It’s been more than a decade since Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was a full-time wrestler, but he still has love for the business – and, apparently, he’s more than willing to defend it against Twitter trolls.
On Sunday, The Rock sent a congratulatory tweet to Kurt Angle, who wrestled in a WWE ring for the first time in 11 years at the TLC pay-per-view in Minneapolis.
Congrats to my good bud @RealKurtAngle and his return tonight to a @WWE ring. Special athlete and great human being. Have FUN brotha #WWETLC
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 22, 2017
The tweet received nearly 20,000 likes, and for good reason. But that reason was completely lost on Ben Pobjie, an Australian writer, and comedian who decided to take the opportunity to remind The Rock that “wrestling isn’t real.”
Dwayne, wrestling isn’t real. It’s time you knew. https://t.co/3iqKjHfNAn
— Ben Pobjie (@benpobjie) October 22, 2017
Pobjie should have just kept his trolling to himself, though. Because not only did he draw the ire of wrestling fans everywhere, he also drew the ire of The Rock himself.
??? I like the dry wit
Correct, I do in fact know wrestling isn’t real. Thats why I said “have fun”. I also know, you can go fuck yourself.— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 22, 2017
Ouch.
Read our take on the next page.
As someone who admittedly recently exchanged some words on Facebook with a friend who insinuated that wrestling is fake, I, of course, agree with The Rock on this one. It’s actually a pretty big pet peeve of mine when someone calls wrestling fake. Yes, the outcome is predetermined and everyone is careful to protect their opponent(s) – but there’s nothing “fake” about the physicality of pro wrestling. Personally, I like to think of it more as choreographed, like a dance, rather than “fake.”
For what it’s worth, though, Pobjie took his trip to the SmackDown Hotel in stride.
I remember when I was little and my Mum told me if I worked hard one day I’d be told to go fuck myself and 34,000 strangers would applaud
— Ben Pobjie (@benpobjie) October 23, 2017
Now we all know: don’t ever tell The Rock that wrestling is fake.