Ask The Rock to pick his favorite move in wrestling and you might expect a People’s Elbow plug or a nod to his own Rock Bottom. Instead, the most famous man to ever lace up boots handed the crown to a current WWE star, and he did it while out promoting his next blockbuster.
During a press run for Disney’s live-action Moana, in which he reprises the demigod Maui, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson sat down with Complex and got asked which WWE finisher is his favorite. His answer: Seth Rollins‘ Stomp.
“His Is So Iconic”
The pick is personal. The Rock has been on the receiving end of the Stomp, taking it at WrestleMania XL during night one’s main event, when he and Roman Reigns beat the team of Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins.
“I would say Seth Rollins‘ Stomp. That’s my favorite. I took it at WrestleMania. I am a glutton for punishment, so there’s some finishing moves I loved taking,” Johnson told Complex. “His is so iconic and I took that. It’s a wild face stomp into the mat. It was cool.”
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It is a glowing endorsement for a move Rollins has spent years making must-see, and a reminder of just how respected he is by the biggest crossover star the business has ever produced. The two built a genuine rapport around that WrestleMania program. Rollins later revealed that The Rock sent him so much ice cream as a thank-you that he still had pints in the fridge months later.
From the Ring to the Reef
The timing is no accident. The Rock‘s Moana sails into theaters on July 10, the live-action retelling of the 2016 animated hit, with Catherine Laga’aia making her debut as Moana opposite Johnson‘s Maui. The Complex chat that produced the Rollins quote was tied to that release, with the interviewer playfully asking which WWE finisher could take down the film’s lava villain, Te Kā.
It is a fun full-circle beat for a star who has always kept one boot in the wrestling world even as he conquered Hollywood. The Rock can headline a Disney tentpole and still geek out over a WWE finisher in the same breath, and this time he gave Seth Rollins the kind of co-sign money cannot buy.