Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took a shot at himself during his highly anticipated return to the WWE.
“If The Rock had to guess why you’re so angry, it’s probably because nobody likes you and you’re not funny” Johnson, 51, said to Jinder Mahal during WWE Raw on Monday, January 1. “As a matter of fact, if you were one of The Rock’s movies, you would probably be Baywatch.”
Mahal, 37, quipped he “thankfully” never watched the movie since it premiered in 2017. But his declaration didn’t faze Johnson.
“Well nobody else did, either,” the actor retorted. “Shut your mouth when The Rock is talking to you!”
As the crowd cheered for Johnson’s comeback, he mellowed out and seemingly broke his wrestler persona.
“Wait, I’m sorry. You actually didn’t see Baywatch?” he asked Mahal lightly before giving him a chance to respond. “It doesn’t matter if you didn’t see Baywatch!”
Johnson’s return to the WWE comes nearly two decades after he left the ring to pursue a film career. Since his WWE exit, Johnson has made a name for himself as an actor and snagged roles in countless star-studded films, including Baywatch.
Johnson starred in the film adaptation of the iconic series alongside Zac Efron, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and Alexandra Daddario. The movie was a flop at the box office and wasn’t a hit with critics earning a whopping 17 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The former wrestler took to social media to make light of the bad reviews at the time.
“Yay positive upticks 😂 Fans LOVE the movie,” he wrote via X (formerly Twitter) in May 2017. “Critics HATE it. What a glaring disconnect. People just want to laugh & have fun.”
The following year, Johnson continued to have a good sense of humor about the movie as he accepted a Razzie, which honors the worst performances and projects.
“I am also excited because I was just informed that I, too, am bringing home the gold tonight. No, not an Oscar — maybe one day. But a Razzie,” Johnson said in a March 2018 video shared via X. “Here’s the cool thing. The movie was so bad that they actually had to create another category.”
That year, Johnson was bestowed the “S–t Sandwich” award, which he graciously accepted.
“The new category is a movie so rotten you eventually fell in love with it. I’m not kidding, which means the s–t sandwich you’ve been eating is so bad that you eventually started to like it,” he explained. “Look, we made Baywatch with the best of intentions, it didn’t work out like that, but I humbly and graciously accept my Razzie.”
