The Rock Reacts to Jabroni Getting Added to the Dictionary

The pro wrestling world was treated to a surprise on Tuesday morning when Dictionary.com announced [...]

By Connor Casey

The pro wrestling world was treated to a surprise on Tuesday morning when Dictionary.com announced it was adding the word "jabroni" to its official list of words. Many fans credited Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for the word's popularity, as he used it in many of his dozens of famous catchphrases. The website even tagged Johnson in the announcement on Twitter by writing, "Yes, we put jabroni in the dictionary. We assume @TheRock could smell us cooking up this update the whole time."

Johnson responded later in the day by writing, "Wow - very cool! Honored have a word actually make the dictionary. Making my all my teachers very proud. For the record, I may have made the word "Jabroni" (a noun, btw;) famous and part of culture, BUT the Iron Sheik made it famous in our wild wrestling locker rooms!"

The official definition for the noun is "1. Slang. a stupid, foolish, or contemptible person; loser."

A second definition pertaining to just pro wrestling was also included.

"Also called enhancement talent, jobber. Professional Wrestling. a wrestler whose purpose is to lose matches against headlining wrestlers in order to build up the status and fame of the headliners," it reads.

Johnson explained in a 2014 documentary The Shiek how he was inspired by the former WWF Champion to use the nickname.

"His impact on my career has really been profound," Johnson said in a documentary about the Iron Sheik. ... "Now the word jabroni is connected to me. When a lot of people think, 'oh, jabroni, oh, yeah, yeah, it's The Rock's word.' No, no, no, no. It's not my word. It's The Iron Sheik's word."

On the same day the word was added, Johnson celebrated receiving the helmets for all eight teams from the XFL, a league he now partially owns.

View this post on Instagram

My XFL helmets arrived to my office and (holy shit!) I’m humbled and grateful at how full circle life can sometimes be 🙏🏾🏈 My dreams of playing in the NFL never came true, but now years later - I have the honor of buying an entire pro football league so the dreams of other players CAN COME TRUE. My trailblazing partner @danygarciaco (first woman ever to own an entire US sports league) and #GerryCardinale are passionate football owners who are committed to the grind to deliver awesome football for the fans — and always take care of our hard working, talented players. And finally, I keep a framed $7 BUCKS (the amount of money I had when I was cut from the Canadian Football League in 1995) on the top shelf here as my daily reminder to stay hungry, humble and always be the hardest worker in the room. #LeagueOfCulture #LeagueOfExpression #LeagueOfPassion #LeagueOfThePeople #WeAreTheXFL 🏈

A post shared by therock (@therock) on

0comments
Start the Conversation

of