The Rock Shares Footage Of Himself At 11 Years Old Watching Father Rocky Johnson Wrestle

Rocky Johnson — WWE Hall of Famer and father of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson — was part of a wildly popular tag team alongside Tony Atlas throughout the early 1980s. And in November 1983, he and Atlas would defeat The Wild Samoans to become World Tag Team Champions, making history as the first Black tag team champions in WWE. Over the weekend, "The Rock" took to Instagram to share some rare footage of himself watching his father and Atlas during a television taping in 1983.

The former eight-time WWE Champion is only 11 years old in the clip and goes on to attribute his love for the gym to his father's tough love, writing "This is why the gym will always be my sacred place. My therapy, my refuge. All thanks to my old man's tough love."

Johnson began his professional wrestling career with National Wrestling Alliance in 1964, going on to wrestle for the promotion for nearly the next 20 years before making his WWE debut in 1982. He was paired with Atlas soon after, and together they were "The Soul Patrol." Atlas debuted for the promotion just a few years earlier in 1979, and prior to that racked up several championships across various promotions while additionally earning the title of "Mr. USA" for his bodybuilding accomplishments.

Following his retirement in 1991, Johnson began training his son to wrestle. Though, as "The Rock" also mentions in his post from over the weekend, his father was taking him to the gym and showing him around the wrestling mats as early as five years old.