Dwayne Johnson Reveals Father Rocky Johnson’s Cause of Death

WWE Hall of Famer died last week at age 75

Brian Welk | January 20, 2020 @ 5:03 PM





Dwayne Johnson said in a video Sunday that his father, former 
wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson, died of a 
blood clot in his leg that caused a heart attack.

The Rock posted a lengthy video to Instagram thanking his 
followers for their support in his time of grief and shared some 
additional memories of his father. But he clarified that 
Rocky Johnson had deep vein thrombosis — a blood clot in 
his leg that traveled to his lung, formed a clot and quickly 
killed him of a heart attack.

“A lot of you wanted to know what happened to my dad. 
He had not been feeling well. Been battling a cold, an infection. 
On Tuesday he had a deep vein thrombosis, which is essentially 
a blood clot in the leg, a big old blood clot. It broke free, 
traveled up his body and went right to his lung. It clotted his 
lung and he died very quickly from a massive heart attack,” 
Johnson said of his father. “According to the medical 
examiner who performed the autopsy, it was clear, very 
evident of what had happened.”

Johnson said he lost his father in a flash and didn’t get to say goodbye. 
But he said his father had been in pain for a long time, 
and he took solace in knowing that his father did not suffer 
or experience a long, drawn-out death.

“My question was, ‘Was he in pain? Did he go quick? 
Was it drawn out?’ He said, ‘He went fast. He went quick,'” 
Johnson said. “That’s my old man. He was always quick. 
But that did give me great comfort that it wasn’t prolonged.”

Johnson told his followers to be sure to text your loved ones 
and spend time with your family, and earlier on Monday 
he posted a photo showing that he had completed 
writing his father’s eulogy.

“I can also hear him now, ‘Make sure you put me over in the speech. 
Say good stuff about me,” Johnson said in his father’s voice. 
“He would say, ‘You tell them I taught you everything you know. 
But I didn’t teach you everything I know.”

Born Wayde Douglas Bowles in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1944, 
Rocky Johnson began his wrestling career at the age of 16 
and became a top star in the National Wrestling Alliance in the 
1970s. He won multiple regional NWA titles, traveling through 
the territorial system and wrestling against legends like 
Harley Race, Terry Funk and Jerry Lawler.

Johnson retired from wrestling in 1991 and trained his son to 
be a wrestler, at which point Dwayne Johnson took the name 
Rocky Maivia in his 1994 WWF debut.