Wouldn’t be where I am today, had it not been for uncle Tonga, says Johnson

Tonga 'Uli'uli Fifita. 56, was born in Tonga and grew up in Kolomotu'a. He attended Tonga College before he joined a contingent of Tongan wrestlers who left for further sumo training in Japan while he was 14. He was crowned 'King' of the WWF in 1988, and teamed with Andre the Giant to defeat Demolition for the WWF tag team championships in 1989. He married to Dorophy Koloamatangi and they have four children and they are living in the United States. Photo/Dwayne Johnson

Professional Wrestler Dwayne Douglas Johnson also known by his ring name The Rock has surprised his ‘uncle’ Tonga ‘Uli’uli Fifita, once a famous wrestler with a tricked-out Ford F-150 truck that retails for around US$58,000.

The Christmas gift was presented about two weeks ago.

It’s 20 years since a broke Johnson asked his Uncle Tonga to lend him his shorts for his first bout because he couldn’t afford any.

The 43-year-old actor thought itʻs now about time to pay him back.

He tweeted and said: “Wouldn’t be where I am today, had it not been for uncle Tonga”.

Johnson shared the story, which linked to  his wrestling career and lead to his success as a Hollywood star in films including the Fast & Furious franchise.

After he gave the gift to Tonga, Johnson went public and said : ‘Cool Christmas story to share with y’all… Known my ‘Uncle Tonga’ since I was 5yrs old.

‘My grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia helped train him to become a professional wrestler in the 70’s.

‘Throughout Tonga’s illustrious wrestling career he changed his name to “King Haku” and became one of the WWE’s most sought after “bad guys” still known to this day for being one of the toughest and legit most vicious man in wrestling history.‘Years later and I get a call from WWE saying “Vince McMahon wants to see you wrestle immediately. He’s flying you to RAW tomorrow and you’ll have a tryout match.”

‘I thought holy shit that’s awesome, buuuut there’s a few problems: For me, I wasn’t just having “a tryout match”, because I had never actually HAD a real match in my life. Ever.

‘WWE thought that I already had multiple matches under my belt, but little did they know. What they also didn’t know was that I was broke as hell and didn’t actually own wrestling gear – no boots, knee pads or most importantly.. wrestling trunks.

‘I went to Sports Authority and bought some bright ass white volleyball knee pads, called my Uncle and asked if he had ANY trunks I could use for my tryout.

‘He said all I have is a pair of shiny purple trunks (purple was his signature color), I told him I don’t care if the trunks are all the colors of Skittles, I’ll happily wear them.

‘When I picked the trunks up from him I’ll never forget the monster hug he gave me, look me in the eyes and said, “I’m so proud of you. Go get ’em nephew!”

‘Here’s the picture of me wrestling my FIRST MATCH EVER in Corpus Christi, TX in front of 15,000 people – proudly in my lucky purple trunks. And the rest… was history.

Is referred to as Uncle Tonga, in Dwayne Johnson‘s autobiography, ‘The Rock Says’. He helped Rock with his first professional WWF match, lending Dwayne a pair of his old electric purple wrestling tights (which were too big on Dwayne). Although not a blood relative of the Rock, Tonga has been a good family friend for all of Dwayne’s life, as Tonga was very close to the Rock’s late grandfather, Samoan wrestler, ‘High Chief’ Peter Maivia.

‘My Uncle Tonga is a family man, humble man and champion. Most importantly one of the greatest human beings I know.

‘So we walk outside and I said “Uncle how do you like my truck?” He said, “Whoooaaa nephew it’s beautiful… I love it!” I said “Good ’cause it’s yours.”

‘He was speechless. Thru tears (manly of course) we monster hugged ’cause I’ll never forget what he did for me when I had nothing. Merry Christmas Uncle and ofa atu. #LuckyPurpleTrunks.’

‘Ofa atu’ means ‘love you’ in Tongan.

Source: NZkanivapacific