The Rock will once again step into the ring at WrestleMania 40, but getting ready for it was no easy task.
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But while his enviable physique is larger than life, that does not necessarily translate into the cardiovascular shape needed for a major professional wrestling match, live and in front of around 60,000 fans.
That's why Johnson created a training camp, not unlike the ones you'll see in mixed martial arts or boxing.
WWE shipped two rings to Los Angeles and worked with Johnson's team to rent warehouses as training facilities. One ring was set up in Los Angeles, where Johnson resides. There, he simulated matches alongside NXT's Gallus -- the Scottish trio that consists of Wolfgang along with real-life brothers Mark and Joe Coffey.
Since Johnson is competing in a tag-team match, he needed three wrestlers to push through in-ring sequences and hone his timing. Michael "P.S." Hayes, a WWE Hall of Famer as part of the Freebirds and a longtime match producer for WWE, supervised those training sessions along with
Bobby Roode, a former NXT, U.S., and WWE tag-team champion who's now working as a producer. Veteran referee Chad Patton officiated those sessions while WWE medical oversaw the rehearsals to make sure it was run safely.
The other ring? It was placed in a shipping container and sent off to Hawaii, where Johnson has a family home. The training ring's journey there took about one week. The total cost: tens of thousands of dollars. In Hawaii, The Rock trained alone.
