.
[refined music]
* *
- Mmm. Oh, that is good.
- There is no coffee like Gjelgjish coffee.
- That's very true, Reid.
Randall, slow down.
You haven't had coffee in a while, man.
- [slurps]
Mmm.
Ahh. Daddy's home. [chuckles]
- The prime minister is looking forward
to tonight's welcome dinner.
It's going to be quite the event
with some of Gjelgjiughm's brightest luminaries
in attendance.
- Wow. It sounds amazing.
- Ah, luminaries, huh?
You know, I didn't pack for an event like that.
Uh, can I wear this?
- Don't worry. We'll put you in a corner seat.
Nobody will notice.
- [chuckles]
[phone buzzes]
- Prime Minister Honig humbly requests your presence
in her office.
- Oh, OK. No problem.
- Uh, just Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Park, you can rest in your suite until dinner.
- What?
- Thank you, Reid.
Randall, listen.
This could be a good thing.
Maybe there's an opportunity
where I could float the coffee trade deal by her.
- The prime minister hates me. I knew it.
- What are you talking about? She doesn't hate you.
- No, it's because I celebrated too hard
when I beat you at WrestleFest.
Now she hates me like she hates Taft.
- OK, no more coffee for you for the rest of the day.
OK? Please.
- [belches] I'm sorry.
- You OK? - Totally. Totally.
OK, try to work into the conversation
that I'm a serious journalist writing an in-depth article
for, like, a "Vanity Fair" type of publication,
like a Tom Wolfe or Hunter S. Thompson.
- Here's what you should do.
Have some cookies.
Have a lot of cookies.
You need to soak up the caffeine.
Look what's happening right now.
- What?
- Just-- you're all over the place.
- I'm fine. - Just have some cookies.
- Yeah, OK. - I'll see you at dinner.
- [muffled] I'm having the best time.
- Thank you. Prime Minister.
- [sighs] Dwayne, apologies.
I know that you've just arrived
and you probably want to rest and freshen up before dinner.
- No, not at all. How can I help?
- I would really appreciate your opinion on something.
- Mm-hmm.
- What do you think of this portrait?
[soft music]
- I think it's great. You look like a true leader.
Open to any possibility
that might make your country better,
say, a potential trade deal with another country--
- I don't like it. - Mm.
What don't you like about it?
- I don't know.
I mean, honestly, I don't think I like the whole idea of it.
I was born and raised right here in Gjelgjiughm.
Last year at this time, I was just a regular citizen,
and now I--
[sighs]
- I get it. - Mm.
- The pressure of sudden fame can be tough.
Eyes on you all the time. - Ugh, all the time.
- Constantly. - [sighs] My goodness.
I mean, how did you deal with it in the beginning?
- Honestly, it was, uh-- it was tricky.
I had just delivered my first promo as a heel.
I became the youngest intercontinental champion
in WWF history.
And what did it get me? [crowd booing]
In arenas across the country,
I heard chants of "Rocky sucks."
crowd: [chanting] Rocky sucks! Rocky sucks!
- Well, Rocky Maivia is a lot of things,
but "sucks" isn't one of them.
I couldn't tell if my heel turn
joining the Nation of Domination
got over with the crowd.
And backstage, I couldn't tell
if it got over with the brass either.
What'd you think?
- What matters now is what the folks at home think
about the new Rocky Maivia.
Eh, we'll find out soon enough.
The next live show is in five days.
When you step out into that crowd in Chicago,
we'll know all we need to know about whether you got over.
- And that's how Pat left it.
In five days, the fans who saw my promo on TV
are gonna come into that arena
and let me know how they feel about me.
- And how do you want them to feel?
- As a heel, I want them to hate me
and love to hate me.
- I'm gonna take your word for it.
[chuckles]
- Excuse me, could we get some more water, please?
I'm sure she heard me.
Anyway, I'm glad I did what I did,
but I've got no control over how the fans will react.
I put everything on the line with that promo.
Not just my career. Our future, my family's future.
- Don't put so much pressure on yourself.
Just take a moment to be proud
about finally being your true self out there.
- Yeah, it did feel good.
- Hi, can we get a couple of those waters?
- It's like she sped up that time.
- Yeah, like she didn't want the water to melt.
[both laugh]
So five days until Chicago.
- What's five days? We do that every week.
- Exactly. I mean, a full week is seven days.
So it's not even a week. - Yeah, it's like
if you met a friend for drinks and they said,
"Hey, let's do this again in five days,"
you'd say, "Whoa, slow down."
- "We just saw each other." [both laugh]
- Sorry for the wait.
Here's your side of ranch dressing.
.
- I left that restaurant feeling good
and planned to get a full night's sleep,
but that didn't happen.
I simply couldn't stop thinking
about how the fans would react to me
when I finally got to Chicago.
- How do you want your eggs?
Dwayne.
Your eggs. - Oh, yeah.
Yeah, my legs are great.
I imagined every possible outcome
over and over and over again.
[knock at door] - What's taking so long?
- It's not what you think.
Full disclosure-- it was at first,
but not anymore.
- I have to get ready for work.
Do I have to use the bathroom at the Chevron?
- With my future on the line,
these five days felt like an eternity.
- Hey. - Dewey.
I'm so glad you called.
We came as fast as we could.
- Oh, a little too fast.
- Look. I had the right of way.
Pigeon wasn't fit for the city.
How you doing, son?
Waiting to see if you got over with the fans can be tough.
Believe me. I've been there.
- Yeah. Thanks, Dad. - This apartment is spotless.
- Yeah, I've been doing some, uh, cleaning.
- Well, you only clean like this
when there's something really bothering you.
- Hmm?
- Are you getting enough sleep?
Does Dany snore?
Is her snoring during this stressful time
forcing you from your marital bed?
- Mom, no. Nobody's snoring.
And please don't say "marital bed."
- Hey, son.
What's this mess over here?
- I started doing puzzles to help pass the time.
- Not enough yarn in the world to make me adopt a cat.
- Anyway, how's things?
How's Tampa? - Good.
Uh, we're excited about
Rocky and Mom's wrestling gym opening up.
- Oh, yeah. The gym. How's that going?
- Couldn't be better. - The gym is a mess.
- Do you need me to clean it? - No, son.
Ooh, but I would love it
if you came back and signed some autographs
for the grand opening in a few weeks.
- Absolutely, Dad. - [laughs] Oh.
- Whatever I can do to help. - [chuckles] Great.
The only thing more exciting to potential gym members
than talking to me is talking to me
and someone that's half me. [laughter]
- You don't even have a wrestling ring.
- Again, I'm not buying used.
That's how you catch something.
- I appreciated my family visiting,
but their energy wasn't helping me pass the time.
And so, I decided to take a drive
to visit an old friend. [indistinct arguing]
- Oh, man, sure is nice to have you here, Dewey.
- Hey. - Hey, you need a fresh beer
or a rubber nipple for that one you've been nursing?
[both laugh]
- I'm OK, Bruno.
I've got 23 hours until my next match in Chicago,
so I'm just happy to be here by your...pool.
- Oh, don't worry, someone's on their way
to collect that dead finch, and then we'll go swimming.
Hey, but come on, brother.
No one brings up the exact amount of hours
before an event unless they're worried about something.
- I just thought these five days
leading up to my next match would be easy.
- Mm-hmm. - You know?
But I can't stop worrying about what might happen there.
- Yeah, I understand.
Wondering how the fans might react
to something you say or might do in the ring,
seen it affect a lot of guys.
- Look, I know uncertainty is part of the deal, right?
But getting on the mic like that,
saying exactly what I wanted to say...
- Mm-hmm. - It felt great.
So if I don't get over... - Yeah, you'll be crushed.
- Yeah, because it wouldn't just mean
I would probably lose my job in the WWF.
But I'll be losing a feeling
that I can't replicate anywhere else,
doing anything else.
- I get it, brother.
Nothing else like it in the world.
Hey. Have no fear, all right?
It's gonna happen for you.
Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna get you a fresh one.
Any time you drink a warm beer, an angel loses its wings.
Not on my watch. [both laugh]
- And then finally, those five days were over,
and I was in Chicago,
not knowing what was gonna happen.
- This is it, Dewey.
Let's find out if anybody's talking about you.
- Yeah.
- Any thoughts before we get started, Vince?
- First match can make the night or break the night.
Let's see it.
- You heard the man!
[distant cheering]
- You ready? - [sighs] Yeah.
It's all or nothing now. - Damn right.
Come on. Come on.
It's party time!
all: * We are the Nation of Domination! *
- Being booed as a heel faction was normal
and to be expected,
but nobody expected what happened next.
crowd: [chanting] Rocky sucks! Rocky sucks!
[crowd booing, jeering]
- You could feel they were actually enjoying hating me.
- Congrats, son. They can't stand your ass.
- Which is exactly what I wanted.
I had gotten over as a heel.
They remembered my speech five days ago,
and they loved hating me for it.
And I couldn't have been happier.
.
- Minding those fists again.
- After the fans' response
that night in Chicago, there was no looking back.
I was a house of fire,
and the fan reaction was instant and intense.
It was at a whole other level.
- You suck, Rocky!
Also, I love you!
- You know, ever since I got to Minnesota,
people keep telling me this is the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
But when I look around, all I see are 10,000 jabronis.
- Welp, just saying, what's not to like?
[crowd booing] - Listen to this crowd.
- But you've gotta commend the athletic ability.
[rock music]
- Getting back on the offensive.
- Look at this! - Great offense!
- Good night, nurse! Whoo-hoo!
- Tremendous DDT.
- [laughs]
- Oh, attaboy, son! - That's it, Dewey!
- Snap his neck like a Thanksgiving turkey!
- So I hear you're the number one wrestler
in all of Milwaukee.
[cheers and applause]
Your daddy's here.
Your grandmama's here.
Hell, even the girl
that you finally got the guts to ask out is here.
What's up, girl? [crowd booing]
But what you, them, and everybody here needs to do
is two things--
know your role
and shut your mouth!
[crowd booing, jeering]
- Watch out now. - Ready to do a Rock Bottom.
He's setting him up. - Rock Bottom.
- Made it! Who's your daddy?
- * Whoa, whoa *
- Let's switch up next week's main event
and get Dwayne in there.
- You got it, Vince.
- Oh, what a shot to the face.
Ken Shamrock with a thunderous clothesline.
- Ken Shamrock.
- Show these people you don't suck!
- Vince knew I was one of the hottest tickets
in the WWF.
He never told me that directly,
but he didn't have to.
I knew 'cause he started booking me
at the top of the card facing stars
like Ken Shamrock.
[crowd booing]
- * Rock now, rock the night *
* *
[crowd booing, jeering]
- Hold on. I want to try something.
- Hey, look at this! - Wait a minute.
Setting him up.
- Oh, he may have to get some steam here.
[dramatic music]
* *
And here it comes. - Yes!
- The elbow to the left of the heart of Shamrock.
Come on now. With a hook to the leg.
- Shamrock felt that.
- Dropping it on Shamrock.
[crowd cheering, booing]
- The People's Elbow?
I don't get it, man.
You hit the ropes twice.
You jump over me for no reason and drop an elbow.
- It got a pop, didn't it? - [scoffs]
The most ridiculous thing I ever seen.
[rock music]
- Oh, I'm just getting started.
- Uh-oh. Here it comes! Oh!
- And drives the elbow. - Oh!
- Now he wants that referred to
as The People's Elbow.
- Yeah! The People's Elbow into the sternum.
Watch this. This is pretty cool.
- Do it, Rocky! Come on!
- Put the brakes on. Bang!
- I was now operating
from a place of extreme confidence,
and it was paying off in spades.
[crowd booing, jeering]
- * East, west *
- After that amazing run on the road,
I couldn't wait to see my family in Tampa
and help my dad open his new gym,
just like I said I would.
But excited as I was to sign some autographs,
I wasn't prepared for what I was about to see.
Holy...
- There he is! There he is!
[crowd cheering]
- * Lyrical acrobatics needs something *
* To rock the mic and get the crowd jumping *
[all cheering] - Thank you.
Thank you so much. [sighs]
I can't believe how many people are here.
- They're all just finally seeing in you
what we've known for years.
- She's right, Dewey.
We always knew.
Isn't that right, High Chief?
High Chief said that's right. [laughter]
- Welcome to life on top, son.
- It's so surreal.
- I've been there, and let me tell you:
when that spotlight is shining down, you gotta--
- I know, I know. Keep your feet on the ground.
- Hell no!
Moonwalk on a 747, son.
You're the king! [chuckles]
Oh, OK. Hey.
Thank you all so much for coming out.
And don't forget, as you get your autograph,
we have founding memberships available for 30 bucks a month.
- 35 a month if you want towel service.
- That's a great value.
Plus, the towels got the gym logo on 'em.
I mean, the towels are a beautiful classic white.
- We love you, Rocky. - Oh.
Thank you, man. - Thanks, friend.
We gotta figure out a way to sort out this name confusion
while we're together in public.
- Well, he was clearly talking to me.
- Eh, that's up for debate.
- I was talking to him.
- Hey, long line.
Let's keep it moving, huh?
- I signed autographs for about eight hours.
I think I strained my forearm.
- Well, as your true friend and pretend doctor,
I'm prescribing you a dozen beers for the pain.
[laughs]
Dewey, for real, though, I'm proud of you.
I always knew you had it in you.
- Bruno, I wouldn't be here without you.
- Oh.
- So glad we could finally catch a game.
- Me too. Can you answer me this question, though?
Why aren't they throwing it more?
- Man, you can't throw against Deion Sanders.
- Maivia, arm wrestle you for a beer.
- Right now?
- [exhales sharply]
- Don't worry about the beer, buddy.
OK. What down is it?
- Hi.
Rocky? - Yeah.
- Remember when you body-slammed the Undertaker,
and he tried to get up,
and you were like, "No way, buster!"
And then you punched him, and you gave him the Rock Bottom.
And then the ref was like, "One, two, three"?
- Yeah, I do.
- It was a great match.
- I'm glad you enjoyed it. - [chuckles]
- OK. Who's got the ball?
- [laughs] Game's over, brother.
- Over? - Yeah.
- Oh, you're kidding me. - Nope.
Deion picked six to win the game.
Oh, look. Talking about it right now.
- Listen, you're gonna throw against Deion in prime time,
you're gonna pay, 'cause Deion is prime time.
- Tell you what, you gotta have major swagger
to talk like that in third person.
- Hell yeah, you do.
I like it.
- Hey, bro, when the hell
are you gonna wrestle Steve Austin?
- Um, I don't know,
but I'll tell Vince the fans want to see it.
- Hell yeah, bro. Hey.
Shotgun a beer with me real quick.
- I'm sorry.
I'm just taking it easy watching some games.
- Hey.
Who wants to bet that I can shotgun a beer
faster than Rocky Maivia?
[all cheering] Come on!
- I wasn't prepared for living in the spotlight
.
- Mm-hmm. - Mm.
- Someone's hungry.
- Cod might be the perfect fish.
- [chuckles]
- Let me top you off, Mr. Maivia.
- Whoa, you're like a water ninja today.
- I did win
two nonconsecutive Halloween costume contests
when I dressed up as a ninja in college.
- Congrats on that. - Nonconsecutive?
- Sophomore year, I had mono.
Enjoy your meal. - Thank you.
- She sure is more attentive
than the last time we were here.
- Yeah. No kidding.
- Think of all that's happened since then.
- It's been insane. [sighs]
But you know what?
It feels like we've only been talking about me lately.
How are you doing? How's work been?
- Oh, great. Actually, I just got this--
- Excuse us. Rocky Maivia?
I don't mean to bother you, but can we get your autograph?
- [sighs]
Sure.
- Oh, my God. Sorry.
I told you we shouldn't have. - No, no, no. It's OK.
- Thanks so much.
Enjoy your dinner.
- What was that about? - I know.
I'm sorry they interrupted you.
It's been happening all the time now
when I'm in public. - Dwayne.
I wasn't talking about them.
I was talking about you. - What did I do?
- You were so rude to them. - Rude?
I gave him my autograph.
- You really didn't see what you did?
- I truly have no idea what you're talking about.
- All right. Let's do an exercise.
- Oh.
- Not that kind of exercise. It's one I learned
at a Merrill Lynch team-building lunch.
- Oh.
- We're gonna pretend to be that couple
right before they came over and interrupted our dinner.
- All right. Let's do it. - All right.
Oh, my God.
Look, it's Rocky Maivia.
- That's my favorite wrestler.
- [chuckles] - I gotta go over there.
- No, no, no, no. You can't bother him.
He's with his beautiful wife.
She's got great hair, by the way.
- Awesome hair, but he's my guy.
I may never see him again. - You're right.
You're right. You have to do it.
- OK, but you gotta come with me.
It'll be awesome. - Let's go.
- [clears throat] Excuse me, Mr. Maivia?
Can we get your autograph?
- [sighs]
Sure.
- I did not do it like that. - Yes, you did.
- No, I didn't. - Yes, you did.
- Did I? - Yes!
- [sighs] Man, I'm the worst.
- You're certainly not the worst,
but in that moment, maybe you weren't your best.
- It's just everything that's happened since Chicago
has been amazing.
It's what I've always wanted.
- And it's everything I wanted for you.
- But things are different. - I know.
You've lost your ability to be anonymous in public,
and that's hard.
But you've gained something way more important--
the ability to make people happy,
and you love to make people happy.
Just remember that's why you're doing this.
- Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt.
- Oh, my gosh.
Would you like to sit down?
- Yeah. Can we get you anything?
What are we doing? - Do you want my chair?
- This is not--yeah, get up. - OK. I'll get up.
- No, no, no. It's OK.
I just wanted to apologize for being so rude earlier.
I really appreciate you both stopping by and saying hello.
- Don't worry about it. It's totally cool.
- It wasn't cool, which is why I picked up your dinner tab
and have a round of Fernets coming to your table.
- I don't know what that is, but thank you so much.
- Yeah, I gotta say, you are much nicer in person
than the guy you play in the ring.
Even though we love him too. [chuckles]
- Now you can tell your friends you went one-on-one
with the jabroni-beating, pie-eating,
trailblazing, eyebrow-raising,
heart-stopping, elbow-dropping...
Tip your waitress. Raise your glass.
If you approach me again, I'll whup your candy ass!
[both laugh]
- I got The People's Elbow! - Come on!
[indistinct chatter]
[sighs]
- That seemed to go well.
- I'm glad I did that. - [chuckles]
- Thank you.
- I hope you saved room for dessert,
'cause the waitress came by and said
she's sending a pie on the house.
She said you love pie, which I don't think is true.
- My persona loves pie.
- Why?
- It's a metaphor.
Let's not worry about that now.
You know, after that moment with those fans
at the restaurant, I never looked at any aspect
of my fame as bad ever again.
- Mm. - I mean, I was given
this amazing opportunity
to fulfill my dreams and make a difference.
I'll always be very grateful for that,
even when fame can sometimes be a little uncomfortable.
And I know you can relate. - I can.
[chuckles] - Yeah.
- I still think I should have smiled.
- I really like it like that. Keep 'em guessing.
No one will ever know what's under there.
- Maybe knives. - Yes, knives.
- [laughs] - A mouthful of knives...
- [growls] - For the critics.
- [chuckles] - So, uh, what do you think?
Brought it in case we went kayaking.
[chuckles]
- We can seat you in a corner. No one will notice.
- Yeah, and I can't wait to go hiking in Joshua Tree.
Randall, your socks, you gotta pull them up.
- Dwayne, I am just dying to know more.
I mean, what happened after that dinner with Dany?
- Well, when I went back out on the road,
Dany was right about me being myself
inside and outside the ring.
But I realized if I really wanted to be myself,
I'd have to address the name issue
that my dad brought up to me back at his gym.
[rock music]
It was time to retire Rocky Maivia.
Well, Fayetteville,
let's see whose ass is about to get whupped,
courtesy of...
The Rock. - * The Rock says *
* The Rock, The Rock *