Dwayne Johnson\'s excitement over having full ownership of the name \'The Rock\' goes far deeper than the potential business prospects that this agreement provides.
Johnson was announced as the newest member of the TKO board of directors today, as part of a landmark agreement between the two sides. Johnson will serve on the board that will oversee decisions for TKO which consists of both WWE and UFC. TKO Group Holdings is owned by Endeavor.
Dwayne Johnson on Owning The Rock
As part of his deal with TKO, Johnson now has full ownership of the name \'The Rock\' which until now had been owned by WWE. During an appearance on CNBC, Johnson spoke about the deeper meaning to owning the name.
\"There\'s the business side of that, as we know. There\'s the economics and the Math side of that. But also, it goes much deeper than that. And this idea, the name of The Rock, for me, I owe that name everything. Without that name, there would be no wrestling career.
\"There would be no Hollywood career. But also that name was a derivative of my dad Rocky Johnson who was one of the first Black tag-team champions in WWE. A trailblazer paved the way, a man of color. For a kid like me to be embraced in a bigger way when I came along [he was inspirational.]\
Johnson made sure to credit Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, who was also on the show, for agreeing to give him the name and appointing him to the board.
\"I want to acknowledge Ari [Emanuel] and give him his flowers because at the end of the day, he had a million reasons to say no but he found the reason to say yes. And the reason why is because he understood, as he told me face to face \'This is your name and it comes from your family and that\'s important to me.\' So family is very important to us.
\"The name \'The Rock\', this is why it becomes invaluable. The street valuation of the name \'The Rock\', it\'s got some heft behind it. But more importantly than that, it\'s something that I\'ve earned, I built, and I owe so much to that wild lunatic called \'The Rock\'.
\"And by the way, and I told him this last night. The greatest benefit of now completely owning the name \'The Rock\' [with] no gimmicks, no BS, across the board, full ownership [is] the name \'The Rock\' years ago, really allowed me to be me, and that\'s very special. Thank you Ari.\
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