Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is on the TKO Board of Directors and much has been said about how much influence he has in the company.
For starters, his grandmother was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame last year (a decision many pro wrestling historians have taken issue with) and the Final Boss' daughter, Ava, is NXT's General Manager...despite not being overly good - or convincing - in the role.
As WrestleMania approaches, The Rock has returned to WWE and inserted himself into Cody Rhodes' orbit despite having no plans for a match. It's raised some eyebrows and again brought up questions about how much sway Johnson has behind the scenes.
Talking at a press conference following Friday night's SmackDown, The Rock addressed his working relationship with WWE CCO and head of creative, Paul "Triple H" Levesque.
"Nick Khan and Triple H, as well. With those two guys in particular...wrestling is an interesting business to be in because, while it’s a big business, I also feel like you’ve got to love it. If you’re these C Suite Executives, you have to love the business. That’s what Triple H… [he] loves this business. I’ve known him for a long time. We’ve done a lot of fun stuff together, a lot of crazy stuff. He’s doing a great job. I talk with him often. We’re very close. What I like about Triple H is that he’ll present me with something, I’ll like it, then we’ll chop it up, we’ll talk about it, and I’ll present him something else."
"Ultimately, what I love about Paul, by the way, it’s always been this way with Paul. Even back when we were wrestling every night together on the road. ‘Hey, let’s do something that’s never been done. Let’s do something that is unpredictable. Let’s do something that is bold.’ Regarding tonight with the Final Boss and coming to Cody Rhodes and saying, ‘I want to make you bigger than The Rock and I want to provide you and make all your dreams come true and your baby’s baby’s babies, and legacy. I want to make it all come true.’ Audacious, bold, disruptive. I could tell Paul, and he’ll say, ‘Yeah, great, let’s go for it.’ I love that about him. That’s the bond that we have."
As expected, it sounds like The Rock does veto certain ideas and strongly suggests others when it suits him. It's hard to imagine the Final Boss playing a role in creative week-to-week, of course, but anything to do with him and his family...well, that might be another matter altogether.
You can watch the full Q&A with Johnson in the player below.