#1.) His grandmother was a legendary wrestling promoter
The Rock’s Samoan heritage is no secret and the fact that his grandfather is the legendary Peter “High Chief” Maivia is also well documented. However, a little-known fact is that his grandmother, Leah Maivia happened to be a legendary wrestling promoter.
Peter Maivia was very protective of the wrestling business in an age where kayfabe meant everything. It went to the extent that during a show in the UK, Leah Maivia, oblivious to the actual workings of the business interfered a match that saw Maivia selling a beatdown. Embarrassed, he was then made to “smarten” up his family to the business.
Maivia was handed over the Polynesian Pro Wrestling promotion in Hawaii, and though his dream was to sell out the Blaisdell arena, he was never able to. He would, unfortunately, pass away in 1982 and his dying wish was for Leah to continue the promotion. She did so and even organized a show called A Hot Summer’s Night in Aloha Stadium featuring some of the biggest names in wrestling such as Andre The Giant, Antonio Inoki, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Nikolai Volkoff,etc. in 1985. It had a crowd of about 20,000 people.
They did a similar show a year later and it didn’t fare well and the promotion would soon go into decline. The Rock would make his first appearance in Hawaii in 2002, headlining a show in the Blaisdell Center that sold out in a mere four hours. His mother Ata recalled the event, saying that it was the same arena that his grandfather for years tried to sell out but couldn’t. His family and students also happened to be in the arena and The Rock entered to a thunderous crowd.
Ata stated that The Rock had goosebumps when he came out, looking up and pointing to his grandfather Peter Maivia, seemingly telling him “Grandpa, this is for you”. She continued, saying “There wasn’t a dry eye at ringside. We all felt my Dad’s smiling spirit.“
