Young Rock's Season 2 Premiere is Loaded With Pro Wrestling References

By Connor Casey

Young Rock Season 2 premiered on Tuesday night on NBC, once again recapping different time periods in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's upbringing. The first episode, just like last season, jumped between all three time periods (1983, 1987 and 1996) and was loaded with references that pro wrestling fans will undoubtedly catch. The first flashback scene of the episode shows a young Johnson, his mother and grandmother all watching TV as The Soul Patrol — Tony Atlas and Johnson's father, Rocky Johnson — defeated The Wild Samoans on the Nov. 15, 1983 episode of Championship Wrestling to become the first African Americans WWF World Tag Team Champions. The clip even shows an actor portraying Captain Lou Albano at ringside. Adrian Groulx, the 10-year-old version of Johnson, even daydreams of himself teaming with his father to beat down Afa and Sika. 

Antuone Torbert makes his debut in the series as Tony Atlas and shows off how he has Atlas' signature laugh nailed down. Groulx also has a daydream about attacking Atlas in the restaurant while his father cheers him on after getting tired of listening to him talk so much during a family dinner. 

Fast forward to 1987 and Johnson is picked up from the airport in Nashville by Bob Owens, a jobber in various southern territories. He gets dropped off at a hotel planning on meeting up with his father, only to instead be greeted by Downtown Bruno, better known to WWE fans as Harvey Wippleman. He takes young Johnson to a bar and mentions that he's working as a heel manager for Jerry Lawler's wrestling promotion, which at the time was the Continental Wrestling Association. 

The rest of the episode centers around Johnson's arrival in the Canadian Football League with the Calgary Stampeders, where he struggles and winds up on the practice squad. It's this section where viewers are introduced to Johnson's first wife Dani Garcia, played by Arlyn Broche. 

Based on the advertising from NBC, the second season will feature Johnson's rookie year in professional wrestling, including his tryouts with the WWF, learning the basics from his father, wrestling in the United States Wrestling Association in Memphis and officially debuting for the WWF at the 1996 Survivor Series pay-per-view. Stay tuned for full coverage of the season! 

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