RF Video sat down with Rocky Johnson on 10/22/04 in Long Island, NY for a shoot interview on his entire life and career.
Here is a partial list of topic we talked with Rocky about:
-What was it like growing up as a descendant of a slave
-What kind of stories did your father pass down to you about slavery, etc that he may have gotten from his father, grandfather, etc?
-What was it like growing up during segregation
-How did you get into working out, fitness
-What is your boxing background
-How did you break into wrestling
-Biggest misconceptions before you got in?
-What was the training like?
-As a black man wrestling during the 60s, what kind of obstacles did you face
-Memories of the Tolos brothers
-Memories of working Maple Leaf Gardens
-Do you think the wrestlers or the promoters were more racist towards you
-Memories of sparring with George Foreman
-Memories of working in California
-Memories of Roy Shire
-Memories of Freddie Blassie
-Thoughts on Mil Mascaras
-did you wrestle on the night JFK was shot and if so, memories
-Early memories of working with Pat Patterson
-Do you find it ironic that years later Pat would be instrumental to your son’s success
-Memories of Ray Stevens
-Early memories of the Briscoes
-Thoughts on Jim Barnett
-Memories of the Georgia territory
-Memories of working in the Florida territory
-Memories of working with JJ Dillon
– Did the favoritism of Mike Graham b other the boys?
-Thoughts on Eddie Graham
-Memories of teaming with Pedro Morales
-You and Pat Patterson worked a lot of territories together. Was that coincidence?
-Memories of working with a young Masa Saito
-Memories of working with Curtis Iakea
-Memories of working with a young Bruiser Brody
-Memories of working with Bob Roop? He was a shooter, did he try and screw around with you
-Memories of Dusty Rhodes, did you think hed become so powerful later on
-Do you think Dusty stole his gimmick from Thunderbolt Patterson
-Memories working for Joe Blanchard, thoughst on Joe
-Memories of teaming with Jose Lothario
-Memories of working with a young Stan hansen
-Memories of Superstar Graham in and out of the ring in Texas
-Thoughts on the Funks
-Memories of your first trip to Memphis
-Thoughts on Lawler and Jarrett
-You have gone back to Memphis a lot over the last 30 years, memories, thoughts, favorite opponents, least fav opponents, fav angles.
-Thoughts on Tommy Rich
-Memories of Paul Orndorff from your days in Tensessee
-Memories of David Schultz
-Memories of Jimmy Valiant in and out of the ring
-Thoughts on the Fargos
-You had a brief tour of Central States, any memories or thoughts? Working with Bulldog Brower?
-Thoughts on Lou Thesz
-After so many succesful years as Rocky Johnson, why did you put a mask on in the Mid Atlantic area?
-Thoughts on the Crocketts
-Memories of your time there
-Memories of your series with Greg Valentine
-Memories of Roddy Piper
-At what point in your career do you think drugs became pretty crazy among the boys?
-Did you ever work with Peter Maivia before you started dating his daughter
-How did he react to you dating his daughter?
-How about her mother? She was a powerful promoter back in her day in Hawaii
-Did you feel pressured to work in Hawaii when you could have made more money elsewhere?
-Memories of your series with Harley Race for the NWA Title and what was it like back then challenging for the title
-Thoughts on Don Owens and his brother
-Memories of Roddy Piper from this time period
-Thoughts on Buddy Rose
-Memories teaming with Iceman Parsons
-Thoughts on a young Curt Hennig
-Memories of your series with Rip Oliver
-How did you finally wind up in the WWF
-Thoughts on Vince Sr.
-What was Vince Jr like before he took over power
-Memories of Bob Backlund
-Who were your traveling partners during this time
-It seemed like the WWF at this time was full of guys you had worked with over your career, how close was the locker room
-Any good road stories or ribs
-What was Jimmy Snuka like outside of the ring
-Memories of Fuji ribs
-Memories of teaming with Andre and Andre on the road
-Was the change over from Vince Sr to Junior smooth?
-Memories of your series with Buddy in the WWF
-When you wrestled Billy GRaham in WWF, how different was he from the man you wrestled years before?
-Memories of your series with Don Muraco
-Was there ever any consideration to putting the IC title on you?
-Memories of Lou Albano
-Did you ever witness Senior firing him at the tapings
-Memories of John Studd
-Was it special to you to return to Maple Leaf Gardens in 83 as the WWF’s match on the show
-How different was it being a pro wrestler on national television rather than regional in the WWF
-Memories of Ric Flair, you worked underneath him vs. Muraco on a Toronto show.
-Thoughts on being paired with Tony Atlas
-Did it mean anything special to you considering your family history to be a part of the first african american wwf tag team champs
-Was Tony hard to ride with on the road
-Memories of your series with the Samoans
-Memories of the Muraco-Snuka cage match
-Memories of Hogan coming in
-How did the locker room accept the change from Backlund to Hogan
-When did Vince Jrs ego begin to grow
-How did the locker room react to Dave Schultz slapping Jon Stossel
-What was the rivalry like between Piper and Hogan
-Did the Pipers Pit bother you when Roddy brought up shining his shoes
-Memories of your series with Piper
-How hot was the WWF at this time
-Was there a big difference in pay offs on house shows with Hogan on top
-How did the boys react to backlund leaving
-with the stakes so much bigger, was the locker room as close as in the past
-Memories of Jesse Ventura
-Memories of your series with Adonis and Murdoch
-Did you feel after you lost the belts that you were going to be phased out
-How did it come to you finally leaving
-Fav matches from your run, fav opponents, least fav opponents, good road stories
-You went back to Memphis for a bit, were you treated differently from your previous runs
-Thoughts on Bill Dundee
-At what point did you start bringing Dwayne on the road
-At what point did you begin smartening him up
-Rock tells a story in his book about some kind of confrontation as a kid with Lars Anderson, memories/thoughts?
-Memories of Randy Orton as a kid
-How involved were you with Dwayne as a father
-At what point did he express interest in becoming a pro wrestler
-What was his training like
-How quickly did he pick it up
-If he didnt get hurt do you think he would have went to the NFL instead
-Do you think it was a good or bad thing getting signed to the WWF right away without working territories for a few years
-Did he ever get frustrated early on in Memphis and call you
-Do you think someone like a Rock or Randy Orton has a better chance to make it then a David Sammartino or David Flair because the pressure is too much
-Best piece/es of advice you gave Dwayne early on
-How come you have not done any serious angles with Dwayne over the years
-When Tony Atlas came back briefly, were you going to be involved in something
-When did you realize that Dwayne would become a big success
-As a father and a fan of his, favorite matches of Dwayne
-Have you been involved with the WWF over the years
-Whats your relationship like today with Vince
-Thoughts on HHH and the rivalry between him and your son
-As a father do you get upset at some of the things said about your son negatively on the Internet
-Overall favorite opponents, fav promoters, fav partners, and least for all
-What do you think about the lack of kayfabe in todays business
-Who do you still keep in touch with
-Have any of your ex partners, fellow workers, etc tried to mooch off of Dwayne
-Thoughts on guys like Hogan and Flair still wrestling today
-Fav wrestlers to watch today other then your son
-As a trainer in OVW, what is the biggest misconception young guys have coming into the business today
-A guy you saw or worked with that you thought had a ton of potential but never made it, and vice versa
-Any regrets