The Rock Responds To Reports That He Turned Down Ric Flair Documentary
ESPN's 30 for 30 special on WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair premiered this past Tuesday and was a rating success. For the night, it was the top rated show in the 18-49 demographic, even topping SmackDown Live. Overall, the special averaged 1.831 million viewers for its premiere.
The documentary looked at Flair's career and contained interviews with many Superstars in the business, including The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Charlotte Flair, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. There were some notable names missing from the film, including Vince McMahon, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
There were some reports that Johnson had turned down the special, which reportedly stemmed from a Sports Illustrated article about the film. The Sports Illustrated article never stated that Johnson actually turned down the documentary, but rather stated that the only people in the wrestling industry that director Rory Karpf failed to get were Johnson, Steve Austin and Paul Heyman:
Karpf said he interviewed 46 people for the doc (the filming started in Sept. 2015 and post-production ended this month) and what he pulled from pro wrestling icons such as Ricky Steamboat, Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels is particularly compelling. (Karpf said the only people from the wrestling world he wanted for the film but failed to get were Steve Austin, Paul Heyman and The Rock.)
Johnson took to Twitter this week to confirm that he did not turn down the documentary, as seen below:
Turned down? Not true. Ric and his fam are very good friends of mine and my family.
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) November 6, 2017
@MikeyRovellada contributed to this article.