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The Rock Gifted His Uncle Tonga With a Wonderful Christmas Present

Merry Christmas Uncle Tonga – enjoy your new truck! Cool Christmas story to share with y’all… Known my “Uncle Tonga” since I was 5yrs old. My grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia helped train him to become a professional wrestler in the 70’s. Throughout Tonga’s illustrious wrestling career he changed his name to “King Haku” and became one the WWE’s most sought after “bad guys” and still known to this day for being one of the toughest and legit most vicious man in wrestling history. Years later and I get a call from WWE saying “Vince McMahon wants to see you wrestle immediately. He’s flying you to RAW tomorrow and you’ll have a tryout match.” I thought holy shit that’s awesome, buuuut there’s a few problems: For me, I wasn’t just having “a tryout match”, because I had never actually HAD a real match in my life. Ever. WWE thought that I already had multiple matches under my belt, but little did they know. What they also didn’t know was that I was broke as hell and didn’t actually own wrestling gear – no boots, knee pads or most importantly.. wrestling trunks. I went to Sports Authority and bought some bright ass white volleyball knee pads, called my Uncle and asked if he had ANY trunks I could use for my tryout. He said all I have is a pair of shiny purple trunks (purple was his signature color), I told him I don’t care if the trunks are all the colors of Skittles, I’ll happily wear them. When I picked the trunks up from him I’ll never forget the monster hug he gave me, look me in the eyes and said, “I’m so proud of you. Go get ’em nephew!” Here’s the picture of me wrestling my FIRST MATCH EVER in Corpus Christi, TX in front of 15,000 people – proudly in my lucky purple trunks. And the rest… was history. My Uncle Tonga is a family man, humble man and champion. Most importantly one of the greatest human beings I know. So we walk outside and I said “Uncle how do you like my truck?” He said, “Whoooaaa nephew it’s beautiful… I love it!” I said “Good ’cause it’s yours.” He was speechless. Thru tears (manly of course;) we monster hugged ’cause I’ll never forget what he did for me when I had nothing. Merry Christmas Uncle and ofa atu. #LuckyPurpleTrunks

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Somebody’s the favorite nephew! Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson gifted his uncle Tonga with a new truck for Christmas, and shared a sweet message for his loved one on the holiday.

The Central Intelligence actor, 43, posted an Instagram photo collage of his uncle, including throwback snaps of Tonga as a wrestler and a Christmas Day pic of the pair posing in front of his massive Ford truck.

“Merry Christmas Uncle Tonga – enjoy your new truck!” the Rock wrote on social media. “Cool Christmas story to share with y’all… Known my ‘Uncle Tonga’ since I was 5yrs old. My grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia helped train him to become a professional wrestler in the 70’s. Throughout Tonga’s illustrious wrestling career he changed his name to ‘King Haku’ and became one the WWE’s most sought after ‘bad guys’ and still known to this day for being one of the toughest and legit most vicious man in wrestling history.”

Dwayne
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at the 2000 MTV Music Awards.

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Indeed, Tonga Fifita is well-known for his contributions to the pro wrestling community, and has appeared in both World Championship Wrestling as well as the World Wrestling Federation. On WWE’s website, Tonga even has his very own superstar page. “Few names throughout WWE history have been more closely associated with intimidation and toughness than Haku,” the biography reads. “Hailing from the island of Tonga in the South Pacific, his unbridled intensity and brutal tactics made him a fearsome force in both WWE and WCW in the 1980s and ’90s.”

The Rock noted that his Uncle Tonga paved the way to his future successes. “Years later … I get a call from WWE saying ‘Vince McMahon wants to see you wrestle immediately. He’s flying you to RAW tomorrow and you’ll have a tryout match,'” the Daddy Day Care star continued in his heartwarming Instagram post. “I thought holy s–t that’s awesome, buuuut there’s a few problems: For me, I wasn’t just having ‘a tryout match,’ because I had never actually HAD a real match in my life. Ever. WWE thought that I already had multiple matches under my belt, but little did they know. What they also didn’t know was that I was broke as hell and didn’t actually own wrestling gear – no boots, knee pads or most importantly.. wrestling trunks.”

Dwayne
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in 2000.

The Rock, who detailed his financial struggles in a revealing interview with The Hollywood Reporter last June, said he turned to none other than Tonga. “I went to Sports Authority and bought some bright ass white volleyball knee pads, called my Uncle and asked if he had ANY trunks I could use for my tryout,” he recalled. “He said all I have is a pair of shiny purple trunks (purple was his signature color), I told him I don’t care if the trunks are all the colors of Skittles, I’ll happily wear them.”

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A pair of Tonga’s bright purple trunks were featured in one of the photos in The Rock’s Instagram update. “When I picked the trunks up from him I’ll never forget the monster hug he gave me, look me in the eyes and said, ‘I’m so proud of you. Go get ’em nephew!'” he wrote. “Here’s the picture of me wrestling my FIRST MATCH EVER in Corpus Christi, TX in front of 15,000 people – proudly in my lucky purple trunks. And the rest… was history.”

The Rock concluded his note by sharing thoughtful characteristics about Tonga. “My Uncle Tonga is a family man, humble man and champion. Most importantly one of the greatest human beings I know,” the star shared. “So we walk outside and I said ‘Uncle how do you like my truck?’ He said, ‘Whoooaaa nephew it’s beautiful… I love it!’ I said ‘Good ’cause it’s yours.’ He was speechless. Thru tears (manly of course;) we monster hugged ’cause I’ll never forget what he did for me when I had nothing. Merry Christmas Uncle and ofa atu. #LuckyPurpleTrunks.”

It was a very merry Christmas for Johnson, who welcomed his baby daughter, Jasmine, with his longtime girlfriend, Lauren Hashian, on December 16.

 

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