relationship with the fans.

269. My grandma knew I needed some space to hone my craft

270. on my own, so she kept an eye on my parents.

271. - High Chief woke me up from my nap early.

272. Thank goodness he did.

273. - I was getting a lot better in the ring,

274. but if I wanted to get to the next level,

275. I knew my mic work, well, needed some work.

276. So Bruno started playing me cassette tapes

277. of legends working the mic.

278. - Like 100-megaton hydrogen bomb,

279. just getting bigger and bigger every day, brother!

280. - Okay, you hear his pace right there,

281. how he builds it up to an explosion?

282. - Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

283. - Ric Flair, my belly's just a little big,

284. my hiney's just a little big,

285. but brother, I am bad, and they know I'm bad!

286. - You see how he self-deprecates?

287. - Mm-hmm. - That is being a babyface

288. as an art form.

289. - You talking to the Rolex-wearin',

290. diamond ring-wearin', kiss-stealin',

291. wheelin', dealin', limousine-ridin',

292. jet-flyin' son of a gun!

293. - Kiss-stealing? Come on, Flair!

294. Listening to those greats on the mic really inspired me.

295. Look what I found.

296. - Now I knew I had to find my own voice.

297. - Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! That's a foreign object.

298. - What? Come on! - And that's a DQ.

299. - Are you kidding me? - Ring the bell.

300. - What's this clown doing? - It's done. It's done.

301. - You're making a big mistake. - No, you can't use

302. - a foreign object. - What the hell?

303. Come on! You're an idiot!

304. Hey, give me the mic. Can you believe

305. this little weasel was a manager in the WWF?

306. And now he refs for me,

307. 15 bucks a match.

308. What a loser.

309. - You know what, give me the mic, okay?

310. Oh, you want the mic? Here.

311. - That's enough out of you. - Take it!

312. Crane, Crane, Crane, Crane.

313. There's only one thing worse

314. than white chocolate in this world,

315. and that's a bully.

316. And I don't like the way you've been talking

317. to my boy, Downtown Bruno, the Tom Cruise of Memphis.

318. Oh, and I noticed your little finishing move.

319. It's really cute. What's it called?

320. - It's called "the Cra—

321. - It doesn't matter what it's called!

322. You treat people the way you do 'cause you know your deformed,

323. beanstalk-looking body can't compete

324. with the greatest physique Memphis has ever seen.

325. Your asparagus-smelling, Amy Grant-listening,

326. little baby bird-ass can't measure up

327. to the most athletic, dynamic,

328. hydromatic wrestler in USWA history.

329. - "Hydromatic?" - Who cares, he's on a roll.

330. But if you ever do decide,

331. Billy lanky-ass, candy-ass, son of a bitch

332. that you want a piece of this...

333. Then come get some.

334. Flex Kavana out.

335. Flex! Flex! Flex! Flex!

336. - Whoo! - Whoo-whoo!

337. - Oh, my God. - All right!

338. - Whoo-hoo! - Oh.

339. Yes!

340. - Hell yeah! - Hell yeah.

341. Oh, brother, that was fun.

342. You know, but I-I—

343. Dwayne, I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't a little bit

344. worried about what Crane was gonna do.

345. - Hey, whatever happens, happens, okay?

346. I did what felt right to me, and I can live with that.

347. Thank you.

348. - As good as it felt to stand up for Bruno,

349. I was still like, oh, man, did I just screw up

350. my chances to get to the WWE?

351. And I promised all of you

352. that Flex would start the party.

353. But my opponent, Bill Dundee,

354. hasn't even shown up to the party.

355. Hey, Flex.

356. Oh, that is not Bill Dundee.

357. Looks like The King's been summoned,

358. and that could mean bad vibes for Kavana.

359. - Flex "Cabana" tried to pick a fight

360. with my man, The Crane.

361. You talk a big game, but let's see you put your money

362. where your mouth is against The King—

363. with my belt on the line right now.

364. Ho! Ho, ho, ho!

365. On one condition—

366. if you win, you become champion.

367. But if you lose, you leave Memphis for good!

368. - And there you have it, folks.

369. - I didn't know what was going on.

370. So in my head, I'm like, ah,

371. Crane talked to Jerry, and now this match is a clever way

372. to boot me from the whole circuit.

373. What's going on?

374. Kid, you got the call.

375. You're headed to the WWF.

376. - What? - Congratulations.

377. Oh, thanks.

378. - Now, enjoy it while I kick your ass.

379. Aah!

380. - I can't thank you enough, Ken.

381. Been a pleasure, Dave.

382. It never felt so good to lose.

383. - Wow, that was fast. You'd only been in Memphis for,

384. what, five months?

385. Oh, it was crazy.

386. I couldn't believe it was happening either.

387. Vince wanted to fly me to Connecticut

388. to have another meeting, only this time,

389. he wanted to talk about my WWE debut.

390. I just had one thing to do before I left.

391. - I spared no expense. I got some Miller High Lifes.

392. - Let's celebrate. - Nice.

393. - Hold on, something feels different.

394. Oh, yeah? What?

395. I don't know.

396. Something feels—

397. What the hell is this?

398. - Well, now you've got a roof and a ceiling.

399. You're lousy with head coverings.

400. Thank you for everything, Bruno.

401. I appreciate all you've done for me.

402. - Shoot, I don't know what to say.

403. - I love you, brother. - I love you too.

404. Come on. Bring it in.

405. Hey, let's drink these High Lifes

406. before I get too emotional.

407. - High Lifes make you more emotional.

408. - Yeah, that's true. That is true.

409. - We heard about how you won the crowd over defending Bruno.

410. It's exactly what we're looking for in a babyface.

411. - The fans need a new hero. - Thank you.

412. Yes, I love the sound of that.

413. Survivor Series, Madison Square Garden?

414. Wow.

415. My dad and grandfather both wrestled at MSG.

416. And now you will too.

417. Welcome to the show, kid.

418. It's great to be here.

419. And I promise you, Flex Kavana won't let you down.

420. - Oh, by the way, hate that name.

421. You're a third-generation

422. wrestling legacy.

423. Let's own that, hm?

424. What do you think of the name "Rocky Maivia?"

425. - Well, my mom actually suggested that—

426. - Smart lady. - But I don't know.

427. I-I was kind of hoping to forge my own path.

428. I get it.

429. You know, I'm a legacy guy too, Dwayne.

430. But family is what got us here.

431. You should honor that.

432. He was right.

433. So eventually, I shortened the name

434. and I made it my own.

435. But yeah, I made my WWE debut as Rocky Maivia.

436. - So you really had your debut at Madison Square Garden?

437. - I did, and it was a magical night.

438. But eventually things would take a downward turn.

439. So—

440. Whoa. Who are they?

441. - They're with me. He's a friend,

442. and I trust him completely. You should trust him.

443. - Yes, he said it in front of him.

444. - Yeah, I want the cameras on anyway.

445. seeing me finally face my tormentor would be

446. an inspirational moment for others like me.

447. - Mm-hmm. Others like you.

448. Victims.

449. - The only thing you're a victim of

450. is your own delusions.

451. - Says the actor running for president.

452. - What the hell did you just say?

453. - Hm? - Hey, stop.

454. We're not in sixth grade anymore.

455. Let's be adults, and let's talk this out

456. over a bottle of wine, okay?

457. - You're absolutely right. I'm sorry.

458. I'm willing if he is.

459. - I'm here, aren't I? - As I've told Dwayne

460. over the years, there's no problem

461. that can't be solved by the perfect grape.

462. Uh, what?

463. - So what we have here is a cabernet

464. from a monastery in the Swiss Alps.

465. I know you're wondering, how could you grow grapes

466. in such a cold climate on a cliff?

467. The answer is...

468. I don't know.

469. Maybe caves or something.

470. This wine will alter your outlook towards the world.

471. - I mean, incredible. I'm changed.

472. I prefer white.

473. Julien, you're a tough hang.

474. That's right.

475. - So like the nature of this wine,

476. let's try and gain a better understanding

477. of how this all got started.

478. Dwayne, can you tell us what happened,

479. how Julien was able to get underneath your skin?

480. Well, he called me a liar,

481. and he said my dad wasn't my dad.

482. - I just asked the question. - Let my best friend talk.

483. Thank you, Randall.

484. - But, why didn't you ignore him?

485. I mean, you knew the truth.

486. Well, I love my dad.

487. We had a complicated relationship,

488. but the one true thing about him was he was the champ

489. and he was the greatest of all time.

490. And I guess when this kid tried

491. to take that truth away from me, I reacted.

492. Thank you, Dwayne.

493. Now, Julien,

494. can you relate to anything that Dwayne just said?

495. - No. My dad and I had a great relationship.

496. He was my best friend.

497. I have a tattoo on my leg of his face

498. with the words, "Hey, another pizza,"

499. because that's what he was always saying.

500. He always wanted more pizza than he had.

501. Oh.

502. But...

503. I guess my mom and I had a complicated relationship.

504. She was very successful, a big shot lawyer.

505. She helped Prince turn his name into a symbol

506. to get out of a record contract.

507. - I tried to do that once to get out of a movie contract.

508. Long story short, it didn't work.

509. That's why I'm the voice of Thumper

510. Return of the Hunt."

511. - I knew I heard that voice before.

512. "Help me, Bambi, help me."

513. Oh, that's it!

514. - Anyway, she was never around very much.

515. - That must have been hard, man.

516. Yeah, growing up wasn't easy.

517. What made it harder was Dwayne trying to kill me!

518. - I didn't try and kill you. - You tried to kill me!

519. - If anything, you tried to kill me.

520. - Okay, well, forget it.

521. I appreciate it, Forest. Thank you.

522. This is a waste of time.

523. I just thought that I'd found

524. the perfect grape,

525. but I didn't.

526. Is there any way to squash this public beef?

527. - No. - Yes.

528. What is it?

529. Well...