Former WWE Star Recalls Getting Into Altercation With The Rock
Over the years, Bruce Prichard, D'Lo Brown, and several others have mentioned a locker room brawl between The Rock and Ahmed Johnson.
In a recent interview with Gregory Iron of Iron-On Wrestling, Johnson confirmed that the altercation occurred in late 1997, at the peak of his on-screen feud with The Rock & Nation of Domination.
"Yeah, we had an altercation," Johnson recalled. "He was basically running his mouth when he shouldn't have been running it."
In an earlier shoot interview with High Spots, Johnson delved into the details of the brawl.
"He was saying some stuff and it wasn't about me, but he was saying things that I don't think he should have been saying about anybody," Johnson said. "... I didn't like the fact that he was getting a little cocky. We had a match coming up, matter of fact, that same night. We were calling the match and I was willing to do his high spots but he wasn't willing to do all mine ... Then I got to the point where I said, 'Well, look, when we get in the ring, we can just get it on in the ring, we can settle it in the ring.' And then we got into a little altercation there."
When asked how long the fight lasted, Johnson said, "Yeah, a few blows were thrown."
Last year on his "Something to Wrestle" podcast, Bruce Prichard recounted a totally different version of the brawl, noting that it was Johnson who ran his mouth to instigate the fight. According to Prichard, Johnson was complaining about something and The Rock went, 'If you want to go, let's go.' Ahmed eventually backed down, but "nobody was stopping anybody" in that brawl, Prichard recalled. He also confirmed being around for a D'Lo Brown – Ahmed Johnson brawl, which Johnson "regretted" being a part of because Brown was "a tough son of a b–ch."
Speaking further on his on-screen rivalry with The Rock, Ahmed Johnson claimed he was slated to be the new leader of The Nation, but his injury in June 1997 nixed those plans. It was Johnson's injury that opened a spot in the stable, which was taken by The Rock.
"I think I would have become the leader of The Nation [if not for my injury]," Johnson told Iron-On Wrestling. "It would have been a trip, you know, but when it broke apart, Vince [McMahon] called us all to his office and he was like, 'Ahmed, I'm going to have to take you out The Nation.' And we were like, 'What? You just put me in The Nation.' I mean, it was nothing but a short run.
"We asked him why and he said, 'Well, I was watching you guys walk down the ramp,' and he said, 'there's nobody that's going to believe you guys can be beaten by anybody! And so, therefore, I'm going to take you out and you go back to fighting The Nation.' By that time, we had been fighting, man, almost a year. But the crowd loved every minute of it, every time we did it, they popped and they loved it."
To quote this article, please credit Iron-On Wrestling with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription